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Rhys Ifans is beloved by his cast mates on House of the Dragon, evident in Matt Smith suggesting that he would be the best pick out of the Game of Thrones spinoff crew to play the Doctor on Doctor Who. Ifans plays Otto Hightower on House of the Dragon, where he’s brought a sense of solemn authority in his performance. The Welsh actor clearly flourishes in genre environments, so why not let him time travel and be an alien? It’s what he deserves. 

“Imagine Rhys Ifans being Doctor Who? It’d be amazing. And he’s Welsh... I’d love to see one of my friends take on the mantle of that,” Smith said.  

To be clear, Smith has no animosity towards the current Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa. Smith said that Gatwa is “amazing” in the role, which we can all agree with. Ifans has a very unique physical presence in every role he plays, and it would be intriguing to see what he would do with that on Doctor Who. Personally, I feel like there’s plenty of opportunity for Ifans to excel in some physical comedy on Doctor Who. So who knows! We don’t know what the future holds for Ifans and the beloved Time Lord saga. 

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