Emmy Predictions 2020 - Who Will Likely Be Nominated for Guest Actress in a Drama Series?

From July 2 to July 13, 2020, voting is taking place for The 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. As such, it's fun to look at which actors and shows have the best chances of actually being nominated this year. So, these are my predictions for who will be nominated for Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

2019 Nominees:

        Laverne Cox for Netflix's Orange Is the New Black
        Cherry Jones for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale (WINNER)
        Jessica Lange for FX's American Horror Story: Apocalypse
        Phylicia Rashad for NBC's This Is Us
        Cicely Tyson for ABC's How to Get Away With Murder
        Carice van Houten for HBO's Game of Thrones

Lately, it seems like there have been more and more actors who score numerous nominations each year because they are busy with a number of projects that also garner Emmy buzz. However, it's exceedingly rare for a performer to be nominated more than once in the same category. That feat could happen here with Cherry Jones. She's eligible for HBO's Succession and once more for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. Now, it's not a given that she will score two of the slots. The probability is high. That would be a stunning and well-deserved feat. The rest of the field could look similar as well. Cicely Tyson has become a perennial nominee. There is no reason to think that she will miss out for the final season of ABC's How to Get Away With Murder. It may be more difficult for Laverne Cox to return - also for the final season of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black. It's certainly possible though. Meanwhile, This Is Us could increase its presence with the return of Phylicia Rashad and new addition Pamela Adlon - who is already admired by the voters (though not enough to get a long overdue nod for directing her FX series Better Things). This category could be defined by familiarity. The voters could go for the faces they always nominate. There may only be a few surprises. Those may only come from a few select shows. And so, that makes this one of the more stable fields to predict this year.

For the 2020 awards ceremony, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences decided to tie the number of nominations to the number of submissions in each category. For Guest Actress in a Drama Series, 109 actresses were eligible on the ballot. That will translate to six nominees in this category.

Actors most likely to be nominated:

1. Cicely Tyson for ABC's How to Get Away With Murder
2. Alexis Bledel for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale
3. Phylicia Rashad for NBC's This Is Us
4. Cherry Jones for HBO's Succession
5. Pamela Adlon for NBC's This Is Us
6. Cherry Jones for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale

Serious threats that could break through:

1. Laverne Cox for Netflix's Orange Is the New Black
2. Julie Dretzin and Clea Duvall for Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale
3. Jane Lapotaire and Emerald Fennell for Netflix's The Crown
4. Harriet Walter for HBO's Succession
5. Mindy Kaling and Brett Butler for AppleTV+'s The Morning Show
6. Julianna Margulies for Showtime's Billions
7. Gloria Reuben for USA's Mr. Robot
8. Elizabeth Perkins, Jennifer Morrison, Sophia Bush, Alexandra Breckenridge and Rachel Hilson for NBC's This Is Us
9. Rachel Dratch and Lorraine Toussaint for CBS All Access' The Good Fight
10. Mary Steenburgen for Showtime's On Becoming a God in Central Florida
11. Joan Cusack for Amazon's Homecoming

Some considerable long-shots:

1. Sharon Stone for HBO's The New Pope
2. Miley Cyrus for Netflix's Black Mirror
3. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Sanaa Lathan for Showtime's The Affair
4. Amy Hargreaves for Showtime's Homeland
5. Katja Herbers for HBO's Westworld
6. Maria Doyle Kennedy for Starz's Outlander
7. Kerry Bishé, Victoria Pedretti and Hailey Kilgore for AppleTV+'s Amazing Stories
8. Abby Ryder Fortson for Amazon's Tales From the Loop
9. Gabriella Pizzolo for Netflix's Stranger Things
10. Sierra McClain for Netflix's Mindhunter
11. Saffron Burrows for Netflix's You

Colorful oddities who still have an outside chance:

1. Renée Elise Goldsberry, Annaleigh Ashford, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Karen Pittman and Tara Summers for CBS' Evil
2. Daniela Vega and Jen Richards for Netflix's Armisteud Maupin's Tales of the City
3. Marina Sirtis for CBS All Access' Star Trek: Picard
4. Mina-Na Wen and Emily Swallow for Disney+'s The Mandalorian
5. Connie Britton for FOX's 9-1-1
6. Laila Robins for Amazon's The Boys
7. Cathy Moriarty for Showtime's City on a Hill
8. Trace Lysette for OWN's David Makes Man
9. Sosie Bacon for Netflix's Narcos: Mexico
10. Katherine Moennig for Showtime's Ray Donovan

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my choices? Let me know in the comments below!