A field of respected vets — Sam Rockwell, Jared Harris, Hugh Grant,
Benicio Del Toro and Mahershala Ali — will be upended by the
21-year-old who was the only member of his show’s ensemble to play
a character (one of the Central Park Five) as a child and an adult.
WILL WIN Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us (Netflix)The Kominsky Method’s Michael Douglas and Schitt’s Creek’s
Eugene Levy can’t stop last year’s surprise winner, who returns to
contention for — and also is nominated for producing, directing and
writing on — his show’s second season, which snagged 17 nominations.
WILL WIN Bill Hader, Barry (HBO)We have yet to see this past Emmy winner — who took home Globe, SAG
and Critics’ Choice awards this year — go head-to-head with Fosse/
Verdon’s Michelle Williams, whose show has late momentum. But a total
physical transformation and a wacky character make her hard to beat.
WILL WIN Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora (Showtime)2018’s winner and 2019’s breakout will fall to the actress who won for all six
previous seasons of her HBO comedy and returned from cancer for its final
season. A seventh win will extend the record for most wins by an actress for
the same role on the same series and set one for most wins by an actress.
WILL WIN Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep (HBO)
Although his competition includes co-stars Alfie Allen and Nikolaj
Coster-Waldau, I expect Peter Dinklage will wind up in the winner’s circle
for the fourth time for his portrayal of Tyrion, who was as memorable as ever
in Thrones’ final season. (No other performer has ever won for the show.)
WILL WIN Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (HBO)
Thrones fans are likely to split their support among its four
nominees, which bodes well for either Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw, or the
25-year-old breakout who beat out a host of leads to garner a SAG
Award nom. With Netflix’s backing, the edge goes to the latter.
WILL WIN Julia Garner, Ozark (Netflix)
Last year’s winner must this year compete against two co-stars,
Anthony Carrigan and Stephen Root; two Tonys, Hale (Veep) and Shalhoub
(Maisel); and a legend, Kominsky’s Alan Arkin. But people truly love both
the 73-year-old actor, aka “The Fonz” — and the guy he plays on the show.
WILL WIN Henry Winkler, Barry (HBO)
Last year’s victor must this year beat not only past winner SNL’s Kate
McKinnon but also her own co-star, Marin Hinkle, not to mention Anna
Chlumsky for the final season of Veep, Fleabag breakout Sian Clifford and
Barry’s Sarah Goldberg, among other scene-stealers — and she will.
WILL WIN Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
All six actors in this category played real people. Three starred on When
They See Us, making a split likely. Chernobyl’s Stellan Skarsgard and
Escape at Dannemora’s Paul Dano were excellent but restrained; this Brit
already won a Globe for his performance as a guy who was anything but.
WILL WIN Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal (Amazon)
The two-time Emmy winner for guest acting on another HBO offering,
Six Feet Under, will pick up her third statuette for one of the juiciest
roles of her career — a woman afflicted with Munchausen syndrome
by proxy — which already has brought her a Golden Globe.
WILL WIN Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects (HBO)It’s down to Mahershala Ali and Jared Harris here for me, one part
showy and externally driven, the other intellectual and astonishingly
quiet. Probably Chernobyl still works without Harris. Without Ali,
though, Tr u e D e te c t i ve might as well have stayed in hibernation.
SHOULD WIN Mahershala Ali, Tr u e D e te c t i ve (HBO)Barry’s Bill Hader probably absconded with Donald Glover’s
(Atlanta) acting trophy last year. Teddy Perkins, man! But this
year, the Emmy fully belongs to Hader, who showed new depths
of rage and range, mixed with his expected comic dexterity.
SHOULD WIN Bill Hader, Barry (HBO)This is Emmy night’s best category. Give it to Patricia Arquette,
though, in a role that starts with a character-acting bag of
tricks — weight gain, wigs, an accent to die for — and reveals
new layers and new questions with each episode.
SHOULD WIN Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora (Showtime)Several months ago, it seemed like Julia Louis-Dreyfus was
unbeatable. Now? There’s no wrong choice, but I give a slight edge
to Natasha Lyonne in a quintessential “If Hollywood can only see
me in one way, I’ll write myself a part that shows all I can do!” role.
SHOULD WIN Natasha Lyonne, Russian Doll (Netflix)This is all about submission episodes. Giancarlo Esposito’s pick,
“Piñata,” features Gus Fring standing over semi-vanquished
adversary Hector’s hospital bed recounting a chilling story about
a fruit-stealing coatimundi. It’s spectacular.
SHOULD WIN Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul (AMC)
Maisie Williams probably deserves a win, but she submitted an episode
(“The Long Night”) in which Arya is a plot point, not a character. Oh
well. Instead, let’s go with the always tremendous Julia Garner, whose
Ruth is the only good and consistently interesting part of Ozark.
SHOULD WIN Julia Garner, Ozark (Netflix)
In a category of scene-stealers — nobody gets more laughs-per-
line than Barry’s Anthony Carrigan — Kominsky’s Alan Arkin is
on his own as a co-lead with a beautifully written and performed
showcase episode mourning his late wife.
SHOULD WIN Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method (Netflix)
Veep shouldn’t reach its end without Anna Chlumsky
winning an Emmy, and Chlumsky’s Amy had an eventful
and well-played final season complete with an abortion arc
and a transformation basically into Kellyanne Conway.
SHOULD WIN Anna Chlumsky, Veep (HBO)
It’s a co-lead, so it’s a cheat, but Ben Whishaw’s work
as Norman Josiffe in A Very English Scandal is tragic and
comic and flamboyant and underplayed, matching the
marvelous Hugh Grant (as Jeremy Thorpe) at every turn.
SHOULD WIN Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal (Amazon)
The two Patricias — Arquette and Clarkson — explore variations
on the same mother-from-hell character, but it’s Arquette, in
The Act, who keeps you guessing and changing your sympathies
throughout. Tragic victim? Manipulative villain? What a year!
SHOULD WIN Patricia Arquette, The Act (Hulu)ACTOR, LIMITED
SERIES OR MOV IESUPPORTING
ACTRESS,
DRAMA SERIESSUPPORTING
ACTOR, LIMITED
SERIES OR MOV IESUPPORTING
ACTRESS, LIMITED
SERIES OR MOV IEACTRESS, COMEDY
SERIESSUPPORTING ACTOR,
DRAMA SERIESSUPPORTING
ACTRESS, COMEDY
SERIESACTOR,
COMEDY SERIESACTRESS, LIMITED
SERIES OR MOV IESUPPORTING ACTOR,
COMEDY SERIESAGREED!AGREED!AGREED!AGREED!