At last year’s Golden Globes nominations announcement, an unexpected and overdue name was read off by Snoop Dogg in the Best TV Drama Actress category: Christine Baranski. At that time, the star of “The Good Fight” had been playing lawyer Diane Lockhart for 12 seasons on the CBS series “The Good Wife” and its Paramount+ spin-off, but had never received a single nomination from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for her performance. Now after unexpectedly cracking the lineup, will she hold on to her nomination this year?
It certainly helps Baranski that she will be facing an almost entirely new slate of competitors. Last year’s drama actress nominees included Uzo Aduba (“In Treatment”), Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”), Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (“Pose”), who took home the prize. Only Baranski and Moss are eligible again this year, which means HFPA voters might return to these two and fill out the rest of the category with new performers.
SEE ‘The Good Fight’ final season reviews: ‘Must-watch,’ ‘most ambitious’ episodes ever
The problem for Baranski just might be how many fresh contenders are entering the field. According to our current combined odds, the top five likeliest nominees are Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”), two-time Emmy champ Zendaya (“Euphoria”), Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”), Britt Lower (“Severance”) and Laura Linney (“Ozark”). While “The Crown” has always fared well with this voting body — it has won seven awards from 15 nominations, including three in the drama actress category for Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Emma Corrin — the HFPA has not yet taken a liking to “Euphoria” and has only nominated Linney once for “Ozark.” With Baranski down in 13th in our predictions, users are definitely underestimating her.
On the positive side of the ledger, “The Good Fight” is airing at precisely the right time to gain traction with the Globes. The sixth and final season of the critically acclaimed series debuted on Sept. 8, and will air its series finale on Nov. 10, just a month before nominations are announced on Dec. 12. The season has received strong notices from critics, with some calling it “must-watch” with the show’s “most ambitious” episodes.
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Robert King and Michelle King, ‘The Good Fight’ co-creators
For her part, Baranski is having a strong season, too. The final stretch of episodes opens with her staunchly liberal feminist character Diane reeling from all of the legal and cultural setbacks plaguing the United States, from the overturning of Roe v. Wade to Cold War aggressions returning and the ever-increasing threat to voting rights. Desperate for a way off “the wheel” of insanity, Diane turns to an FDA-approved hallucinogenic drug, which makes her downright giddy while keeping her legally shrewd. It is pure joy to watch Baranski play Diane’s newfound appreciation for the world and unleash her trademark laugh, and as the turmoil continues to mount in the world of “The Good Fight,” there is no doubt the final episodes of the season will be downright explosive. The Globes might just give Baranski one more nomination as a farewell embrace.
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
