While Fifty Shades of Grey is no literary masterpiece, nor is it among my favorite reads, I can’t deny its popularity. For one, it has been wildly successful. What once began as Twilight fanfiction has sold millions of copies both in the U.S. and worldwide.

E.L. James’s novel may follow a plot that we’ve all seen before, but it does offer something refreshing—particularly to its female readers. According to CNN, Jaclyn Friedman, author of Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, spoke about this, expressing the fact that the story of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele “focus[es] on female desire and what's in it for the woman, and there's not a lot of that in mainstream culture.”

It’s no wonder then, that when the Fifty Shades of Grey movie was announced, fans everywhere were anxious to find out who would play the lead roles—and they weren’t particular happy when The Social Network’s Dakota Johnson and Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), two relatively unknown actors, were cast. Even more shocking was the news today that Hunnam would be dropping out of the film due to his already packed schedule.

So who should play Christian Grey? Here are the top 5 actors for the role:

5. Alex Pettyfer
Alex Pettyfer would make a great Christian Grey—he’s blonde, gorgeous, and can definitely play the part of the conflicted, damaged Grey.

4. Jude Law
Jude Law, in addition to being incredibly attractive, is an accomplished actor and would provide the male lead of Fifty Shades with a depth that many unknown actors, not to mention the books, could not give to Christian Grey.

3. Michael Fassbender
Although on the older side for the male lead, Michael Fassbender seems an obvious choice for Christian Grey. His role as a similarly sex addicted, emotionally damaged man in Shame was extremely powerful, and there is no doubt he would bring that to Fifty Shades of Grey.

2. Ian Somerhalder
He may not be blonde, but Ian Somerhalder could do great things for the character of Christian Grey. If you’re like me, and were not a huge fan of the brooding male protagonist, there’s no doubt that Somerhalder would make Grey likeable. If he can make Damon Salvatore of The Vampire Diaries into a fan favorite, he can do it for anyone.

1. Alexander Skarsgard
There is no one who can pull off brooding quite like Alexander Skarsgard. He can play the strong and silent type like nobody’s business, and has proved through his portrayal of vampire Eric Northman on the series True Blood, that he can cut the cheesiness out of playing an emotionally damaged character, and instead show us a truly powerful performance.

Image courtesy of Amazon