2022 Emmy Predictions: Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

A truly competitive category for these actors not simply show to show but from within their own. No less than Succession, Squid Game, Better Call Saul, The Morning Show and Severance have two, three or even four contenders fighting for one of eight spots.

In 2020, HBO’s Succession was able to scoop up three nominations with Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen and Nicholas Braun all making the cut. Only Culkin was able to break through at the Screen Actors Guild awards, where lead and supporting performers go head to head in television. He’s also the only supporting actor on the show to break into the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice, winning the latter earlier this year. They didn’t air a season for 2021 eligibility, and while they won’t face competition from anyone in The Crown this year (its new season isn’t airing until November), they will once again go up against 2020 winner Billy Crudup from The Morning Show (AppleTV+), as well as Giancarlo Esposito in Better Call Saul, as well the possible return of Jonathan Banks, a four-time nominee for BCS.

But new shows is where these previous winners and nominees are going to find their toughest fights. Last season’s biggest hit, Netflix’s Squid Game, is poised to grab a boatload of nominations that could include fan favorite Oh-Yeong-su, Park Hae-soo and Wi Ha-Joon. Also from AppleTV+ is one of the other buzziest shows of the season, Severance. With several supporting contenders, including previous Emmy winner John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman and Christopher Walken, they could be poised for some waffle party crashing this season.

Here are my predictions for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

1. Kieran Culkin – Succession (HBO)
2. Billy Crudup – The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
3. Matthew Macfadyen – Succession (HBO)
4. Oh Yeong–su – Squid Game (Netflix)
5. John Turturro – Severance (AppleTV+)
6. Giancarlo Esposito – Better Call Saul (AMC)
7. Nicholas Braun – Succession (HBO)
8. Jonathan Banks – Better Call Saul (AMC)

Look out for: Park Hae–soo – Squid Game (Netflix), Alan Ruck – Succession (HBO), Chris Sullivan – This Is Us (NBC), Tramell Tillman – Severance (AppleTV+), Owen Wilson – Loki (Disney+)

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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