Final 2020 Emmy Predictions: the LIMITED SERIES categories

Erik Anderson July 23, 2020

Just like a right-winged dove… (Sabrina Lantos/FX)

The Limited Series categories at the Emmys took a hit from the Television Academy’s new sliding scale rules, carving back some to just five nominations. With a season that has been dominated by FX’s Mrs. America, Netflix’s Unbelievable and HBO’s Watchmen it makes for very little wiggle room for other nominees to get in.

That might explain why Kevin, Amanda and I find ourselves really spread out in some categories like directing, where we have a full ten names/titles vying for six spots.

Emmy Podcast #35: Final Emmy predictions in Drama, Comedy, Limited Series

As you can imagine, the supporting actress category gave us the most grief with so many Mrs. America contenders. In fact, there are more contenders from that series alone than there are spots to fill. So how many get in? 2? 3? 4? It’s one of the more cutthroat races of the year. Lead Actor is also going to see some wild upsets and snubs. This has been a category that has heavily trended to younger, non-white men as winners but this year has very little to offer in that department. In fact, it’s jammed full of Oscar winners and nominees like Russell Crowe, Jeremy Irons, Hugh Jackman and Mark Ruffalo angling for a TV win. One wonders if any of them might be vulnerable to a newcomer like Paul Mescal or Jeremy Pope or if those two are on the outside looking in.

Here are our final 2020 Emmy nomination predictions in the Limited Series categories. Nominations will be announced on July 28.

LIMITED SERIES (5)

Mrs. America (FX/FX on Hulu) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Unbelievable (Netflix) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Watchmen (HBO) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Hollywood (Netflix) – Erik, Amanda
Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) – Erik, Kevin
Defending Jacob (Apple) – Kevin
I Know This Much Is True (HBO) – Amanda

TELEVISION MOVIE (5)

Bad Education (HBO) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
American Son (Netflix) – Kevin, Amanda
The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel (Lifetime) – Erik, Kevin
Patsy & Loretta (Lifetime) – Erik, Amanda
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend (Netflix) – Erik, Kevin
Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Netflix) – Amanda

LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE (5)

Russell Crowe – The Loudest Voice – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Hugh Jackman – Bad Education – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Mark Ruffalo – I Know This Much Is True – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Chris Evans – Defending Jacob – Kevin, Amanda
Jeremy Irons – Watchmen – Kevin, Amanda
Paul Mescal – Normal People – Erik
Jeremy Pope – Hollywood – Erik

LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE (5)

Cate Blanchett – Mrs. America – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Kaitlyn Dever – Unbelievable – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Regina King – Watchmen – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Merritt Wever – Unbelievable – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Kerry Washington – Little Fires Everywhere – Erik, Kevin
Michelle Dockery – Defending Jacob – Amanda

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE (6)

Tim Blake Nelson – Watchmen – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Jim Parsons – Hollywood – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
John Slattery – Mrs. America – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – Watchmen – Erik, Kevin
Louis Gossett Jr. – Watchmen – Kevin, Amanda
Joe Mantello – Hollywood – Erik, Kevin
John Turturro – The Plot Against America – Erik, Amanda
Ray Romano – Bad Education – Amanda

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE (6)

Uzo Aduba – Mrs. America – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Toni Collette – Unbelievable – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Margo Martindale – Mrs. America – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Sarah Paulson – Mrs. America – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Jean Smart – Watchmen – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Rose Byrne – Mrs. America – Kevin
Allison Janney – Bad Education – Amanda
Patti LuPone – Hollywood – Erik

DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE (6)

Unbelievable – “Episode 1” (Lisa Cholodenko) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Watchmen – “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice” (Nicole Kassell) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Watchmen – “See How They Fly” (Frederick E.O. Toye) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Mrs. America – “Reagan” (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck) – Erik, Kevin
Watchmen – “This Extraordinary Being” (Stephen Williams) – Kevin, Amanda
Bad Education (Cory Finley) – Amanda
Hollywood – “Hooray For Hollywood” (Ryan Murphy) – Erik
Little Fires Everywhere – “Find A Way” (Lynn Shelton) – Erik
Mrs. America – “Houston” (Janicza Bravo) – Kevin
Mrs. America – “Shirley” (Amma Asante) – Amanda

WRITING FOR A LIMITED SERIES OR TELEVISION MOVIE (5)

With just 75 submissions and the new sliding scale, this category will drop to just 5 nominees for the first time since 2013.

Mrs. America – “Shirley” (Tanya Barfield) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Unbelievable – “Episode 1” (Susannah Grant and Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Watchmen – “This Extraordinary Being” (Damon Lindelof & Cord Jefferson) – Erik, Kevin, Amanda
Bad Education (Mike Makowsky) – Erik, Amanda
Mrs. America – “Houston” (Dahvi Waller) – Kevin, Amanda
Normal People – “Episode 3” (Sally Rooney and Alice Birch) – Erik, Kevin

Final 2020 Emmy Predictions: the COMEDY categories

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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.