50 Actors Who Could Play the Next Doctor on Doctor Who

Noma Dumezweni as Hermione Granger in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”. (Photo: Palace Theater/Charlie Gray)

Noma Dumezweni

Noma Dumezweni is an Olivier Award-winning stage performer, appearing in many different productions. These include A Raisin in the Sun, Linda and multiple roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, including Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and more. Most recently, she’s been starring in a role you’ve definitely of: Playing the adult version of Hermione Granger in the megahit West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. By all reports, her take on Hermione is a highlight of the production, smart, resourceful and brave by turns.

Outside of her many theater roles, Dumezweni has multiple film and TV credits to her name. These include Casualty, Capital, Frankie, Holby City, The Incident and Dirty Pretty Things. When she was cast as Hermione Granger, her public profile ballooned drastically. And, unfortunately, she received some rather horrific abuse from a small, vile corner of the internet that objected to the idea of a black Hermione Granger. It would be understandable if she’d rather avoid the inevitable fracas that will ensue whenever Doctor Who manages to cast a Doctor that isn’t white and male. But here’s hoping she’d be up for the challenge.

Interestingly enough, Dumezweni also has a built-in connection to the Who universe already. Dumezweni played UNIT’s Captain Erisa Magambo, who first appeared in Donna Noble’s parallel universe in the Season 4 episode “Turn Left”. She reappeared in the 2009 special “Planet of the Dead”. And since the show has already established that the Doctor can regenerate into a face he’s seen before, it wouldn’t even be that weird if the actress returned for a third time, but this time as the Time Lord himself. (Or herself, in this case.) After all, coming back to a different role worked out pretty great for Peter Capaldi.