Emmy Predictions: Limited Series/TV Movie categories (June)

Erik Anderson June 19, 2020

When the Television Academy upended this year’s rules just weeks before the nomination voting period begins, it sent waves of praise and confusion as to exactly how it would impact most of the races. In short, the number of nominees in most categories will be dependent on the number of submissions received and it becomes a sliding scale. While the Comedy and Drama categories will see a very healthy boost in nominations across the board, the Limited Series and TV Movie categories could be met with a decrease in nominations in some cases instead of an increase in what is arguably the most competitive seasons in years. With the previous ‘2%’ rule, which meant when the 5th and 6th place vote getters were 2% apart they both got it, now eliminated in favor of number of submissions, it’s likely we’ll only see five nominations in the lead acting categories for Limited Series/TV Movie and six in supporting in. We haven’t seen the official submission ballots released yet, which will answer all of our sliding scale questions immediately. Because of the extension in eligibility and voting periods, those ballots should arrive on July 2 now.

Emmy Predictions: Drama Series categories (June)

The three limited series’ at the top of the race all tackle extremely weighty social issues and do it on wildly different timelines and, in some cases, alternate universes. HBO’s Watchmen, based on the DC comic books, is enjoying a second wave of popularity and publicity as HBO has made the series free to celebrate Juneteenth weekend, which begins today. It also highlighted the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, in which mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In this current era of Black Lives Matters protests at a fever pitch, and those protests having real impact on legislation, voters will be compelled to support the critically acclaimed hit in multiple categories, including Lead Actress (three-time Emmy winner and Oscar winner Regina King).

Emmy Predictions: Comedy Series categories (June)

Mrs. America from FX on Hulu takes on the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s and the woman, Phyllis Schlafly, who made it her life’s mission to stop it and is seen as the strategic architect of the modern day GOP. Boasting the biggest female cast of any film or series this season (full of Emmy winners like Margo Martindale, Tracey Ullman and Uzo Aduba) and led by two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America should enjoy high placement on many Emmy ballots.

Netflix’s Hollywood also boasts a huge cast, and the most diverse one, in Ryan Murphy’s reimagining of the Golden Age of Hollywood where gender, race and sexuality emerged from the shadows to become the driving force of the Tinseltown machine. Despite mixed reviews, Hollywood‘s glitz and glamour will be an unavoidable shiny bobble for voters and with Netflix behind it, it will go far.

Here are my ranked predictions in the Limited Series / TV Movie categories in order of likelihood for June.

LIMITED SERIES

01. Watchmen (HBO)
02. Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
03. Hollywood (Netflix)
04. Unbelievable (Netflix)
05. Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)

06. Normal People (Hulu)
07. The Plot Against America (HBO)
08. I Know This Much Is True (HBO)
09. Defending Jacob (Apple TV+)
10. Unorthodox (Netflix)

Watch out for: The Eddy (Netflix), The Loudest Voice (Showtime)

TV MOVIE

01. Bad Education (HBO)
02. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)
03. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs The Reverend (Netflix)
04. Patsy and Loretta (Lifetime)
05. Togo (Disney+)

06. Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These Old Bones (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)

Watch out for: Transparent Musicale Finale (Amazon)

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. Jeremy Irons – Watchmen (HBO)

06. Paul Mescal – Normal People (Hulu)
07. Aaron Paul – El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)
08. André Holland – The Eddy (Netflix)
09. Chris Evans – Defending Jacob (Apple TV+)
10. Matthew Macfadyen – Quiz (AMC)

Watch out for: David Corenswet – Hollywood (Netflix), Morgan Spector – The Plot Against America (HBO)

LEAD ACTRESS – LIMITED SERIES

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

06. Reese Witherspoon – Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu)
07. Shira Haas – Unorthodox (Netflix)
08. Helen Mirren – Catherine the Great (HBO)
09. Daisy Edgar-Jones – Normal People (Hulu)
10. Zoe Kazan – The Plot Against America (HBO)

Watch out for: Michelle Dockery – Defending Jacob (Apple TV+), Kathryn Hahn – Mrs. Fletcher (HBO), 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. John Slattery – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
04. Darren Criss – Hollywood (Netflix)
05. John Turturro – The Plot Against America (HBO)
06. Joe Mantello – Hollywood (Netflix)

07. Tituss Burgess – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs The Reverend (Netflix)
08. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – Watchmen (HBO)
09. Jesse Plemons – El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)
10. Dylan McDermott – Hollywood (Netflix)

Watch out for: Louis Gossett Jr. – Watchmen (HBO), Joshua Jackson – Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu), Michael Sheen – Quiz (AMC)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS – LIMITED SERIES

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

07. Uzo Aduba – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
08. Rose Byrne – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
09. Tracey Ullman – Mrs. America (FX on Hulu)
10. Melissa Leo – I Know This Much Is True (HBO)

Watch out for: Joanna Kulig – The Eddy (Netflix), Holland Taylor – Hollywood (Netflix)

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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.