2018 Emmy Predictions for Limited Series: Matt Roush Gives His Series & Acting Picks
CATEGORY: Outstanding Limited Series
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
The Alienist
Genius: Picasso
Patrick Melrose
Godless
Most Likely to Win
Though not as dominant in this field as the first American Crime Story about the O.J. Simpson trial, Ryan Murphy’s stylish The Assassination of Gianni Versace is an innovative character study of mass murderer Andrew Cunanan, told in reverse chronology and juxtaposed with the rise of his eventual obsession/target Versace. It’s also a powerfully tragic history of gay repression and prejudice. I thoroughly enjoyed the feminist Western Godless, but Versace has more buzz.
Should Win
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Should Have Been Nominated
AMC’s adventurous horror show of a historical drama The Terror, charting a doomed Arctic expedition besieged by a supernatural monster.
CATEGORY: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie
Antonio Banderas, Genius: Picasso
Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
Jeff Daniels, The Looming Tower
John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
Jesse Plemons, USS Callister (Black Mirror)
Most Likely to Win
Benedict Cumberbatch’s decadent tour de force was something to behold, and John Legend literally soared as the musical messiah, but Darren Criss exceeded all expectations in his fearless depiction of murderously narcissistic madness as Versace’s Cunanan.
Should Win
Darren Criss
Should Have Been Nominated
Al Pacino as HBO’s sadly befuddled coaching legend Joe Paterno, watching his reputation shatter in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal.
CATEGORY: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie
Jessica Biel, The Sinner
Laura Dern, The Tale
Michelle Dockery, Godless
Edie Falco, Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders
Regina King, Seven Seconds
Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Cult
Most Likely to Win
Accessing her repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, The Tale‘s Laura Dern gives a raw and wrenching performance of slow-dawning discovery that is classic awards bait.
Should Win
The Sinner’s Jessica Biel (also an executive producer), for going even deeper into repressed trauma in a Gothic mystery about a woman who can’t quite fathom what triggered her murderous attack on a man in front of her child and husband.
Should Have Been Nominated
Hayley Atwell, projecting intelligence and empathy in the role that won Emma Thompson an Oscar, in the Starz remake of Howard’s End.
CATEGORY: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie
Jeff Daniels, Godless
Brandon Victor Dixon, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
John Leguizamo, Waco
Ricky Martin, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Edgar Ramírez, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Michael Stuhlbarg, The Looming Tower
Finn Wittrock, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Most Likely to Win
Nominated twice this year (also as a real-life hero in The Looming Tower), Jeff Daniels’ bravura performance as a classic Western villain on a crusade of revenge in Godless was great, grizzled fun. You couldn’t stop thinking about, and fearing, him even when he was off-screen.
Should Win
Daniels (although Dixon’s powerfully sung Judas was Tony-worthy, and Wittrock was heartbreaking as a closeted military man who fell victim to Versace’s killer).
Should Have Been Nominated
The Looming Tower’s Peter Sarsgaard, bringing chilling specificity to the composite character of a CIA antagonist, hoarding intel that might have helped prevent the 9/11 attacks.
CATEGORY: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie
Adina Porter, American Horror Story: Cult
Letitia Wright, Black Museum (Black Mirror)
Merritt Wever, Godless
Sara Bareilles, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert
Penelope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Judith Light,The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Most Likely to Win
Odds favor Versace’s primo diva, Penelope Cruz, as a flamboyantly spot-on Donatella, or Judith Light’s more poignant work as the tightly wound cosmetics-queen wife of one of Cunanan’s closeted victims.
Should Win
Nurse Jackie winner Merritt Wever in Godless, funny and fierce as a formidable widow on the front lines of defense in an embattled mining town.
Should Have Been Nominated
The legendary Angela Lansbury as lovably cranky Aunt March on PBS Masterpiece’s remake of Little Women. A nomination and win could have made up for all the years she was nominated, and never won, for Murder, She Wrote.
We’re just days away from television’s biggest night of the year: the 2018 Primetime Emmys!
The annual awards show, airing September 17 on NBC, has one of the most stacked lists of nominees we’ve seen in many years. So stacked, in fact, that we’re having trouble figuring out who will take home statues on Monday night! Luckily, our own Matt Roush shared his predictions for the winners in all of the major categories. (Plus, those who should actually win and the shows and stars that were snubbed from nomination.)
Here, we zero in on the Limited Series contenders: Outstanding Limited Series, Outstanding Lead Actor/Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie, and Outstanding Supporting Actor/Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie. This year, we’re looking at nominees like The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, The Sinner, Jesus Christ Superstar Live, and more.
Click through the gallery above for Matt’s picks, and sound off with your own in the comments below!
