
Our predicted Best Comedy Actress Emmy nominees have been the same six faces for months: Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”), Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Allison Janney (“Mom”), Natasha Lyonne (“Russian Doll”), Pamela Adlon (“Better Things”) and Lily Tomlin (“Grace and Frankie”). But someone looks poised to crash the party soon: Phoebe Waller-Bridge for the second season of “Fleabag.”
Waller-Bridge, who was nominated last year in drama writing for “Killing Eve,” had been chilling in the lower teens of our predictions, mostly because the second season of “Fleabag” hadn’t premiered on Amazon Prime in the U.S. yet. She was in 14th place just three weeks ago on May 6. The expected “Fleabag” nominee this whole time was Olivia Colman, who’s still in sixth place in supporting, because she’s Olivia Colman and had just won an Oscar, along with a possible writing nomination for Waller-Bridge.
SEE Phoebe Waller-Bridge: Top 5 reasons we should watch out for her at the Emmys
But since “Fleabag” dropped on May 17, Waller-Bridge has slowly but surely climbed up our comedy actress rankings. She was in 11th place last week and this week she’s jumped up to ninth. It seems to be a matter of time before she breaks into the top six, given the absolutely rapturous reception to Season 2 — a season Waller-Bridge never thought or planned to make and one that, arguably, was unnecessary if you asked anyone in 2016.
Now that the second season does exist, it’s hard to imagine life or the Emmys without it. Following Fleabag (Waller-Bridge) as she falls for a Hot Priest (Andrew Scott), who changes her view on the world, Season 2 is once again impeccably written by Waller-Bridge in her singular voice and ends on an achingly bittersweet but hopeful note (there are no plans for a third season). It has a 96 on Metacritic and a perfect 100 on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a 97 percent audience score, which is not just everyone thirsting after Hot Priest.
SEE Olivia Colman will score the 1 and only Emmy nomination she can now get, readers predict
But more than that, the industry and Waller-Bridge’s peers — aka potential Emmy voters — are completely obsessed with “Fleabag.” A sampling of the effusive praise:
You have clearly expressed what I was feeling while watching Fleabag. The writing is astounding- as is the directing. https://t.co/B93Qr30l1C
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) May 24, 2019
Yes. Fleabag is spectacular.. https://t.co/60qgb4vFVr
— Bradley Whitford (@WhitfordBradley) May 24, 2019
Thankful for the rain today! Watching @fleabag season 2 and @KillingEve , it’s obvious #PhoebeWallerBridge is writing the best dialogue on TV.
— Reese Witherspoon (@ReeseW) May 27, 2019
God I love @fleabag.
— Anna Chlumsky (@AnnaChlumsky) May 26, 2019
Perfect. #Fleabag is a must. https://t.co/EHFpUF9Cno
— Eric McCormack (@EricMcCormack) May 26, 2019
Fleabag is the greatest TV series ever. I will fight you.
— Hart Hanson (@HartHanson) May 26, 2019
Jesus Christ. You assholes weren’t overselling #Fleabag, were you.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) May 24, 2019
There is only one person who can fix Brexit, make you forget Farage exists , fix season 8 of GOT and make trump’s visit to the UK a distant nightmare. That person is Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Olivia Coleman could also, but that is another tweet. #escape @fleabag S2
— Minnie Driver (@driverminnie) May 23, 2019
Okay, I finally watched FLEABAG, it was fine I guess but I have an issue, minor spoilers – at the end, how do I watch anything else or make anything else or live my life or breathe or feel or care or walk or fly did I fly am I here is it me do I live though this now what how but
— Joss Whedon (@joss) May 22, 2019
The first episode of Fleabag season 2 is so good my head is spinning
— kevinbiegel (@kbiegel) May 20, 2019
#Fleabag for the win.
— Kay Cannon (@KayKayCannon) May 20, 2019
Its biggest stan by far is Kumail Nanjiani, who literally can’t stop tweeting about it.
Fleabag is so good it’s a problem.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 19, 2019
Ok we can stop making TV now. I just finished Fleabag, and we’re all done here.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 20, 2019
When I was 14, I'd look at girls I had crushes on & think “I’ll never be with her. Never.” It was such a deep feeling. I felt it again at the end of Fleabag. It’s amazing how you can forget parts of yourself & then great art can remind you that those pieces are still in there.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 23, 2019
I sat in silence for ten minutes, hating and enjoying the feeling.
Anyway. Fleabag. It's pretty good. End thread.
— Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) May 23, 2019
Will all this Twitter love translate into Emmy love? It’s easy to live in a social media vacuum and not realize that’s not how the majority of people in the real world or industry feels (see: “Green Book”). But it’s difficult to recall the last time a show stoked this much passion in so many people, let alone so many big stars, and at precisely the perfect time before Emmy voting commences.
And if Waller-Bridge could make it in last year for “Killing Eve,” a show that was still slowly breaking out at the time, then surely she could do it for her own show on which she made her name and is vastly better received.
PREDICT the Emmys now; change them until July 16
Be sure to make your 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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