Given the events of “Picard” and the delays of the writer’s strike, it’s considerably less likely we’ll get to see our old Q up to no good. Natasha has the smarmy attitude expected from a Q, so why not? Certainly welcome to a relative unknown in the role if they can pull it off, but she gets my vote.
I can’t suggest too young because I’m too old to know non-relatively young blood actors. Admittedly, Natasha Lyonne is a similar age to de Lancie when he started as Q. She’s 44 and he was 39. There’s just something… a slight sliver of empathy in her I see that de Lancie didn’t have. But she’s also a good actress, so sure, she could pull it off probably. I mean I’m sure the real John de Lancie isn’t that much of a misanthrope even if he is a misanthrope.
Here’s one slightly out of left field, also British, who would work- Olivia Colman. Especially since she can hold her own in both comedy and drama, and at 50, not that much older than Lyonne. On the other hand, she’s in everything… but she does have the ability to show that misanthropic, sarcastic attitude when she wants to play it that way. She was the one part of Secret Invasion I enjoyed and that was basically her character type in it.
She’s great, if only for her Izzard “Cake or death” reference in the show!
She has always been terrific. I remember her back from before she was well-known and was mostly doing comedy like Mitchell and Webb, Look Around You and Green Wing (which also had Doctor Who’s Missy, Michelle Gomez) and even then she really stuck out. She has a great combination of “fuck all of you,” “I couldn’t care less about any of this” and “you make me laugh, I’ll kill you last” attitude that I could totally see from a Q.