Recently, rumors have been circulating that Jenna Coleman will be leaving Doctor Who at Christmas. Nothing has been confirmed by the BBC, but it seems likely that we'll be saying goodbye to the young actress in a few short months. Jenna has only been featured on the show for half of one series, but she was also the main companion of the show's fiftieth anniversary special, and will star in the first series of Peter Capaldi's 12th Doctor. When she does leave the show, there will be a huge vacuum to be filled. But Doctor Who is nothing if not an exercise in learning how to cope with change, and the first thing any fan comes to term with is the fact that everything ends and we need to be ready for it. With the sadness of losing a character we've come to care for also comes the excitement of limitless possibilities. Who will be the next in a long and beloved line of companions dating back to 1963? There are hundreds of young actors in the United Kingdom eager for the opportunity to be on Doctor Who, and part of the show's fun is speculating about who will be next.
10. Hannah Murray
Hannah Murray is, to put it simply, an actress that the camera loves. She's not exactly what you might call a conventional beauty, but she has an ethereal quality which makes her incredibly engaging. She is soft, gentle, and somehow otherworldly. Casting her as a companion could upon up a world of possibilities for the show. If they wanted to, they could have her be another contemporary Earth companion, and that would be fine. But a much better use of her talents would undoubtedly be to make her the first alien companion on Doctor Who in a good long while. She would make an amazing alien. Her star is on the rise, with critically acclaimed performances as the deeply troubled, spacey Cassie on Skins, and now as the young Wildling woman Gilly that Sam is infatuated with on Game of Thrones. So she's becoming more and more recognizable, but still maintains something of the unknown quality that Doctor Who showrunners tend to look for in their companions.