Emmy Winner Predictions: Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

As I’ve done the past few years, I’m excited to present a detailed look at the Emmy race in each category with a spotlight on every sample episode submitted for consideration to voters. Click on episode titles to read reviews and offer your thoughts in the comments!

Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) – Book of the Stranger
Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) – The Winds of Winter
Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) – Episode 6.06
Maura Tierney (The Affair) – Episode 204
Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) – No One
Constance Zimmer (UnReal) – Mother

We have not one but three Game of Thrones actresses here, and any one of them would be the first to win this award. Williams has a particularly strong showcase that I think is the best of the three, though Headey chews plenty of scenery in the season finale. If she couldn’t win for last year’s shame-ful episode, I don’t see how she will this year. Clarke isn’t nearly as good of an actress, but her submission puts her character front and center in a typically spectacular way. For the final season of her show, Smith is back after a year off, representing her entire show as its only acting nominee, and I wouldn’t protest one bit if she won since she’s always great. Zimmer got her first nomination for a meaty role as a soulless producer, and her submission gives her plenty to work with that could give Lifetime its first major scripted Emmy win. None of these hold a candle to Tierney, who won the Golden Globe and was superb throughout the entire second season of her show, especially in her submitted episode where she, among other things, gets arrested for driving drunk. Giving her a win wouldn’t really reward the underappreciated show, so maybe Emmy voters will actually do it.

Who should win (based on entire season): Tierney
Who should win (based on individual episodes): Tierney
Who will win: If it’s not Smith, I’m not sure I see anyone winning it besides Tierney.