Last year Netflix won its first-ever lead actress Emmys for Claire Foy (“The Crown”) and Regina King (“Seven Seconds”), but the streaming service has yet to take home a trophy for any of its lead actors. Might Jason Bateman (“Ozark”) make history for Netflix by becoming the first? Bateman just won the Screen Actors Guild Award for his work on the gritty money-laundering drama, and is now our Emmy Experts’ prediction to win Best Drama Actor at the 2019 ceremony.
In recent years such leading men as Kyle Chandler (“Bloodline”) and Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) earned nominations for Netflix’s dramas, Bateman (“Arrested Development”), Ricky Gervais (“Derek”) and Aziz Ansari (“Master of None”) scored bids for its comedies, and Gervais (“Derek: The Special”) and Jesse Plemons (“USS Callister: Black Mirror”) were recognized for its telefilms. They all lost. So far the only males to take home acting Emmys for Netflix have been supporting players Ben Mendelsohn (“Bloodline”), John Lithgow (“The Crown”) and Jeff Daniels (“Godless”) and guest star Reg E. Cathey (“House of Cards”).
The great news for Bateman is that “Ozark” is about to explode at the Emmys, based on all of the precursor love it received for Season 2 at the various guild awards. In addition to Bateman’s victory at the SAG Awards for playing in-over-his-head money launderer Marty Byrde, his co-stars Laura Linney (as Wendy Byrde) and Julia Garner (as Ruth Langmore) were also recognized with individual bids while the entire cast was nominated for the ensemble prize.
The second season of “Ozark” also took home a trophy at the 2019 Motion Picture Sound Editors Awards and was nominated at the American Cinema Editors, Art Directors Guild, Cinema Audio Society, Directors Guild of America, Producers Guild of America and Writers Guild of America. And Bateman scored a second consecutive bid at the Golden Globes, where he lost to Richard Madden (“Bodyguard”).
According to Gold Derby’s racetrack odds, Bateman is predicted to win his first career Emmy after coming up short last year for “Ozark” as both actor and director; he was also nominated twice for starring on “Arrested Development” (2005 and 2013). As for the other above-the-line categories, “Ozark” is in fifth place for a Best Drama Series nomination with 15/2 odds, Linney is in second place for Best Drama Actress (5/1 odds), and Garner is in second place for Best Drama Supporting Actress (9/2 odds).
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