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.
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
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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