2024 Emmy Predictions for Limited Or Anthology Categories: Critic’s Picks
Emmys
Some years are easier to predict than others at the Emmy Awards. While there is always the opportunity for a surprise upset, this year’s roster of nominees is dominated by a few clear front-runners.
Senior critic Matt Roush breaks down the major categories in drama, comedy, and limited series/anthology with thoughts on what and who is most likely to win, should win, and should have been nominated. (See the comedy categories predictions here.)
The ceremony, hosted by father-son team Eugene and Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek), airs Sunday, September 15, on ABC at 8/7c, 5 pm/PT.
Limited or Anthology Series
Baby Reindeer, Netflix
Fargo, FX
Lessons in Chemistry, Apple TV+
Ripley, Netflix
True Detective: Night Country, HBO
Such a strong field to only merit five nominations. Of the contenders, Netflix’s disturbing stalker dramedy Baby Reindeer got the most buzz and seems destined to be this year’s Beef. A powerfully dark season of HBO’s True Detective and another fabulously entertaining installment of Fargo brought those franchises back to life, and Netflix’s adaptation of Ripley was so stylish in its mesmerizing black-and-white it’s hard to believe they won’t tackle other books in the series.
Will/Most Likely to Win: Baby Reindeer
Should Win: Fargo
Should Have Been Nominated: Fellow Travelers, Showtime
Limited Series/Anthology/Movie Actress
Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country
Brie Larson, Lessons in Chemistry
Juno Temple, Fargo
Sofia Vergara, Griselda
Naomi Watts, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans
Two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster may well add an Emmy to her shelf as the unflinching police chief in a remote and sunless Alaska town. I loved Juno Temple as Fargo’s scrappy heroine and Brie Larson found the humanity within Lessons in Chemistry’s rigid scientist-chef, but Foster’s role has the gravitas that tends to win awards.
Will/Most Likely to Win: Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country
Should Win: Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country
Should Have Been Nominated: Jessica Lange, The Great Lillian Hall
Limited Series/Anthology/Movie Actor
Matt Bomer, Fellow Travelers
Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer
Jon Hamm, Fargo
Tom Hollander, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans
Andrew Scott, Ripley
Is a five-way tie out of the question? I could add a handful of other names to this sterling list, the talent pool was so deep in this category. Of the five that made the cut, I was most impressed by Matt Bomer tapping into his dark side as a closeted Washington bureaucrat in Fellow Travelers, and Tom Hollander’s spot-on impersonation of the self-destructive Truman Capote was unforgettable. But there’s no denying that Richard Gadd was born to play the distinctive lead role in his quasi-biographical Baby Reindeer, the sort of out-of-left-field and flamboyantly one-of-a-kind warts-and-all performance that the Emmy voters aren’t likely to overlook.
Will/Most Likely to Win: Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer
Should Win: Matt Bomer, Fellow Travelers
Should Have Been Nominated: Ewan McGregor, A Gentleman in Moscow (Showtime), Tony Shalhoub (Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie, Peacock), Tom Holland (The Crowded Room)
Limited Series/Anthology/Movie Supporting Actress
Dakota Fanning, Ripley
Lily Gladstone, Under the Bridge
Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer
Aja Naomi King, Lessons in Chemistry
Diane Lane, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans
Nava Mau, Baby Reindeer
Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Country
This is a slam dunk. No disrespect to her competition — Diane Lane was sensational as Capote confidante Slim Keith — but there’s no other choice in this category than Jessica Gunning as Baby Reindeer’s dangerously obsessive and emotionally unpredictable stalker. Not since Kathy Bates as Misery’s disturbed fangirl …
Will/Most Likely to Win: Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer
Should Win: Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer
Should Have Been Nominated: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fargo
Limited Series/Anthology/Movie Supporting Actor
Jonathan Bailey, Fellow Travelers
Robert Downey Jr., The Sympathizer
Tom Goodman-Hill, Baby Reindeer
John Hawkes, True Detective: Night Country
Lamorne Morris, Fargo
Lewis Pullman, Lessons in Chemistry
Treat Williams, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans
Following his Oscar win for Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr. tackling showy multiple roles in HBO’s The Sympathizer couldn’t be tastier Emmy bait, although there has been backlash over the fact that the series’ sole acting nomination is for a white actor in a story about Vietnamese displaced by the war. My vote would go to Fellow Travelers’ heartbreaking Jonathan Bailey as a young man of principle struggling with his sexuality from the McCarthy era through the AIDS epidemic. A posthumous win for Treat Williams as Feud’s media magnate Bill Paley is unlikely, but the nomination is a fitting tribute for one of his final performances.
Will/Most Likely to Win: Jonathan Bailey, Fellow Travelers (close runner-up, Robert Downey Jr., The Sympathizer)
Should Win: Jonathan Bailey, Fellow Travelers
Should Have Been Nominated: Harvey Keitel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz
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