Emmy Predictions: Limited Series categories

Erik Anderson April 27, 2020

Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly leads a strong slate of contenders in the Limited Series Emmy race (Sabrina Lantos/FX)

The fate of movies and the Oscars may still be up in the air but the Emmys are, despite a few schedule and eligibility adjustments, moving forward and so are we.

The Limited Series categories are going to be some of the most competitive of any this season, most especially lead and supporting actress. The latter could be populated almost entirely by one program, Mrs. America from FX on Hulu. Assuming that Cate Blanchett is the only push for lead (and that’s how it should be) that means no less than five actresses: Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Sarah Paulson, Margo Martindale and Tracey Ullman will be battling it out not just with competition from the likes of Allison Janney (HBO’s Bad Education) and Jean Smart (HBO’s Watchmen) but from their own. All but Byrne are previous Emmy winners.

Lead Actor has skewed to some quite young newcomers the past few years with Jharrel Jerome (When They See Us), Darren Criss (American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace) and Riz Ahmed (The Night Of) but this year will likely fall back on some very familiar, award-winning names. Leading the pack here are Mark Ruffalo playing twins in the upcoming HBO limited series adaptation of I Know This Much Is True, Hugh Jackman as the gay superintendent who embezzled millions of dollars from a Long Island school district in HBO’s Bad Education and Russell Crowe as Fox News founder and supervillain Roger Ailes in Showtime’s The Loudest Voice. Not that the young and new won’t try and break through. Andrew Scott was one of the few actors from Fleabag to miss out on a nomination last year. This year, voters could make up for that mistake and put the Hot Priest in for his episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror, “Smithereens.” From Ryan Murphy’s new limited series Hollywood also from Netflix, which reimagines a Golden Age of inclusion for women, people of color and LGBTQ actors and filmmakers, we have David Corenswet and Tony nominee Jeremy Pope. André Holland, best known for his role in the Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight, has the tortured jazz musician series The Eddy (again, from Netflix), ironically from Moonlight rival Damien Chazelle (La La Land).

Here are my ranked predictions in the Limited Series categories in order of likelihood.

LIMITED SERIES

01. Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
02. Watchmen (HBO)
03. Hollywood (Netflix)
04. I Know This Much Is True (HBO)
05. Unbelievable (Netflix)

06. The Eddy (Netflix)
07. The Plot Against America (HBO)
08. Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
09. The Loudest Voice (Showtime)
10. Unorthodox (Netflix)

TV MOVIE

01. Bad Education (HBO)
02. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)
03. Black Mirror: Smithereens (Netflix)
04. Patsy and Loretta (Lifetime)
05. Togo (Disney+)

06. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs The Reverend (Netflix)
07. Blow the Man Down (Amazon)
08. Selah and the Spades (Amazon)
09. The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel (Lifetime)
10. American Son (Netflix)

LEAD ACTOR – LIMITED SERIES

01. Mark Ruffalo – I Know This Much Is True (HBO)
02. Hugh Jackman – Bad Education (HBO)
03. Russell Crowe – The Loudest Voice (Showtime)
04. Jeremy Pope – Hollywood (Netflix)
05. André Holland – The Eddy (Netflix)
06. Aaron Paul – El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)

07. Andrew Scott – Black Mirror (Netflix)
08. David Corenswet – Hollywood (Netflix)
09. Morgan Spector – The Plot Against America (HBO)
10. Jeremy Irons – Watchmen (HBO)

LEAD ACTRESS – LIMITED SERIES

01. Cate Blanchett – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
02. Regina King – Watchmen (HBO)
03. Merritt Wever – Unbelievable (Netflix)
04. Reese Witherspoon – Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
05. Kerry Washington – Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
06. Kaitlyn Dever – Unbelievable (Netflix)

07. Shira Haas – Unorthodox (Netflix)
08. Helen Mirren – Catherine the Great (HBO)
09. Zoe Kazan – The Plot Against America (HBO)
10. Octavia Spencer – Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker (Netflix)

SUPPORTING ACTOR – LIMITED SERIES

01. Jim Parsons – Hollywood (Netflix)
02. Tim Blake Nelson – Watchmen (HBO)
03. Darren Criss – Hollywood (Netflix)
04. John Slattery – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
05. John Turturro – The Plot Against America (HBO)
06. Tahar Rahim – The Eddy (Netflix)

07. Joe Mantello – Hollywood (Netflix)
08. Jesse Plemons – El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)
09. Don Johnson – Watchmen (HBO)
10. Dylan McDermott – Hollywood (Netflix)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS – LIMITED SERIES

01. Toni Collette – Unbelievable (Netflix)
02. Margo Martindale – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
03. Sarah Paulson – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
04. Jean Smart – Watchmen (HBO)
05. Patti LuPone – Hollywood (Netflix)
06. Allison Janney – Bad Education (HBO)

07. Rose Byrne – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
08. Tracey Ullman – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
09. Joanna Kulig – The Eddy (Netflix)
10. Uzo Aduba – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)

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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.