Golden Globe Winner Predictions: Best Actress in a TV Series – Drama

The competition:

Olivia Colman (The Crown) plays Queen Elizabeth in the fourth season of Netflix’s historical drama. She won this award last year, adding to her perfect track record at the Globes. She took home a film award the year before for her work in “The Favourite,” which also managed to secure her an Oscar, and won a TV prize in 2016 for “The Night Manager.” Her show is the nominations leader.

Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) plays assassin Villanelle in the third season of the BBC America drama. This is her second consecutive nomination after she bumped costar Sandra Oh, who won this prize for season one. Unfortunately, it’s also the first time that her show isn’t contending for Best TV Series – Drama, making her the lone representative of her show.

Emma Corrin (The Crown) plays Princess Diana in the fourth season of Netflix’s historical drama. This is her first Globe nomination. Her show is the nominations leader.

Laura Linney (Ozark) plays criminal entrepreneur Wendy Byrde in the third season of the Netflix series. She has six previous nominations, with two wins, for “John Adams” in 2008 and “The Big C” in 2010. Her show contends for Best TV Series – Drama, with two costars also nominated.

Sarah Paulson (Ratched) plays Nurse Mildred Ratched in the first season of the Netflix series. She has three previous nominations, with one win, in 2016 for “American Crime Story.” Her show is nominated for Best TV Series – Drama, with costar Cynthia Nixon also nominated.

Additional notes: A few past nominees – Sandra Oh, Caitriona Balfe, and Evan Rachel Wood – were eligible this year but didn’t make the cut. The star of a freshman series won this award for the past six years in a row until last year. Two actresses from the same show have been nominated before, for “The Sopranos,” “L.A. Law,” “Cagney and Lacey,” and “Dynasty,” among others, which hasn’t stopped one of them from winning. It also happened last year, for “The Morning Show,” though neither of them won.
Who should win? What a fabulous group! Linney is doing excellent work as is Comer, and both Colman and Corrin are terrific. I’m most entranced by Paulson, who is typically amazing and so well-cast for this role.
Who will win? While new and flashy to win over voters, I think Corrin may suffer from internal competition and lose to Paulson, whose show performed exceedingly well on nominations morning.