Golden Globe Musings: Best Actress in a TV Series – Drama

Golden Globe nominations for this year will be soon, so here’s a survey of the contenders and the most likely predictions at this time. Weigh in with your thoughts, and let me know if I’ve left off anyone important. A reminder that last year’s nominees mean zilch at the Globes and that the race is almost entirely unpredictable.

Last year’s nominees:
Claire Danes (Homeland)
Mireille Enos (The Killing)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
Madeleine Stowe (Revenge)
Callie Thorne (Necessary Roughness)

Returning nominees:
Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men)

New contenders:
Connie Britton (Nashville)
Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)
Mary McDonnell (Major Crimes)
Emily Mortimer (The Newsroom)
Hayden Panettiere (Nashville)
Kerry Washington (Scandal)

This category, which preserved only one nominee from 2010 to 2011, is likely to undergo a similarly major change this year too. Last year’s winner Danes and Margulies will be back, while both Stowe and Thorne are almost guaranteed not to return. Enos shouldn’t be back either considering the decline in popularity of her show in its second season. Moss should be back after her show was off the air for a year, and she’ll likely be joined by three-time Emmy nominee Britton, who is set to earn her first Globe nomination. If voters love “Downton Abbey” as much as Emmy voters do, Dockery will be here. Mortimer is a good bet if she’s considered lead rather than supporting. Though her role didn’t win over Emmy voters, I think Washington has just the kind of part that Globe voters tend to like.

Current predictions:
Connie Britton (Nashville)
Claire Danes (Homeland)
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife)
Emily Mortimer (The Newsroom)
Kerry Washington (Scandal)