I recently joined my fellow Gold Derby contributors Riley Chow and Zach Laws to dissect the drama guest acting races (watch the video slugfest above). Everything took a rather unexpected turn in the spring after the TV academy moved “American Horror Story: Apocalypse” from limited to drama, and Hulu submitted the final three “orphaned episodes” of “The Handmaid’s Tale’s” second season that aired outside of last year’s eligibility period.
“This is between Jessica Lange, Carice van Houten and Cherry Jones,” I boldly proclaim regarding the drama guest actress race. While our panel is an agreement that all three are safe bets to get nominated, along with perennial nominee Cicely Tyson (“How to Get Away With Murder”), we slightly disagree on who’s the likely front-runner: I’m putting my money on Lange (“American Horror Story: Apocalypse”) for reprising her “Murder House” role Constance Langdon, while Chow thinks current odds-on favorite Jones (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) will ultimately take home the gold, stressing that she’s already made an appearance in the show’s currently-airing third season. We’re also hopeful for van Houten and her final appearance on “Game of Thrones,” but Laws reminds us that the show “has not exactly performed well in the acting categories outside of Peter Dinklage.”
Although we’re strongly considering Connie Britton (“American Horror Story: Apocalypse”) and Phylicia Rashad (“This Is Us”), we worry for the former that “Horror” is “too old,” as Chow says, and “This Is Us’” decline in nominations last year and complete absence in Best Drama Guest Actress gives us pause about the latter. Other than that, I throw in Hong Chau (“Homecoming”), Laws broaches Sandra Bernhard (“Pose”) and Chow warns not to sleep on Claire Bronson (“Ozark”) and Laura Niemi (“This Is Us”).
Over on the guest actor side, we all have James Cromwell (“Succession”), reigning champ Ron Cephas Jones (“This Is Us”), Michael McKean (“Better Call Saul”) and Bradley Whitford (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) in our projected lineups. As for the last two spots, Chow feels very confident about Jeremy Allen White, noting that “if voters watch a few episodes, they’ll get all of his good stuff,” Laws considers Christopher Meloni (“Pose”) “a good sixth-place placeholder” and I go out on a limb by slotting in previous Drama Guest Actor champ Glynn Turman (“How to Get Away With Murder”). Among other strong possibilities we mention are Griffin Dunne and Denis O’Hare for “This Is Us,” plus Michael Mosely for “Ozark.”
PREDICT the Emmys now; change them until July 16
Be sure to make your 2019 Emmy predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before nominations are announced on July 16. And join in the fun debate over the 2019 Emmy taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our television forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
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