From workhorses like Martin Short and Jennifer Aniston to more recent phenoms like Quinta Brunson and Jeremy Allen White, there are more than a few safe bets you could put on your 2024 Emmys bracket. But aren’t upsets a little more exciting?
Now that nominations have been announced, we’re crossing our fingers for a few actors—lesser-known long shots, long-snubbed legends, and gosh-darn one-of-a-kind performers—to electrify the night with unexpected wins on Sept. 15.
Comedy
Lead Actor
Jemaine Clement’s FX mockumentary “What We Do in the Shadows” has logged a couple of nominations for outstanding comedy series, but never an acting nod—until now. Matt Berry’s singular creation, the centuries-old vampire Laszlo Cravensworth, is urbane, randy, and prone to flights of phonetic fancy; on the fifth season, we learned that he also has a bleeding heart inside that undead chest. Berry is going up against 2023 winner White (“The Bear”), plus Short and Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”) and Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”). But maybe it’s time to pass the torch to this low-key modern master.
Rounding out the category is D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai of FX on Hulu’s “Reservation Dogs,” Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s series about Indigenous teens. The show hasn’t had any luck at the Emmys until this year, when it earned nods for both best comedy and for the 22-year-old Woon-A-Tai, who’s made history as the first Indigenous actor in the running for a lead performance.
The final season isolated his Bear Smallhill from the rest of the ensemble for a few episodes as he embarked on a surreal journey. While crossing paths with shut-ins and spirits, Woo-A-Tai let Bear’s decency and heart shine through.
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai on “Reservation Dogs” Credit: Shane Brown/FX
Lead Actress
No true long shots here: Brunson and Ayo Edebiri, two industry polymaths with big buzz, both previously won Emmys for their turns on “Abbott Elementary” and “The Bear,” respectively. Five-time winner Jean Smart already has two trophies for “Hacks,” and Maya Rudolph (“Loot”) has five of her own. Selena Gomez just scored her first acting nod for “Only Murders in the Building,” yes, but there’s a more titillating narrative afoot.
RELATED: Maya Rudolph Gets Candid About the Craft of Comedy
Despite 11 career nominations, Kristen Wiig has never won an Emmy. On Abe Sylvia’s daffy Apple TV+ series “Palm Royale,” she masterfully combines pathos and peculiarity as the doggedly ambitious, relentlessly sunny socialite Maxine Simmons. Could this be the performance that breaks her Lucci-esque losing streak? Just imagine the acceptance speech!
Supporting Actor
In the modern era of “Saturday Night Live,” several cast members stood out enough to get Emmy nominations; but only Kate McKinnon has won. Bowen Yang, three-time supporting actor nominee and the people’s prince, would be a deeply satisfying successor. He’s continually made the case that “SNL” is in its Yang Era, whether he’s snarkily preening as George Santos or making Ryan Gosling crack on live television.
Bowen Yang on Why He Had to 'Unlearn Almost Everything' From 'SNL' He’s got stiff competition from Lionel Boyce (“The Bear”), Paul W. Downs (“Hacks”), and 2023 winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear”). Yang’s advantage? Like McKinnon, he has the special sauce that’s essential to an iconic “SNL” run: Though he’s got range for days, every character he plays is distinctly his own.
Supporting Actress
You could fill an industrial restaurant freezer with all the praise that’s been heaped upon Christopher Storer’s “The Bear.” Now, it’s time to give Liza Colón-Zayas her flowers. As line cook–turned–sous-chef Tina Marrero, she brings down-to-earth magnetism to a stressful series. On Season 2, her eyes sparkled and her smile widened as a reinvigorated Tina found her place in the kitchen (and the courage to do karaoke).
This stacked category includes “Abbott Elementary” faves Sheryl Lee Ralph and Janelle James, Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”), Meryl freaking Streep (“Only Murders in the Building”), and comedy godmother Carol Burnett (“Palm Royale”). But even among this field of lovable performers—who would deny Burnett another Emmy?—first-timer Colón-Zayas is the feel-good pick.
‘The Bear’ Star Liza Colón-Zayas on Tina’s Big Episode + Being Directed by Ayo Edebiri Drama
Lead Actor
Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo’s FX on Hulu series “Shōgun” took the world by storm and shot a big ol’ cannonball at any comparisons to the original 1980 miniseries. A lot of that success is thanks to Hiroyuki Sanada. The decorated Japanese actor creates his own gravitational field as cunning regent Lord Yoshii Toranaga, the stoic foil to marooned English sailor John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis). It’s a towering, morally complex performance that doesn’t spoon-feed viewers.
Other names in this category loom large—looking at you, Gary Oldman (“Slow Horses”)—but what a coup it would be if the Emmys ensured that American audiences would always remember this global talent.
A Hiro’s Journey Lead Actress
The first season of “Shōgun” was, frankly, clouded with testosterone. So all hail Anna Sawai, who shines at the center of the action as Lady Mariko. The actor holds together this tale of political intrigue in feudal Japan as a noblewoman who acts as a translator between Toranaga and Blackthorne. Sawai presents a picture of feminine placidity, even as rage and a desire for sexual agency roil beneath the surface. Her performance made “Shōgun” appointment TV.
Amid magazine cover fixtures like Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (both nominated for “The Morning Show”), this relative newcomer is the category’s emergent powerhouse.
Anna Sawai on “Shōgun” Credit: Katie Yu/FX
Supporting Actor
In the chess match that is “Shōgun,” Tadanobu Asano is playing a game of Twister. The actor brings charm to the series as Kashigi Yabushige, a duplicitous, swaggering lord playing both sides of the story’s power struggle. It’s rare that a character who boils a man alive also seems like a guy you’d want to take shots with.
Asano is already a Hollywood player thanks to his turns in franchise films like “Thor” and “Mortal Kombat,” so he has both a first-time nominee’s sparkle and an old pro’s momentum. The actor is up against his “Shōgun” costar Takehiro Hira and also faces strong headwinds from Jack Lowden (“Slow Horses”) and Billy Crudup and Jon Hamm (“The Morning Show”).
Supporting Actress
Though they’re up against Emmy royalty like Christine Baranski (“The Gilded Age”) and Holland Taylor (“The Morning Show”), a few folks in this category could heat up the night. (Taylor’s costars Nicole Beharie and Karen Pittman come to mind.) But we’ve got our sights set on their colleague Greta Lee, who was recently snubbed by the Oscars for her acclaimed performance in Celine Song’s “Past Lives.”
On Jay Carson and Kerry Ehrin’s Apple TV+ series, she brings steely intelligence and “West Wing”–level monologuing to the role of Stella Bak, the president of the news division at the fictional UBA network. After previous standout performances on “Russian Doll” and “Girls,”
it’s time for Lee to pick up some major hardware. “The Crown” stars Elizabeth Debicki and Lesley Manville round out her competition.
Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Lead Actor
Jon Hamm has earned a whopping 14 career acting nominations and one win for “Mad Men,” so he isn’t exactly an underdog. But his chilling, bizarro turn as fundamentalist demagogue Sheriff Roy Tillman on Noah Hawley’s “Fargo” is the kind of big swing that might be too weird for some voters. Let’s hear it for a leading man who isn’t afraid to flaunt (fake) nipple piercings in the name of art.
He faces worthy competitors in Matt Bomer (“Fellow Travelers”), Richard Gadd (“Baby Reindeer”), Tom Hollander (“Feud: Capote vs. The Swans”), and Andrew Scott (“Ripley”).
Lead Actress
There’s something about “Fargo” that lets familiar actors spread their freaky wings. That’s definitely true for Juno Temple, who’s been thrice nominated for Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.” As Dorothy Lyon on Season 5 of the FX anthology series, she bends Keeley Jones’ perky light through a prism of Midwestern niceness and primeval courage. The actor displays an unsettling, compulsively watchable blend of cheer and lethal skill when Dot’s brutal past resurfaces and tries to drag her back into the depths.
Juno Temple, Redefined Her fellow nominees are a starry bunch: Oscar winners Brie Larson (“Lessons in Chemistry”) and Jodie Foster (“True Detective: Night Country”), plus Sofía Vergara (“Griselda”) and Naomi Watts (“Feud”).
Supporting Actor
Considering he’s fresh off of an “Oppenheimer” Oscar win, Robert Downey Jr. (“The Sympathizer”) is an easy bet in this category. Jonathan Bailey, though—now there’s an actor who’s overdue for an Emmy.
On Ron Nyswaner’s Showtime series “Fellow Travelers,” Bailey sets the screen aflame in exhilarating love scenes opposite Bomer. His turn as closeted Cold War congressional staffer Tim Laughlin marks some of his most dynamic work yet, after memorably exploring other repressed characters on “Bridgerton” and “Crashing.” Plus, Bailey is the only nominee who will forever change the way you look at a glass of milk.
Jonathan Bailey on “Fellow Travelers” Credit: Ben Mark Holzberg/Showtime
Supporting Actress
Interesting possibilities abound here: Lily Gladstone (“Under the Bridge”) and Kali Reis (“True Detective: Night Country”) are the first Indigenous performers ever nominated in an Emmys actress category, and Nava Mau’s nod for Netflix’s “Baby Reindeer” has made strides for transgender representation.
But Mau’s costar Jessica Gunning is hard to resist. Her take on Martha Scott, a troubled woman who begins stalking aspiring comedian Donny Dunn (Gadd), is a marvel of craft. She’s good-natured and feisty, gravely pitiable, and truly terrifying as she insinuates herself into Donny’s life. Even though Gunning’s résumé goes back almost two decades, this performance heralds a good old-fashioned star arrival.
This story originally appeared in the Aug. 8 issue of Backstage Magazine.