Awards junkies left cold by late winter’s decline in Oscar contenders can soon find solace in the bounty of prestige television lying ahead. This time a year ago, we were gearing up for the premieres of “Pam & Tommy,” “The Dropout,” “WeCrashed,” “Winning Time,” “Under the Banner of Heaven,” and “The Staircase.” A few of those limited series proceeded to compete for Emmys, so we should absolutely be on the lookout for late-breakers like Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Olsen, and Kathryn Hahn as we head toward the end of this year’s eligibility period.
There are plenty of honorable mentions, but, based on a combination of subject-matter, the track records of all involved, and Gold Derby’s current Emmy predictions odds, these 10 picks seem especially likely to garner attention from critics and awards voters. And considering recent years’ omissions, like “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber” and “We Own This City,” even those that don’t end up with a nomination could still prove well worth your time. HBO leads with three mentions, followed by Amazon and Apple with two each. Check back after the May 31st eligibility deadline to see our selections for which miniseries we’ll likely be discussing all the way through the 2024 Emmy season.
These soon-to-be-seen shows will compete with already released Emmy contenders like “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” (Netflix), “Fleishman Is in Trouble” (FX on Hulu), “Black Bird” (Apple TV+), “George and Tammy” (Showtime) and “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (Disney+).
Below are our top 10 most anticipated Emmy contenders for Best Limited Series in 2023 (with release dates).
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“Daisy Jones & The Six” (March 3 on Prime Video)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Lace Terrell/Prime Video Riley Keough and Sam Claflin star as fictional rock stars in a ‘70s-set mockumentary based on the novel of the same name. Its author, Taylor Jenkins Reid, has stated that she was inspired to write the story by childhood memories of Fleetwood Mac performances. If Keough gets an Emmy nomination, her fictionalized depiction of Stevie Nicks could face off against Jessica Chastain’s straightforwardly biographical portrayal of Tammy Wynette in “George & Tammy.”
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“Extrapolations” (March 17 on Apple TV+)
Image Credit: Apple TV+ “Contagion” writer Scott Z. Burns is credited as the creator and director of “Extrapolations,” an anthology series that explores the effects of climate change through multiple points of view. The powerhouse cast includes Meryl Streep, Sienna Miller, Edward Norton, Marion Cotillard, Forest Whitaker, Tobey Maguire and Judd Hirsch. Ellen Kuras, a DP and documentarian who will be making her feature debut this year with “Lee,” co-directs.
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“Great Expectations” (March 26 on FX)
Image Credit: Miya Mizuno/FX Olivia Colman cuts a terrifying figure as all-time misunderstood literary baddie Miss Havisham. “Great Expectations” isn’t Steven Knight’s first time bringing Charles Dickens to the small screen. The “Peaky Blinders” showrunner wrote a three-part FX/BBC adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” that leaned further into the source material’s gothic horror than any previous iteration had. The limited series also stars Fionn Whitehead (“Dunkirk”) and Ashley Thomas (“Them”).
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“White House Plumbers” (likely March on HBO)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Phillip V. Caruso / HBO Watergate has been deconstructed from seemingly every conceivable angle—even the perspective of President Nixon AG John Mitchell’s wife as recently as “Gaslit” in 2022–but the roles of G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt in undoing the 37th presidency have not, shockingly enough, been the central focus of a film or series until now. Justin Theroux and Woody Harrelson star as the embattled White House lawyers who plotted the June 1972 break-in at the Watergate Hotel.
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“Tiny Beautiful Things” (April 7 on Hulu)
Image Credit: Elizabeth Morris/Hulu 2014’s “Wild” earned Reese Witherspoon an Oscar nomination for playing self-help author Cheryl Strayed, a role Kathryn Hahn is filling for Hulu’s “Tiny Beautiful Things.” The miniseries is based on essays compiled from Strayed’s popular “Dear Sugar” column. Witherspoon and Laura Dern (who was nominated alongside Witherspoon for playing Strayed’s mother) are both credited as executive producers on the show.
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“The Last Thing He Told Me” (April 14 on Apple TV+)
Image Credit: Apple TV+ Hannah (Jennifer Garner) is plunged into a world of white-collar crime and forced to bond with her stepdaughter (“Mare of Easttown’s” Angourie Rice) after her husband (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) mysteriously disappears. The series sounds like it will appeal to fans of “Big Little Lies” and “The Undoing.” Based on Laura Dave’s best-selling novel of the same name, “The Last Thing He Told Me” is produced by Reese Witherspoon, whose Hello Sunshine label is also involved in “Daisy Jones and the Six” and “Tiny Beautiful Things.”
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“Dead Ringers” (April 21 on Prime Video)
Image Credit: Niko Tavernise/Prime Video Rachel Weisz dons Jeremy Irons’ crimson surgical gowns to play twin gynecologists Bev and Elliot Mantle in a gender-flipped reinterpretation of David Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” for Amazon Prime. The directing team includes Sean Durkin (“Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “The Nest”) and Karyn Kusama (“Jennifer’s Body,” “Destroyer”).
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“Love and Death” (April 27 on HBO Max)
Image Credit: HBO Max A religiously devout homewreckermaker strikes her lover’s wife with an ax 41 times in 1980s Texas. If this story sounds familiar, it’s probably because of Hulu’s recent dramatization of the case, “Candy,” which picked up acting nominations for Jessica Biel and Melanie Lynskey from the Critics Choice, Hollywood Critics Association, and Satellite Awards. HBO’s treatment, produced by “Big Little Lies” EP David E. Kelley, stars Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons and Lily Rabe. All six episodes are directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, who has several Emmy nominations for her work on “Mad Men” and “Homeland.”
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“A Small Light” (May 1 on NatGeo/Disney+)
Image Credit: Disney+ The story of Anne Frank is recontextualized through the perspective of Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who hid the Frank family in her attic. Gies is played by Bel Powley and her employer, Otto Frank, by Liev Schreiber.
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“Full Circle” (TBA on HBO Max)
Image Credit: HBO Max Steven Soderbergh’s fruitful relationship with HBO–he’s directed four films (“Behind the Candelabra,” “Let Them All Talk,” “No Sudden Move,” and “Kimi”) and a miniseries (“Mosaic”) for the network over the past 10 years — continues with “Full Circle,” a caper set in present-day New York. Jim Gaffigan, Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes and Timothy Olyphant headline the series.
