Emmy Podcast #33: Drama, Drama, Drama! with Kevin Jacobsen and Amanda Spears

Last week, Kevin Jacobsen, Amanda Spears and I tackled the Limited Series categories for the year's Emmys but today it's all about the DRAMA.

Starting with Supporting Actor first, we look at the likely returning nominees like Jonathan Banks (Better Call Saul), Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid's Tale) and David Harbour (Stranger Things) as well as who could break in for the first time like Josh O'Connor for The Crown, Kieran Culkin for Succession and Tom Pelphrey for Ozark.

With Game of Thrones gone, that opens up a whopping four spots in Supporting Actress, which finds HBC (Helena Bonham Carter) as HBIC for The Crown, with the newest winners here - Julia Garner in Ozark, Thandie Newton in Westworld and Ann Dowd in The Handmaid's Tale - ready to give her chase. Plus, Big Little Lies is now here so you know what that means: Meryl Streep and newly minted Oscar winner Laura Dern. Can Better Call Saul's Rhea Seehorn finally catch a nom here?

Lead Actor could be a wild set of nominees with two of its most recent winners - Billy Porter in Pose and Sterling K. Brown in This Is Us - on weirdly shaky ground. Could Succession pull double duty and get both Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong in? Perennial nominee Bob Odenkirk is in for Better Call Saul, Jason Bateman is surely a lock for Ozark and b's Tobias Menzies seems safe too. Can Al Pacino break in for the critically divisive Hunters? Is there a world were former winner and Oscar winner Rami Malek makes one final nomination for Mr. Robot?

Emmys: Lead Drama Actress is a winners circle but who will come out on top?

There isn't going to be a more bloody fight this season than Lead Actress in a Drama Series (which Kevin breaks down here) with Oscar winner Olivia Colman in The Crown, previous Emmy and new SAG winner Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show and last year's surprise winner here, Jodie Comer in Killing Eve (which premieres late in April). Then you still have Emmy favorite Laura Linney (in her best season of Ozark), previous winner here Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale (and having a great year in film). What about previous winners in their final seasons like Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder) and Claire Danes (Homeland)? Can Sarah Snook sneak in for Succession or is this the wrong category for her?

Emmys: Who will make the cut for Best Drama Series?

We end with Drama Series, another category looking for a brand new winner now that four-time champ Game of Thrones is gone (check out Amanda's breakdown here). Will HBO's Succession take the crown or will it be, well, The Crown? How will previous nominees like Pose and Westworld fare here? Can Big Little Lies make the jump from Limited Series to Drama Series successfully and will Apple TV+ score its first series nod with The Morning Show?

All of these questions and more are answered in this 33rd Emmy podcast, which runs 1h 23m 45s with music.

Opening: Theme to Succession by Nicholas Britell

Closing: Theme to The Crown by Hans Zimmer