Emmy Winner Predictions: Best Directing for a Drama Series

Nominees are listed in alphabetical order by show. Beware of minor spoilers for listed episodes.

Vince Gilligan, Better Call Saul (Witness)
Stephan Daldry, The Crown (Hyde Park Corner)
Kate Dennis, The Handmaid’s Tale (The Bridge)
Reed Morano, The Handmaid’s Tale (Offred)
Lesli Linka Glatter, Homeland (America First)
Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, Stranger Things (Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers)
Jonathan Nolan, Westworld (The Bicameral Mind)

Represented here are the pilots of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Stranger Things,” the season finales of “Homeland” and “Westworld,” and key episodes of “Better Call Saul,” “The Crown,” and a second mention for “The Handmaid’s Tale.” This is Glatter’s fourth nomination in five years for her show, which also merited a fifth bid for another director in year one. It’s the only show not nominated for the top prize included here. Every other director is a first-time nominee, and the only other non-freshman series, “Better Call Saul,” makes its debut here for a memorable episode with some intense and effective scenes. This award went to “Game of Thrones” the past two years, and it hasn’t gone to a pilot since “House of Cards” in 2013, though “True Detective” did triumph in 2014 for another episode from its first season. The last three times a show was nominated twice, like “The Handmaid’s Tale” is this year, it triumphed.

What should win: “The Bicameral Mind” is the strongest and best-directed of these episodes, but I wouldn’t complain about the pilot of “The Handmaid’s Tale” getting it instead.
What will win: With so many hot new shows, it’s hard to know. I feel like Stranger Things could prevail over “Offred” or “The Bicameral Mind,” which are sure to garner many votes. It could be any of these, though.

Next up: Best Writing for a Drama Series