2022 Emmy Predictions: Drama categories are among the most up in the air with ‘Succession,’ ‘Squid Game’ and ‘Euphoria’ all with creative arts wins going into the big night

September has begun, which means the 2022 Emmys are right around the corner (September 12). The Television Academy announced their nominations back in July, honoring the best of new and returning television in all categories. The drama categories are filled with both newcomers and veterans alike, setting the stage for good races in most of the categories.

In Lead Actor, previous winner Jeremy Strong is back again, nominated alongside his Succession co-star Brian Cox. If Strong wins this year, it won’t be in a cake walk. He’s up against recent SAG winner Lee Jung-jae, who won for his performance in Netflix’s Squid Game. Adam Scott is also in the running for AppleTV+’s buzziest new drama, Severance. In the Lead Actress category, Zendaya seeks to repeat her win for her lead performance in HBO’s Euphoria. A follow-up win would make Emmy history as she would be the only Black woman to win this category twice. While Laura Linney, at one point, seemed to be the biggest competition for Zendaya for her role in Ozark, it seems that Melanie Lynskey has become a stealth contender in the category after much late support has poured in for her performance in Yellowjackets. Supporting actor will likely come down to one of the actors from Succession and John Turturro from Severance (while we have to keep an eye on the two actors from Squid Game), but it will come down to which show the Television Academy gravitates towards more this year. Supporting actress could very well go to two-time previous winner Julia Garner for her work in the final season of Ozark, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be an easy race to get there. She’ll be challenged by Jung Ho-yeon from Squid Game, who won the SAG award for her performance. Christina Ricci is also nominated here for Yellowjackets, so watch out for her to come in and take the award.

The directing category for drama has seven slots, with Succession taking up three of those slots. Out of those three, the finale episode “All The Bells Say” is the most likely to take home the win, but this category is stacked this year. Yellowjackets is nominated for its pilot, Ozark is nominated for its series finale, and there’s no forgetting Squid Game‘s “Red Light, Green Light,” which set the tone for the entire season. The writing category seems a little more clear, as Jesse Armstrong is nominated and poised to win his third writing Emmy for the season finale of Succession (interesting to note that both of his previous wins in the writing category were also for season finales of the show). Severance could have the biggest chance of coming in and taking the category for its first season finale.

Outstanding Drama Series is going to be an interesting race this year, as Succession could win its second series award this year for the third season (it also won for its second season). It has steep competition, though, as the premiere seasons of Yellowjackets and Severance are both buzzy and could attract the attention of Emmy voters.

At last week’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, most Drama Series nominees earned prizes, with Euphoria taking home the most, including Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Colman Domingo (besting no less than four Succession actors) and Lee You-mi winning Guest Actress in a Drama Series for Squid Game.

The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards airs live starting at 8pm. ET/5pm PT on NBC and Peacock, is hosted by Kenan Thompson and will feature John Legend performing his new song “Pieces” during the In Memoriam segment of the show, with as Zedd as the evening’s DJ and comedian Sam Jayas announcer.

Here are my final predictions for the drama categories at the 2022 Emmys:

Outstanding Drama Series

Better Call Saul (AMC)
Euphoria (HBO)
Ozark (Netflix)
Severance (AppleTV+)
Squid Game (Netflix)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Succession (HBO) – PREDICTED WINNER
Yellowjackets (Showtime)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman – Ozark (Netflix)
Brian Cox – Succession (HBO)
Lee Jung-jae – Squid Game (Netflix) – PREDICTED WINNER
Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul (AMC)
Adam Scott – Severance (AppleTV+)
Jeremy Strong – Succession (HBO)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Jodie Comer – Killing Eve (AMC/BBC)
Laura Linney – Ozark (Netflix)
Melanie Lynskey – Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Sandra Oh – Killing Eve (AMC/BBC)
Reese Witherspoon – The Morning Show (AppleTV+)
Zendaya – Euphoria (HBO) – PREDICTED WINNER

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Nicholas Braun – Succession (HBO)
Billy Crudup – The Morning Show (AppleTV+)
Kieran Culkin – Succession (HBO) – PREDICTED WINNER
Park Hae-soon – Squid Game (Netflix)
Matthew Macfadyen – Succession (HBO)
John Turturro – Severance (AppleTV+)
Christopher Walken – Severance (AppleTV+)
Oh Yeong-su – Squid Game (Netflix)

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Patricia Arquette – Severance (AppleTV+)
Julia Garner – Ozark (Netflix) – PREDICTED WINNER
Jung Ho-yeon – Squid Game (Netflix)
Christina Ricci – Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Rhea Seehorn – Better Call Saul (AMC)
J. Smith-Cameron – Succession (HBO)
Sarah Snook – Succession (HBO)
Sydney Sweeney – Euphoria (HBO)

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

“A Hard Way to Go” – Ozark (Netflix)
“The We We Are” – Severance (AppleTV+)
“Red Light, Green Light” – Squid Game (Netflix) – PREDICTED WINNER
“All the Bells Say” – Succession (HBO)
“The Disruption” – Succession (HBO)
“Too Much Birthday” – Succession (HBO)
“Pilot” – Yellowjackets (Showtime)

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

“Plan and Execution” – Better Call Saul (AMC)
“A Hard Way to Go” – Ozark (Netflix)
“The We We Are” – Severance (AppleTV+)
“One Lucky Day” – Squid Game (Netflix)
“All the Bells Say” – Succession (HBO) – PREDICTED WINNER
“F Sharp” – Yellowjackets (Showtime)
“Pilot” – Yellowjackets (Showtime)