Synopsis: The Dresden Files are a series that follow around Harry Dresden as he deals with many crazy supernatural things in Chicago. There is a big overarching story that I won’t go too much into because that would be spoilers. But he works with the police to solve these crimes and mysteries. It also helps to know that Harry is a Wizard.

Let’s meet the main characters:

Harry Dresden – The aforementioned wizard, Harry is a tall man who diffuses his own stress with his own special brand of humor, which normally just gets him into more trouble. He’s not a built person, but is lanky and has good functional strength.

Karrin Murphy – Small spitfire of a police officer. She’s had to be patient as she has worked her way up in the Chicago PD, but she has made her way up. She’s athletic and doesn’t put up his Harry’s crap or anyone’s crap, but is still a very caring person.

Susan Rodriguez – A reporter who is pretty and also investigates the paranormal or supernatural. She’s onto the fact that Harry might actually be what he says and hounds him for information.

Bob – A talking skull that is a wealth of knowledge that is in Harry’s possession. Also a quite pervy spirit who inhabits the skull.

Michael Carpenter – A large strong man with a large family. He is a man of faith who is very even keeled but not afraid to step into a situation, help Harry out and make a difference when evil is threatening Chicago or anywhere in the world.

Waldo Butters – A small coroner who knows some about the supernatural. He also really loves polka and can’t stand injury, though has no problem working on a corpse.

“Gentleman” Johnny Marconne – A mobster who runs basically all the organized crime in Chicago. He helps out Harry at times and gets in Harry’s way at other times, depending on what is most useful for him.

Ebenezar McCoy – Harry’s mentor, teacher, and friend. Took Harry in when his first teacher went evil. He’s an old wizard with a ton of power and very respected. Also part of the White Council which oversees the wizarding community.

There are really a plethora more characters who could make sense to talk about and cast, but this is limited spoilers as well and does focus on a lot of reoccurring characters throughout the series.

So who would I want to play them?

Harry Dresden – Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis, who plays Lucifer in Lucifer, is sufficiently tall. He also has that long frame, that comes with height, but isn’t too built. He’s very polished looking as Lucifer, but if his hair was a bit longer and messier and, like Harry, had a beat up look about him most of the time, I think that he’d make a good Harry Dresden.

Karen Murphy – Maggie Lawson
I really only know Maggie Lawson from watching Psych. But in that show she’s very much a character who has to put up with Shawn’s crap as a fake psychic detective. The only thing I wonder about is if she can be as grouchy as Murphy is sometimes. But Lawson can definitely play a character who is caring.

Susan Rodriguez – Melissa Fumero
We’ve seen her in a comedy in Brooklyn 99, and while Susan isn’t the most comedic role, I think that Fumero would have the acting chops to pull it off. What I think works really well with her is that she’s an intense character in Brooklyn 99 who is always needing to do the best, I think that Susan possesses a lot of those similar qualities.

Bob – Paul Bettany
He’s the first person I thought off. He does a good job as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision in the Marvel movies, but I think it’s more his Knight’s Tale Chaucer that he could channel into Bob, this spirit who has been around for so long but also has this surprisingly pervy human side.

Michael Carpenter – Adam Copeland
You’re more apt to know him as Edge from WWE. So clearly you have someone who is going to have a larger build. Edge, though, just has a very friendly looking face and with a few beard hairs turning grey, he would make a really believable family man who is also strong and tough.

Waldo Butters – Elijah Woods
Frodo as an eccentric coroner? That doesn’t make a ton of sense, but the actor who was in Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency, that makes perfect sense. Woods has shown that he’s up for those odd roles and has done a very good job with them. I think he’d make a lot of sense continue in those odd roles as the worried and polka loving Waldo Butters.

“Gentleman” Johnny Marconne – Ben Mendelsohn
You might know him as Sorrento in Ready Player One or Orson Krennic in Star Wars: Rogue One. He’s done a good job of playing those skeezy bad guys before who are slick. Marconne definitely has that feel and while I would think of Marconne being a bit younger personally, I think that Mendelsohn’s acting shows that he could deal with the role very well.

Ebenezar McCoy – Brendan Gleeson
Older, bigger, and still tough as nails. Gleeson fits that quite well I’d think. I’m not extremely familiar with Gleeson’s work, but if you’re not making McCoy quite as crazy white haired as he has been in my brain, just older and tough as nails, Gleeson fits that to a tee.

There are so many more characters to cast, and I really want to go through and figure out all of them, but that would be semi-spoiler heavy to describe who the characters are. So instead, I’ll hold off on those and maybe do another post to talk about them, just be warned there would be spoilers.

So what do you think of my casting, who would you cast in their place if you disagree?

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Does thinking of what I can’t get in the midst of all I can get make me a selfish, gluttonous TV-watcher? Definitely. However, I have a feeling I’m not alone in this sentiment. For every show we love that faithfully turns out fresh episodes every season, there’s one that takes two or three years to release anything new (I’m looking at you, BBC…).

So what’s a fan to do during these new-episode droughts? Well, as someone who’s experienced that pain many times over at the hands of shows like Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Outlander, I have a few ideas up my sleeve. Such as…

Rewatch favorite episodes

This one is obvious, but a tried-and-true choice. When your craving for that one great show just can’t be satisfied by anything else, find a way to get a hold of some previous episodes (via on-demand, reruns [if they even do those anymore??], your DVD collection, library copies, etc.) and set up a little “greatest hits” marathon for yourself. Though there may be nothing new to take in, you’ll always enjoy revisiting your favorites, and might even catch something new the second (or third…or fourth…or…who’s counting??) time around. You want to be a bit careful with this one, as it can be a bit of a slippery slope, but it’s a good method to use in moderation.

Try new shows similar to the one you’re waiting for

Unlike my first suggestion, this one allows you to both enjoy the kind of feels you get from the show you can’t watch while getting to branch out and take in something new by watching the ones you can. There are lots of ways to do this — you can use sites like this one that suggest new shows based on ones you’ve seen, you can ask friends who also like the stalled show if they know of any other good ones like it, or you can take the super easy (and somewhat risky) route of watching what Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime/etc. suggests based on your previously watched shows. You’ll likely find this method to be a bit hit-and-miss, but you never know — you just might find a new favorite along the way.

Visit fan forums and sites

With any show hiatus comes a legion of fans who are at turns excited for the new episodes to arrive and outraged that time isn’t passing more quickly until that day comes. And thanks to the internet, it’s easier than ever to find those legions and have a good venting/reminiscing/speculating session with them. Search for forums and fan pages for the show in question, jump in, and get talking! Besides being a great way to let off some steam, this is also a chance to make friends (even though they’re usually long-distance ones) with people who share your interests. I’ll spare you the obligatory “be careful giving out your info on the internet” speech, as it feels much too 2002-suburban-mom for my taste, but just use a little common sense and go to it!

Write some fan fiction (or do some fan art)!

I can practically see you guys rolling your eyes at me, but hear me out. While this solution may seem to be one for the truly desperate, it’s a really fun and — unlike most other methods — productive way to revisit your favorite show while you’re waiting for new stuff. If you’re artistically or linguistically inclined, try your hand at a little AU fan fiction, draw your interpretation of your favorite scene, or write a story based on what you think is going to happen next in the show (or, better yet, what you wish would happen but know will never actually take place). If the idea of putting pen to paper makes you cringe, search DeviantArt.com or any number of the endless fan fiction sites out there for the great stuff (or not-so-great stuff…hey, we don’t judge) that others are creating. These things may not fill the Game of Thrones-shaped hole in your heart, but they’ll be entertaining at the very least, and could even lead you to generate some great new ideas of your own.

These are a few ideas for things to do while waiting for new seasons of your favorite shows to come out, but I’m sure there are lots of others! What’s your favorite way to combat the show hiatus blues? Tell us about it in the comments!

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