Emmy Analysis: Drama Supporting Categories
Tuesday, August 22, 2023 at 6:00PM 
Aubrey Plaza and Theo James in The White Lotus. Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO
Sixteen nominees for supporting actor and supporting actress are drawn from a mere four drama series, and two of them netted just a single mention apiece. That’s fourteen bids for two juggernauts from HBO, The White Lotus and Succession. The former is up one nomination from last year while the latter breaks even in these races, but two of its supporting contenders from last year, Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook, got promoted to the lead race (and may be able to win there). Despite heavy internal competition, I think last year’s winners have a good shot at repeating, but let’s look closely at all the nominees and the episodes they’ve submitted for consideration…
Nicholas Braun and Matthew Macfadyen in Succession. Photograph by Graeme Hunter/HBO
The supporting actor race invites back two nominees from last year, defending champion Matthew Macfadyen and his costar Nicholas Braun, two Succession boys who have a lot of fun together as Tom and Greg. Alexander Skarsgård gets a promotion from the guest acting race for playing the despicable Lukas Matsson (he’s a previous Emmy winner for Big Little Lies), and it’s great to see Alan Ruck nominated for the very first time at age sixty-seven for playing the eldest Roy sibling, Connor. On the White Lotus side, Theo James and Will Sharpe are first-time nominees for playing buddies Cameron and Ethan, and F. Murray Abraham and Michael Imperioli are up for their turns as father and son Bert and Dominic. Abraham is a previous nominee for voicing Khonshu in Moon Knight and guesting on Homeland, while Imperioli won on the third of his five bids for playing Christopher on The Sopranos.
Rhea Seehorn in Better Call Saul. Credit: Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
The supporting actress race has three returning nominees, and they all earned their first bids last year. Jennifer Coolidge won the Emmy for her very memorable interpretation of Tanya on The White Lotus, in the limited series category. Now in drama series she’s up against J. Smith-Cameron, who plays Gerri on Succession, and Rhea Seehorn, who earns her second and now final bid as Kim on Better Call Saul. The last time The Crown was Emmy-eligible, it took home every live award on Emmy night. This time, Elizabeth Debicki is its only nominee for her rendition of Princess Diana. It’s the first Emmy nomination for the other four White Lotus ladies: Aubrey Plaza, Meghann Fahy, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Simona Tabasco.
Meghann Fahy and Will Sharpe in The White Lotus. Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO
EPISODE SUBMISSIONS
There are three cases across the two categories where the same episode was chosen by two performers, but, interestingly, none of those matching selections apply to people who share screentime. “That’s Amore” is officially the most popular White Lotus episode, selected by Imperioli, James, Plaza, and Tabasco. While James and Plaza share a good portion of their scenes as they amp up their flirtation, they’re not in the same category, and similarly, Imperioli and Tabasco do overlap in their plotlines overall but aren’t up against each other. The finale, “Arriverderci,” was also a major choice, selected by Sharpe and Fahy, who share a truly memorable scene out by the ocean, and Coolidge, whose “evil gays” bit is likely to propel her to another win. The other selected episode was “Abductions,” where both Abraham and Impacciatore deal with their characters experiencing significant disappointment.
Alan Ruck in Succession. Photograph by Macall Polay/HBO
While nine White Lotus performers picked just three episodes, each of the five Succession actors chose a different hour. Smith-Cameron opted for “Living+,” which finds Gerri on the defensive when she tries to speak up to Roman about his unchecked professional actions. Skarsgård’s choice, “Kill List,” sees Matsson being especially disgusting on top of a mountain to the Roy siblings. “America Decides,” Braun’s pick, finds Greg trying hard to remain relevant during an extremely important election, while “Rehearsal,” Ruck’s submission, is a both humorous and sad look at Connor attempting to get his family to actually focus on him for once. Those are all great, but it’s hard to compare them to “Tailgate Party,” which is Macfayden’s installment (and Snook’s in the lead race), and covers the whole range of angry and volatile emotions experienced by Tom and Shiv as they face their future.
Elizabeth Debicki with Dominic West in The Crown. Courtesy Netflix
That leaves the two actresses who aren’t on those two shows – Debicki and Seehorn – and both picked well. Debicki had plenty to choose from throughout the season, and “Couple 31,” the penultimate episode, has her share an unexpectedly tender and nonconfrontational moment with Dominic West’s Prince Charles, though that of course doesn’t last too long. It’s hard to know how to gauge voter support for her given how much they utterly dismissed the show after feting it so strongly in its previous season. Seehorn is nothing short of astonishing in “Waterworks,” also a penultimate episode (but of the show as a whole), and the episode is all about her. I’d say that puts Seehorn in serious contention for a win, especially if voters don’t want to vote for one of five nominees from the same show.
Jennifer Coolidge in The White Lotus. Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO
While I’d be thrilled to predict Seehorn – and I could also see Debicki winning – I think Coolidge is the safe choice. I’d be very happy with either Plaza or Impacciatore, but I doubt either of them can win. For the supporting actor race, I don’t think there’s any one male from The White Lotus who’s out front (sure, Abraham was the only Globe nominee, but that doesn’t mean much), and I can’t see anyone from the show beating out Macfadyen – with one exception, and he’s not in this category. Culkin’s move to the lead race means that they may both be able to win. I’ll stick with Coolidge and Macfadyen with Seehorn and Ruck as distant alternates.
Do you think we’re in for repeat winners, or can someone else prevail?
Emmys, Punditry, Succession, TV, The Crown, The White Lotus
Reader Comments (8)
Sadly I agree and think both categories will repeat. I'm actually rooting for Macfadyen, though, who definitely deserves it from this lineup. Loveee Coolidge but she's been amply rewarded for Tanya and despite some dramatic beats it's a very comedic role (the opposite problem of THE BEAR in comedy!). I would love if Fahey, Debicki or Plaza got the win.
So, I am not arguing for him from the win, but I want to take a second to note how pleased I am Theo James was nominated. I much preferred this season of White Lotus to the first one but a lot of it was, well, off in particular directions. He provided a delightful base/through line for other performances/stories and I greatly appreciated what he did with the part.
That said, relatedly, I'd love it if Fahy won. But I'll never begrudge appreciation for the truly unique and wonderful Jennifer Coolidge. J. Smith-Cameron is one of my favorite working actresses but I don't think she had enough to do this season to win (although that one "the money" scene with Culkin was A+++).
As to the actors, given what this season provided, I'd be an Alan Ruck voter. He was just aces. I'd get a Skarsgard win I suppose, and sure last year's winner is last year's winner, with all that talent, sure, but this season - every moment with Ruck was golden.
In this era of splintered TV attention, I can't imagine Coolodge not winning for a performance that truly went viral ("the gays are trying to kill me so they can redecorate my house or some shit!") but this really really really belong to Seehorn if we're going on episode submission and performance alone. I hope she pulls off the upset.
Especially with The Last of Us only having the two leads and then many guest performers, these should be easy repeat wins for Macfadyen and Coolidge.
Succession got all four of its submitted supporting male performers in, with shows that used to rack up nominations in the category (Better Call Saul, The Crown, The Handmaid's Tale) shut out and Macfadyen is by far the standout among them. The White Lotus got four of its seven submissions in this category in, but I don't see any of them making much of an impact, with maybe octogenarian Oscar winner Abraham nabbing some votes based on rewarding his entire career and his SAG Awards speech.
Better Call Saul and The Crown did manage to get their suffering characters into the supporting female category (and I personally would have liked to have seen some Handmaid's Tale performers here, particularly Yvonne Strahovski), but Coolidge is so far and away ahead that her losing would be shocking, no matter how deserving Seehorn and Debicki are. Fahy and Plaza could siphon off some votes internally, but this really should be locked down for Coolidge, particularly since Smith-Cameron, who'd benefit from a Succession sweep, didn't have that much to do.
Bit of a broken record, but the concentration of nominees from a few shows doesn't bother me at all.
TV is a popular medium. There are hundreds and hundreds of shows each year, thousands of hours. The idea that any TV Academy voter could watch it all (or understand submitted episodes out of context) is silly. I'm not going to watch a show I'm straight-up not interested in just to give some supporting performance a fair hearing.
There are shows I don't watch because they don't appeal to me, and there are shows everyone watches because they're great. Generating heat, acclaim, attention is part of the assignment. Good for the shows that manage to do it.
I normally like the idea of spreading the wealth with these awards, but I'm all for Coolidge and Macfadyen repeating.
Thought Fahy was incredible and rooting for her to pull off an upset.
White Lotus and Succession ruled the supporting categories DESERVEDLY.