Who will (and who should) win at the 2021 Emmys

There are a few things we know for sure about Emmys night: Pose‘s Billy Porter will look fabulous; everyone will want to hang with the Ted Lasso cast; and someone will have to keep a straight face while announcing Emily In Paris as an Outstanding Comedy Series nominee. As for who will win, only the Television Academy knows for sure — but here are our predictions below.

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Whether you’re competing in an Emmys pool or just playing along at home, we’ve got some fearless predictions ahead of Sunday’s ceremony on CBS.

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Alex Bailey/Netflix; Eli Joshua Ade/HBO; Apple TV+ Emmy frontrunners, from left, “The Crown’s” Olivia Colman, “Lovecraft Country” star Michael K. Williams, and Jason Sudeikis on “Ted Lasso.”

KEY:

□ = should win

■ = will win

♦ = should and will win

Outstanding Drama Series

The fourth time will be the charm for Net­flix’s The Crown, which earned 24 nominations this year but has surprisingly never won the top category. Oddsmakers currently put the Disney+ drama The Mandalorian in second, but we here at The Awardist refuse to entertain that idea. Crowns > helmets.

The BoysBridgerton

♦ The Crown

The Handmaid’s Tale

Lovecraft Country 

The Mandalorian

Pose

This Is Us

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

In the final season of FX’s Pose, Billy Porter’s Pray Tell went out in a blaze of ballroom glory and beautiful personal sacrifice. As much as we loved Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, Porter has the understandable edge for his final-season performance. 

Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us

Jonathan Majors, Lovecraft Country

□ Josh O’Connor, The Crown

Regé-Jean Page, Bridgerton

■ Billy Porter, Pose

Matthew Rhys, Perry Mason

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Emma Corrin stunned with her deeply felt turn as The Crown‘s passionate, fragile, and fiercely independent Princess Diana. If anyone can edge her out here, it’s Michaela Jaé — Pose‘s beating heart and soul until the very end.

Uzo Aduba, In Treatment

Olivia Colman, The Crown

■ Emma Corrin, The Crown

□ Michaela Jaé, Pose 

Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale

Jurnee Smollett, Lovecraft Country

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

The Crown may not have taken home the Emmy for Outstanding Period and/or Character Hairstyling (it went to Bridgerton), but here’s hoping Gillian Anderson thanks her fantastic Margaret Thatcher wig when she accepts this Supporting Actress in a Drama award.

♦ Gillian Anderson, The Crown

Madeline Brewer, The Handmaid’s Tale

Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown

Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale

Aunjanue Ellis, Lovecraft Country

Emerald Fennell, The Crown

Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Long before his sudden, heartbreaking death on Sept. 6, Michael K. Williams was the odds-on favorite in this category for his stirring performance as Montrose Freeman in Lovecraft Country. His memory and legacy are a blessing.

Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian

O-T Fagbenle, The Handmaid’s Tale

John Lithgow, Perry Mason

Tobias Menzies, The Crown

Max Minghella, The Handmaid’s Tale

Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale

♦ Michael K. Williams, Lovecraft Country

Outstanding Comedy Series

Forget the inevitable (and undeserved) backlash for Ted Lasso season 2, Jason Sudeikis’ uplifting Apple TV+ sports-com is still on track to take home a well-earned win. 

♦ Ted Lasso

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

You better believe that Jason Sudeikis (who’s already taken home a SAG award and Golden Globe) is the guy to beat.

Anthony Anderson, black-ish

Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method 

William H. Macy, Shameless

♦ Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Kenan Thompson, Kenan

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Jean Smart solidified her “National Treasure” status this year by absolutely crushing her two marquee roles: Helen in HBO’s Mare of Easttown and comedian Deborah Vance on HBO Max’s Hacks. She will win, or there will be hell to pay. (Additional props to frequent nominee Tracee Ellis Ross, who definitely deserves a win for black-ish. With the ABC sitcom heading into its eighth and final season, we think 2022 will be her year.) 

Aidy Bryant, Shrill

Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant

Allison Janney, Mom

Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish

♦ Jean Smart, Hacks

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

This is a packed category with no easily predictable winner, which makes it all the more exciting. We’re giving the edge to Kenan Thompson: Voters clearly love him (he’s nominated twice), and there’s a decent chance the Lasso boys will split the vote in his favor. Plus, if he wins for SNL on his first nomination in this category, he’ll stay on the show forever, right?

Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Hacks

□ Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Brendan Hunt, Ted Lasso

Nick Mohammed, Ted Lasso

Paul Reiser, The Kominsky Method

Jeremy Swift, Ted Lasso

■ Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live

Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Love

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

The talent in this group is ridiculous, but it would be a shock (and a shame, shame, shame) if Hannah Waddingham isn’t called to the podium on Emmys night.

Aidy Bryant, Saturday Night Live

Hannah Einbinder, Hacks

Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live

Rosie Perez, The Flight Attendant

Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live

Juno Temple, Ted Lasso

♦Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

A lot of deserving winners here, and the race is close. The Queen’s Gambit was a phenomenon last fall; Mare of Easttown had everyone talking this spring; and the brilliance of I May Destroy You is timeless. Our crystal ball says Queen’s has the most momentum.

□ I May Destroy You

Mare of Easttown■ The Queen’s Gambit

The Underground Railroad

WandaVision

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

SPOILER ALERT! Close your eyes. Think back to November 2020, the moment you realized that The Undoing‘s dashing Dr. Jonathan Fraser (Hugh Grant) had been playing us all along. The HBO thriller’s hiding-in-plain-sight twist worked because Grant was just so damn good at convincing us it wouldn’t. 

Paul Bettany, WandaVision

♦ Hugh Grant, The Undoing

Ewan McGregor, Halston

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Much like the Limited Series category itself, this is a race between Easttown and Queen’s Gambit. (In a perfect world, voters would crown Michaela Coel, but she’ll likely take home an award for writing.) Call it recency bias — or the fact that we’ve watched “Murder Durder” too many times — but we predict that Kate will put the win in Winslet. 

□ Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You 

Cynthia Erivo, Genius: Aretha

Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision

Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit

■ Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown

The Emmy Awards will air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

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