The Nominees Ranked By Which Actress Should Win:
- Samira Wiley for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale - "After"
- Cherry Jones for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale - "Baggage"
- Diana Rigg for HBO's Game of Thrones - "The Queen's Justice"
- Viola Davis for ABC's Scandal - "Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself"
- Cicely Tyson for ABC's How to Get Away with Murder - "I'm Going Away"
- Kelly Jenrette for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale - "Other Women"
Heading into the nominations, there was the question of how many actresses would come from The Handmaid's Tale in this category. A year ago only Alexis Bledel got in but was ultimately the winner. And now, three of them are nominated. That's very impressive. Wiley was nominated a year ago in the supporting race but didn't appear in enough episodes to qualify for that category again. That may be fortunate because that category also has three women nominated from the show. In fact, Wiley could easily sail through to a victory here because of the knockout performance she gives in "After." It's amazing and reveals new depths to her character. Cherry Jones was also great on the show this season while it's completely baffling that Kelly Jenrette got into the field. Her role really wasn't anything special. But the voters are clearly enamored with the show. That's impressive. And yet, Diana Rigg had one hell of a great final moment in her episode. I was more mixed on this recent season of Game of Thrones. And yet, the acting from her was tremendous to watch. Meanwhile, I've stopped watching Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder. But I can imagine that both Viola Davis and Cicely Tyson were great because they always were in the past.
The Nominees Ranked by Which Actress Will Win:
- Samira Wiley for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale - "After"
- Diana Rigg for HBO's Game of Thrones - "The Queen's Justice"
- Viola Davis for ABC's Scandal - "Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself"
- Cherry Jones for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale - "Baggage"
- Cicely Tyson for ABC's How to Get Away with Murder - "I'm Going Away"
- Kelly Jenrette for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale - "Other Women"
It's hard to get a good read on the voters in this specific category. Last year Alexis Bledel won for giving the best performance in the submitted episodes. But the two years previous to that, Margo Martindale won despite only having two minutes of screentime in each respective episode of The Americans. Those are slightly contradictory of each other. Wiley is giving the best performance of the nominees this year. The love for The Handmaid's Tale could also propel her to victory because she appears in her fellow nominees' episodes as well. And yet, the competition is fierce because Davis, Tyson and Jones are already Emmy winners. Sometimes the best way to win an Emmy is to already have an Emmy. Moreover, a victory for Davis would put her in a small group of actors who have Emmys for playing the same character on two different shows - joining actors like Ed Asner and James Spader. Meanwhile, Diana Rigg has gotten nominated in this category three previous times. This is her last opportunity to win as well because of her character's grim fate in her selected episode. As such, that too could be a strong motivation for victory in this race. So while Wiley deserves it the most, this is by no means a lock for her. There are many different outcomes that could occur.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my predictions? Let me know in the comments below!
