2023 Emmy Nominations: The Actors We Think Will Be Nominated

The winds of change are sweeping through the television landscape. Better Call Saul? Done. Succession? Over. Ted Lasso and Barry? Retired. Dead to Me? Well, you get it.

Many of the shows that dominated the Emmy Awards during the streaming age have concluded, and we’re days away from finding out how many of them, and their excellent performers, will sail into the sunset as Emmy nominees once more.

I’ve been writing about pop culture for 15 years as a film critic. During that time, the excellent storytelling I fell in love with watching on the silver screen has settled in quite nicely on the smaller screen, too. TV, even without the aforementioned shows, is in a great spot, but what happens on September 18, when the 75^th Primetime Emmy Awards are handed out, will help dictate the future of the medium.

Here’s who I’m rooting for to be recognized in the 12 major acting categories when the 2023 Emmy nominations are handed out Wednesday.

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Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, and Jeremy Strong in a season 4 episode of Succession

Jeremy Strong, Succession

Kieran Culkin, Succession

For me, this category starts with Kendall Roy. A nominee last year and winner in this category three years ago, Jeremy Strong deserves consideration if for nothing else than miraculously producing such instantly iconic spittle upon declaring himself the “eldest boy” in Succession’s series finale.

Meanwhile, baby brother Roman is being positioned as a lead for the first time in the show’s run. Kieran Culkin was nominated twice as a Supporting Actor previously, but his work in the final season was easily his best. Let’s just hope that if he’s nominated and wins, his speech goes a little better than the eulogy he tried to give in the show’s penultimate episode.

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Sarah Snook, Succession

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us

I swear there are other great shows this year, but Succession nonetheless remains one of the best when it comes to outstanding acting. Similar to Culkin, Snook was twice previously nominated in the Supporting Actress category without a win. She’s certain for inclusion in Lead Actress this year and should be a favorite to take the prize in September.

Ramsey, on the other hand, has a lot working against them in their effort to secure a first career nomination. The track record for acting nominations in adaptations of video games is… well, the 19-year-old would be a pioneer in that respect. And while The Last of Us was more exquisitely executed than any in the genre’s history, it’s not necessarily the slam dunk it should be for a performance of this caliber.

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Alan Ruck, Succession

Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul

Con heads, unite! It’s hard to believe for a show that just last year set a record for most acting nominations in a single year with 14 that arguably its funniest principal actor, Alan Ruck, has gone entirely unrecognized. But please, it’s time to give Connor Roy a proper wedding present and something that will take the sting off settling for Slovenian ambassador when the nation wasn’t exactly screaming for his presidency.

Jonathan Banks, on the other hand, has been recognized with an Emmy nomination five times for playing the great Mike Ehrmantraut (once on Breaking Bad and four times on Saul). It’s an uphill climb for the win with all the Succession men, not to mention internal competition from Giancarlo Esposito, but unless show creator Vince Gilligan has another spin-off arrow in his quiver, this will be the last chance for glory for one of the great supporting characters in dramatic television history.

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

Carol Burnett, Better Call Saul

What Succession is in Supporting Actor, The White Lotus is in Supporting Actress. You can Pick-n-Mix your favorites among Aubrey Plaza, Haley Lu Richardson, Meghann Fahy, and more, but how can you deny Tanya herself, Jennifer Coolidge? She took home a trophy last year when her show was still categorized as a limited series, and she should contend here in the Drama category after her season 2 work.

And then there’s Carol Burnett, a living TV legend if there ever was one. She has six Emmys to her name and an incredible 23 nominations, and if she can earn a win for her work as Marion on Saul, she’d be the oldest acting winner in Emmy history. How can you not root for that?

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Martin Short as Oliver Putnam in a season 2 episode of Only Murders In The Building

Jeremy Allen White, The Bear

Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

With Ted Lasso ending on something of a whimper, this category is ripe for someone to take Jason Sudeikis’ crown. Jeremy Allen White is best positioned to do just that for his first season work as Carmy on The Bear, and after an arguably even stronger season 2, it feels like this show and performance will be the ones to guide TV into its next era.

Martin Short will have a hard time competing for a win against not just Sudeikis and White, but also his co-star Steve Martin. But on Only Murders in the Building, it’s Short’s Oliver Putnam who punctuates every scene he’s in with a hilarious exclamation point.

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate, Dead to Me

If there’s a great show that seemed to slip through the cracks during the last five years or so at the Emmys, it’s Netflix’s Dead to Me. A comedy that’s at times uproarious and at other times shattering, it features career-best performances from both Christina Applegate as Jen Harding and Linda Cardellini as Judy Hale. The former gives the more layered and complicated performance, so if the underappreciated show can only get one acting nod, I hope it’s this one.

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Harrison Ford, Shrinking

The 80-year-old has never been nominated for an Emmy before, and his performance as Paul is the very best thing about Shrinking. The only things working against him are the show’s lower profile (will Apple TV+ promote it for awards the way it will Ted Lasso?) and the dominance of Lasso in this category previously. Brett Goldstein as Roy Kent has won it the past two years, and the show has earned a whopping seven nominations in this category over the two ceremonies for which it was eligible so far.

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Ayo Edebiri as Sydney in The Bear

Ayo Edebiri, The Bear

Janelle James, Abbott Elementary

Like Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri gives a commanding performance in The Bear that should make her a mainstay on Emmy rosters as long as the show stays on the air. She’s also multi-talented with very solid shots at earning nominations for her guest star turn on Abbott Elementary and her writing for What We Do in the Shadows.

And speaking of Abbott Elementary, Sheryl Lee Ralph was a deserving winner in the show’s first season. But Janelle James as school principal Ava Coleman is this show’s most iconic character, and if it ends one day without the Emmys acknowledging James’ work, it will go down as a snub as disappointing as those of Steve Carell in The Office and Jon Hamm in Mad Men.

Lead Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie

Daniel Radcliffe, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

There are probably better performances eligible in this category (looking at you, Steven Yeun and Evan Peters), but there isn’t a purer performance among the bunch than Radcliffe as Weird Al. It’s such nice work in such a nice movie, and though Radcliffe has a high enough profile that could carry him over the finish line, it’s still a movie that was released last fall by The Roku Channel—with all due respect, not the biggest player in the Emmy game.

Lead Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie

Ali Wong as Amy in Beef

Ali Wong, Beef

I mentioned Yeun’s nomination-worthy work above, but it’s his co-star in Beef who really steals the show. This was one of the most refreshing and unexpected bits of television in years, and much of that comes from Wong’s performance, which is like a tightrope walk while juggling chainsaws. It feels like anything can happen, and over the course of the show, almost everything does.

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie

Domhnall Gleeson, The Patient

After spending the better part of the last decade riffing on the horrors of middle management in a series of Star Wars movies, Gleeson got to spread his wings and fly in this miniseries playing opposite Steve Carell. The Patient doesn’t always hit its marks, but it’s no fault of Gleeson, who plays a murderer in some twisted form of therapy with remarkable, almost frightening empathy.

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie

Niecy Nash-Betts, Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Nash-Betts has been in our lives for so long as a delightful presence, and here, she shines and steals every scene she’s in as the neighbor who knew Jeffrey Dahmer was the titular monster everyone eventually realized he was. In the series, she deals with a police force that won’t believe her (largely because of the color of her skin) and a certain amount of inevitable guilt upon realizing the extent of what was happening next door.

John Gilpatrick

John Gilpatrick is a freelance writer and film critic from the Lehigh Valley, PA. He loves movies about space and movies about oil drillers (especially when they go together). He also thinks the Star Wars prequels are mostly OK and that Ivan Reitman's Draft Day is a low-key masterpiece. He is a member of the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS). You can read more of his reviews and columns at JohnLikesMovies.com.