Let me just pause and say: I’m not covering Mr. Collins here, because I can’t think of any choices I like. (My only guiding principle would be: “as much unlike David Bamber as possible.”) I’m not covering the other four Bennet sisters because it seems like pretty much every version manages to come up with acceptable if not necessarily great versions of Jane, Lydia and whichever of Kitty and Mary are included. Ditto the Lucases, the Hursts, Anne De Bourgh and Georgiana Darcy. Where these characters are concerned, I’m open to anyone who could be a plausible relative (if relevant) to the characters I’ve mentally cast.

For accompanying pictures, and accompanying disclaimers of disinterest in making actor demographics perfectly match the book character demographics, see Monday’s post. Please note that I namecheck some pretty obscure actors from older versions below, feel free to search-fu their names.

Elizabeth Bennet: Morfydd Clark. I’m not super fond of her character on Rings of Power, but that’s on the scriptwriters. She’s very charming in her lighter moments on Rings of Power, and if you’ve seen the show to the end you have some idea of her ability to handle “mistaken first impressions” storylines and to pass as the favorite daughter of an erudite gentleman. Has blue gray eyes of an unusually dark shade. She’s not ugly, by any means, but the unusual eye shape and pointed, slightly asymmetrical chin make her a bit of an unconventional beauty. Give her brown hair instead of Galadriel’s blonde, have her dress relatively simply at the Assembly Ball, and she might pass for tolerable. Also, she’s short, and I like a Lizzie who has to verbally punch upwards, so to speak.

Mr. Darcy: Tom Hiddleston. Basically, there are nice Darcys (Laurence Olivier, Matthew Macfadyen, Ramses Shaffy) who are expected to soften the character’s arc for the sake of the romance; Corinthian Darcys (Franco Volpi, Colin Firth) who portray Darcy as a macho immovable object knocked down by the irresistable force of Lizzie; and posh Darcys (Lewis Fiander and David Rintoul), who wear the period clothes exquisitely and play up Darcy’s humor and snobbery, while being careful not to overdo the rudeness. I feel like, due to scripting or directing, the existing posh Darcys don’t nail the shift from starting Darcy to reformed Darcy as well as they might, and Hiddleston seems like someone who could provide that complete-arc posh Darcy we’re missing. Backup choice would be Henry Cavill (not pictured), for his good looks, inscrutable but commanding manner, and dry humor.

Mr. Wickham: Chris Hemsworth. I like the frat-boy vibe Enrico Maria Salerno and Rupert Friend bring to this character, and I really like the estranged-brothers-by-adoption drama between Salerno’s Wickham and Volpi’s Darcy in the Italian adaptation, even though it’s not in the book (it’s in some of the fanfics, but the Italians got there first!) Add a nice little bit of “hero/villain” inversion, and I really feel Hemsworth’s Wickham would be the best foil for Hiddleston’s Darcy. Backup choice is Cavill (obviously not if he’s playing Darcy), in this case for the kind of charming but cold, uncanny-valley vibe he gave off in the one Mission Impossible movie he made.

Colonel Fitzwilliam: Paul Rudd. Fitzwilliam is implied to be more charming than his cousin Darcy but not as handsome, and most people who think seriously about this stuff believe he belongs to a more ceremonial regiment and has never seen combat. I think Rudd would capture that flaky, good-hearted younger-son-of-an-Earl thing very nicely. Backup choice: JJ Feild, because he wears period clothes well, is already popular with the Janeites due to Northanger Abbey and Austenland, and slightly resembles Hiddleston.

Lady Catherine De Bourgh: Cate Blanchett. Admittedly, she played a somewhat similar role in Cinderella some years back, but I like the way some versions set up Lady Catherine as kind of a dark mirror of Lizzie – equally strong-willed and judgmental – and feel like the vague resemblance in looks and mannerisms between Clark and Blanchett might be interesting here. Plus Galadriel versus Galadriel. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m partial to “meta” casting.

Mr. Bingley: Tom Holland. Not original to me, saw it suggested online somewhere (same for the Darcy candidates), but he’s perfect. He’s great at being nice, diffident and charming with a bit of sass, and unlike the 1995 and 2005 versions of the character, he doesn’t look like the product of six generations of first cousins intermarrying.

Caroline Bingley: Florence Pugh. Honestly, she could probably play Jane or Lizzie also, but she seems like someone who’d have more fun with Caroline.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet: Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley. I enjoyed Knightley’s outrageous performance as the Sugarplum Fairy in the recentish Nutcracker movie, and I think she could play a great Mrs. Bennet in that vein. Macfadyen’s performance as Athos in the Three Musketeers suggests he would make a suitably bitter and sarcastic Mr. Bennet. On a related note, but with no supporting pictures…

Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner: Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. You can swap them and the Bennets around if you like (or if the 2005 duo are too vain to play parents to grownup children), but I think Ehle would make a great version of Aunt Gardiner, and Firth would make a very earnest and responsible Uncle Gardiner.

Mr. and Mrs. Phillips: David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie (Darcy and Lizzie from P&P 1980). Mostly we’re just continuing the stunt-casting of past lead-couples as Lizzie’s parents’ generation, but assuming they are both in good health (Rintoul had a small part in Game of Thrones but I can’t find pictures of Garvie newer than a decade ago), I think they would do well.