Emmy Predictions 2020 - Who Will Likely Be Nominated for Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie?

From July 2 to July 13, 2020, voting took 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 Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

2019 Nominees:

        Asante Blackk for Netflix's When They See Us
        Paul Dano for Showtime's Escape at Dannemora
        John Leguizamo for Netflix's When They See Us
        Stellan Skarsgård for HBO's Chernobyl
        Ben Whishaw for Amazon's A Very English Scandal (WINNER)
        Michael K. Williams for Netflix's When They See Us

This is actually a confusing category. No contender actually seems like a lock here. Sure, it's easy to assume Watchmen will have a presence. That could just go to Tim Blake Nelson or it could go to his co-stars as well. Meanwhile, Breaking Bad was an awards magnet. As such, one should assume that the followup film El Camino will receive some nominations. Jesse Plemons would be a strong contender. Robert Forster could receive a posthumous nomination. And yet, it doesn't quite seem like those are guaranteed to happen. The big question mark has to be Netflix's Hollywood. Yes, it has the prestige of being a Ryan Murphy project. Those have fared very well in the Limited Series categories over the last decade. It has some big names in this category. Several of them have won Emmys in the past. And yet, the series lacks the critical acclaim and buzz that usually appeals to the voters. And so, Jim Parsons may make it in. An argument could be made for someone else like Darren Criss or Dylan McDermott. But again, it just doesn't feel like the enthusiasm is there to make it a big Emmy contender. Limited series is probably a race between Watchmen, Mrs. America and Unbelievable. The latter two don't have multiple contenders in this particular category though. That opens the field in an unusual way. It means the race is fluid and could produce some random nominees. One from a project that may not have broad support but at least has enough appeal to get through in this crowded and unpredictable race.

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 Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, 123 actors were eligible on the ballot. That will translate to six nominees in this category.

Actors most likely to be nominated:

1. Tim Blake Nelson for HBO's Watchmen
2. Jesse Plemons for Netflix's El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
3. Jim Parsons for Netflix's Hollywood
4. John Slattery for FX on Hulu's Mrs. America
5. John Turturro for HBO's The Plot Against America
6. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II for HBO's Watchmen

Serious threats that could break through:

1. Robert Forster for Netflix's El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
2. Louis Gossett Jr. and Jovan Adepo for HBO's Watchmen
3. Joe Mantello, Darren Criss, Dylan McDermott, Jake Picking and Rob Reiner for Netflix's Hollywood
4. Ray Romano for HBO's Bad Education
5. Michael Sheen for AMC's Quiz
6. Tituss Burgess, Jon Hamm, Daniel Radcliffe and Jack McBrayer for Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend
7. Joshua Jackson for Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere
8. J.K. Simmons, Jaeden Martell and Pablo Schreiber for AppleTV+'s Defending Jacob
9. Amit Rahav for Netflix's Unorthodox

Some considerable long-shots:

1. Jharrel Jerome, Ike Barinholtz, Asante Blackk, Kevin Bacon, Jay Pharoah and Jesse Eisenberg for ABC's Live In Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"
2. Eric Lange for Netflix's Unbelievable
3. Seth MacFarlane and Simon McBurney for Showtime's The Loudest Voice
4. Jay Duplass and Rob Huebel for Amazon's Transparent Musicale Finale
5. Tahar Rahim for Netflix's The Eddy
6. Cody Fern, Matthew Morrison, John Carroll Lynch, Zach Villa, DeRon Horton and Gus Kenworthy for FX's American Horror Story: 1984
7. Jin Ha, Karl Glusman, Zach Grenier and Stephen McKinley Henderson for FX on Hulu's Devs
8. John Procaccino for HBO's I Know This Much Is True
9. Tim Robbins, Paul Sparks and Barkhad Abdi for Hulu's Castle Rock

Colorful oddities who still have an outside chance:

1. Chris Pratt, Rob Lowe and Jim O'Heir for NBC's A Parks and Recreation Special
2. Steve Buscemi for TBS' Miracle Workers: Dark Ages
3. Richard E. Grant and André Benjamin for AMC's Dispatches From Elsewhere
4. Noah Emmerich for Netflix's The Spy
5. Maxim Baldry for HBO's Years and Years
6. Jeremy Jordan and Eugene Lee for Netflix's American Son
7. Garrett Morris and Kevin Carroll for Netflix's Self Made
8. Alan Cumming, Jay R. Ferguson, Edi Gathegi and Brian Geraghty for USA's Briarpatch
9. John Heffernan for Netflix's Dracula

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