The nominations for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards are only a few days away and that means the return of “Game of Thrones,” which was ineligible last year, to the party. It also means highly touted new series such as “Killing Eve,” “American Vandal,” “Counterpart,” “Barry,” “The Deuce” and “Ozark,” among others, will see if they can knock long-running contenders out of the game. Oh, and then there is another new show, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which is guaranteed a slew of nods.
READ MORE: Early Emmy Nomination Predictions Prompts Lots Of Tough Questions
We’ve gone through the major categories and made our predictions with a few exceptions. We’ve abstained from considering the Directing and Writing categories because they are often a hard-to-gauge crapshoot. And while Outstanding Variety Talk Series is important it’s hard to see “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” or “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” sidelining any of last year’s nominees.
Keeping that in mind, here’s a good look at how the 20,000 plus members of the Television Academy may have voted this year.
Outstanding Drama Series
“The Crown”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Handmaid’s Tale”
“This Is Us”
“Stranger Things”
“Westworld”
“The Americans”
Lowdown: Could “Killing Eve” sneak in? We’re not so sure. Baring a surprise return by “Homeland” this should be your seven.
Outstanding Comedy Series
“Atlanta”
“Black-ish”
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“Glow”
“Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
“Silicon Valley”
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Lowdown: “Barry” and “Will and Grace” are the wildcards, but Television Academy members love Netflix (at least in the nomination process) and we still think “Kimmy Schmidt” is going to sneak in there.
Outstanding Limited Series
“American Vandal”
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
“Godless”
“Howard’s End”
“The Looming Tower”
“Twin Peaks”
Lowdown: Five of these nominees are locks. The big question is whether “American Vandal” will find enough support with mainstream Television Academy members or does “Top of the Lake: China Girl,” “Patrick Melrose” or, cough, “Genius: Picasso” fill out the category.
Outstanding TV Movie
“Fahrenheit 451”
“Flint”
“I Am Elizabeth Smart”
“Paterno”
“USS Callister: Black Mirror”
“The Tale”
Lowdown: Yeah. Not sure where to start with this monster. One of the HBO films here is objectively terrible, the other is disappointing. The third one they acquired at Sundance is the only one that deserves real awards recognition (have you figured out what is what yet?). Other potential films that could land her are “The Child in Time,” “Electric Dreams: The Commuter” and maybe even “Cocaine Godmother” because Catherine Zeta-Jones has got to grab some voter’s attention.
Outstanding Reality-Competition Series
“The Amazing Race”
“American Ninja Warrior”
“Project Runway”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race”
“Top Chef”
“The Voice”
Lowdown: “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars” have a shot, but we’re still expecting a repeat of last year’s six nominees.
Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
Alison Brie, “GLOW”
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Tracee Ellis Ross, “Black-ish”
Allison Janney, “Mom”
Ellie Kemper, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”
Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie”
Lowdown: Assuming there are just six nominees this year (last year there were seven), we expect “Better Things‘” Pamela Adlon will miss out. If there are seven, she’s likely in. Will and Grace’s” Debra Messing and “Grace and Frankie’s” Jane Fonda could also crack the six, but who’s out?
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”
Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Donald Glover, “Atlanta”
Bill Hader, “Barry”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Eric McCormack, “Will & Grace”
Lowdown: “Roseanne’s“ John Goodman, “Baskets’“ Zach Galifianakis and “The Good Place’s” Ted Danson all have a shot to get in with Eric McCormack a borderline snub.