Emmy Predictions: Best Directing for a Drama Series

The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, July 12th. As always, chime in below in the comments with any thoughts of your own.

Last year’s nominees: Witness (Better Call Saul), Hyde Park Corner (The Crown), Offred (The Handmaid’s Tale), The Bridge (The Handmaid’s Tale), America First (Homeland), Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers (Stranger Things), The Bicameral Mind (Westworld)

The top contenders:
Start (The Americans)
Pilot (The Chi)
The Crossing (Counterpart)
Paterfamilias (The Crown)
Pilot (The Deuce)
Beyond the Wall (Game of Thrones)
The Dragon and the Wolf (Game of Thrones)
After (The Handmaid’s Tale)
Unwomen (The Handmaid’s Tale)
Paen to the People (Homeland)
Nice Face (Killing Eve)
Episode 7 (Mindhunter)
The Toll (Ozark)
Pilot (Snowfall)
Chapter Nine: The Gate (Stranger Things)
Superbowl Sunday (This Is Us)
Akane No Mai (Westworld)
The Passenger (Westworld)
The Riddle of the Sphinx (Westworld)

There’s no reason to think that most of last year’s series won’t be nominated again, with only “Better Call Saul” ineligible because its next season starts this August. The problem is that multiple episodes have been submitted by so many series, with between two to six different installments in the running from most of the popular shows likely to get votes. Only The Crown and Killing Eve, which is itself a longshot at best, have just one episode submitted. It’s fair to expect that Game of Thrones may earn two nominations again given it pulled off that same feat the last two times it was eligible, and though its quality has gone far downhill (I gave up on it), Homeland seems to be a relatively permanent addition. The real question is whether any of the new series in contention, like Mindhunter, Ozark, The Crossing, The Chi, The Deuce, or Snowfall, will be able to break in here the way other pilots often have in previous years, and if the one new drama series not honored in this category last year, This Is Us, can transcend the acting races to show up here too.

The predicted nominees: Paterfamilias (The Crown), Beyond the Wall (Game of Thrones), The Dragon and the Wolf (Game of Thrones), After (The Handmaid’s Tale), Superbowl Sunday (This Is Us), The Passenger (Westworld)

The predicted winner: I think Game of Thrones wins it for “Beyond the Wall.”

Next up: Best Writing for a Drama Series