Even though Jonathan Banks is a six-time Emmy nominee in Best Drama Supporting Actor, he still has yet to take home a trophy — a dubious record he shares with Ed Begley Jr. Banks’ bids are spread out over three shows — “Wiseguy” (1989), “Breaking Bad” (2013) and “Better Call Saul” (2015-17, 2019) — while Begley’s were all for “St. Elsewhere” (1983-88). According to Gold Derby’s Experts from major media outlets, Banks should finally dust off his Emmy speech this year as he’s the odds-on front-runner to win on what would be his seventh nomination.
SEE 2020 Emmy Best Drama Series Predictions
As of this writing 28 Emmy Experts have made their predictions, with a leading 12 choosing Banks: Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Debbie Day (Rotten Tomatoes), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Chris Harnick (E!), Kelly Lawler (USA Today), Wilson Morales (BlackFilm), Mary Murphy (Gold Derby), Jazz Tangcay (Variety), Kaitlin Thomas (TVGuide.com), Ken Tucker (Yahoo) and Susan Wloszczyna (Gold Derby).
In the fifth season of AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” Bank’s character Mike Ehrmantraut has more screen time than ever, particularly as he grows closer with meth kingpin Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito). Mike’s personal stress soon affects his relationship with his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter, and when he lashes out at street thugs he finds himself waking up in mysterious surroundings. Near the end of the season he gets stranded in the desert with Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) and the men have to struggle against the elements and the drug cartel in order to survive.
The other Experts are split a whopping five different ways, making Best Drama Supporting Actor one of the more unpredictable categories at the 2020 Emmys. Here’s how the other votes fall:
*Jen Chaney (Vulture), Matthew Jacobs (HuffPo), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby), Lynette Rice (Ent. Weekly), Robert Rorke (Various), Anne Thompson (Indiewire), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Matt Webb Mitovich (TVLine) predict Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show”).
*Eric Deggans (NPR), Delaina Dixon (unaffiliated), Tim Gray (Variety), Libby Hill (Indiewire) and Ben Travers (Indiewire) predict Kieran Culkin (Succession).
*Ed Martin (Media Village) predicts Tom Pelphrey (“Ozark”).
*Shawn Edwards (WDAF-TV Fox) predicts David Harbour (“Stranger Things”).
*Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine) predicts Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”).
Be sure to make your Emmy nominations predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before the nominees are announced on July 28. And join in the thrilling debate over the 2020 Emmy Awards taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our TV forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
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