With Emmy nominations voting officially underway, the Television Academy’s ballots are offering insight into which performances could break through when nominations are unveiled on July 8.
Of the 20 stars who hosted “Saturday Night Live” during its 51st season, NBC put only 11 forward for guest comedy acting consideration — a pointed pullback from a year ago, when all 20 of the Season 50 hosts landed on the ballot. Submitted for guest comedy actor are Bad Bunny, Ryan Gosling, Harry Styles, Jack Black, Colman Domingo, Will Ferrell and Connor Storie, while the guest comedy actress race features Amy Poehler, Olivia Rodrigo, Melissa McCarthy and Ariana Grande.
The nine hosts left off the ballot were more surprising. Among the season’s biggest gets who were not submitted include Matt Damon (a former nominee for hosting in 2019), Alexander Skarsgård (featuring Ashley Padilla’s viral “Trump Mom” sketch), Glen Powell, Josh O’Connor, Finn Wolfhard and Miles Teller; along with music popstar Sabrina Carpenter, famed comedian Nikki Glaser and recent Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor (“One Battle After Another”). In a category that often rewards a buzzy one-night turn, leaving that much wattage on the table is a strategic choice as much as a numbers game.
The 11 hosts NBC submitted averaged about 4.6 million viewers per episode this season, against roughly 4.2 million for the nine it passed over, and the year’s two most-watched shows — Grande’s 5.4 million in Dec. and Rodrigo’s nearly 5 million in May — both made the cut. Skarsgård’s Jan. episode drew 4.8 million, the third-best of the season among installments with reported numbers. Yet he went unsubmitted, while awards-friendly names such as Domingo and McCarthy were put forward despite middling Nielsen ratings.
Nonetheless, the long-running sketch comedy hedged nothing with its regulars with the entire Season 51 main cast and featured players were submitted for supporting comedy actor and actress, including Bowen Yang who exited back in Dec.
And then there is the entire ballot for performers, which boasts one of the largest peer groups of the TV Academy.
Warrick Page/MAX
Across the 17 performer categories, 1,573 submissions are in contention this year, down from 1,706 in 2025 — a decline of nearly 8%. Across the 17 acting races, Prime Video’s “The Boys” and “Saturday Night Live” each drew 28 performer submissions, the most of any series. HBO Max’s “The Pitt” follows at 24, followed by its network counterpart “Euphoria” at 23, the now cancelled “The Copenhagen Test” from Peacock at 21 and the final season of “Hacks” with 20. Other series featuring bulky performer submissions include “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat” (19), “Only Murders in the Building” and “Tulsa King” (18) and “Fallout” (17).
According to Academy rules, the number of nominees in each category is determined by the volume of submissions, with the field expanding to a sixth lead or supporting nominee only once entries cross the 80-submission threshold. This year, all six lead acting races will produce just five nominees.
Lead drama actor holds essentially steady at 78, nearly matching last year’s 77, when 134 names crowded the ballot. The field is a streaming-and-broadcast mix with last year’s winner Noah Wyle (“The Pitt”), alongside Gary Oldman (“Slow Horses”), Sterling K. Brown (“Paradise”), Idris Elba (“Hijack”), Jon Hamm (“Your Friends and Neighbors”), Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”), Taron Egerton (“Smoke”), Charlie Cox (“Daredevil: Born Again”) and Michael C. Hall (“Dexter: Resurrection”).
Lead drama actress slipped to 63 from 75, continuing a long decline from 109 in 2023 and 114 in 2022. Kathy Bates returns for “Matlock” after making history last cycle as the oldest nominee in history of the category, joined by Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”), Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”), Rhea Seehorn (“Pluribus”), Ella Purnell (“Fallout”), Anna Sawai (“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”), Kristin Scott Thomas (“Slow Horses”) and a pair of “Gilded Age” leads in Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski.
Lead comedy actor fell to 43, the smallest field in the category across the past five years and a steep retreat from 51 last year and the 84 logged in 2022. The big names are in the race again with Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), the “Only Murders in the Building” duo of Steve Martin and Martin Short, Ted Danson (“A Man on the Inside”), Seth Rogen (“Platonic”), Jason Segel (“Shrinking”), Adam Brody (“Nobody Wants This”) and Matthew Rhys (“Widow’s Bay”).
Lead comedy actress held nearly even at 46, down a single name from 47. Jean Smart aims for her fifth trophy for “Hacks,” competing against Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”), Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”), Selena Gomez (“Only Murders in the Building”), Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”) and Kristen Bell (“Nobody Wants This”). Ryan Murphy’s star-stacked “All’s Fair” alone sends Kim Kardashian, Niecy Nash-Betts and Naomi Watts into the discussion.
The combined limited series and movie lead races are also seeing a downward trend. Lead actor (limited) ticked up to 52 from 48 but remains well off the 97 of 2023. Contenders include Jason Bateman and Jude Law (“Black Rabbit”), Charlie Hunnam (“Monster: The Ed Gein Story”), Oscar Isaac (“Beef”), Jon Bernthal (“His and Hers”) and the “Good Omens” pairing of Michael Sheen and David Tennant.
Lead actress dropped to 41 from 53, a far cry from the 96 in 2023. Emmy winners Sarah Snook (“All Her Fault”), Claire Danes (“The Beast in Me”) and Toni Collette (“Wayward”) are among the contenders, alongside Carey Mulligan (“Beef”), Taraji P. Henson (“Straw”), Rachel Weisz (“Vladimir”) and Kerry Washington (“Imperfect Women”).
STRANGER THINGS: SEASON 5. (L to R) Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Jake Connelly as Derek Turnbow, and Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in Stranger Things: Season 5. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2025
Courtesy of Netflix
The supporting drama categories remain the most crowded acting races, but still shows the long-term decline, which is staggering. Supporting drama actor stands at 228, roughly level with last year’s 233 yet down from a record 436 in 2022 — meaning, a loss of more than 200 submissions in four years. Supporting drama actress sits at 222, against 227 last year and 385 in 2022. “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is a force of its own here, having submitted more than a dozen cast members, while the deep benches of “The Boys,” “Stranger Things,” “Euphoria” and “The Gilded Age” pack both fields. We will hear at least seven nominees in each of the fields when noms are announced in July.
The supporting comedy races are the one places of the acting ballots, where the numbers are up, despite the overall series decline.
Supporting comedy actor jumped to 185 from 163 last year and 147 in 2024, the biggest year-over-year gain anywhere on the ballot. Harrison Ford and Michael Urie (“Shrinking”), Colman Domingo (“The Four Seasons”), Bobby Cannavale (“Only Murders in the Building”), the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” mainstays Danny DeVito and Charlie Day, Steve Buscemi (“Wednesday”) and Bryan Cranston, reprising his role in the “Malcolm in the Middle” Hulu revival.
Supporting comedy actress also rose, to 149 from 141. Last year’s winner Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”) is sitting alongside Michelle Pfeiffer (“Margo’s Got Money Troubles”), alongside strong women from “Abbott Elementary” (Janelle James, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lisa Ann Walter), “The Bear” (Liza Colón-Zayas and Abby Elliott) and a “Palm Royale” cluster led by Carol Burnett, Laura Dern and Leslie Bibb.
Alessandro Nivola, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bissette”
FX
With a loss of 40 submissions, supporting actor in a limited series or movie tumbled to 84 from 124, the largest decline of any acting race. At the same time, supporting actress (limited) fell to 66 from 105, a 39-person plummet. They both had record highs with their 2023 totals of 209 and 177. Even so, the talent is there. Netflix’s “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” lines up with recent Tony winners Lesley Manville and Laurie Metcalf, alongside co-stars Tom Hollander and Vicky Krieps. They are listed along with their streamer counterparts like Jonathan Banks and Brittany Show (“The Beast in Me”) and Troy Kotsur and Morgan Spector (“Black Rabbit”). There are also a couple of other familiar names on the list such as Sterling K. Brown (“Washington Black”), Patti LuPone (“The Artist: Or an Allegory of a Prostitute”) and Alessandro Nivola (“Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette”).
The guest races stay crowded and self-submission-friendly.
Guest comedy actor dipped to 88 from 97, with Jon Bernthal back for “The Bear,” Robert De Niro for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and a battalion of “Saturday Night Live” hosts. Guest comedy actress rose to 82 from 74, led by Jamie Lee Curtis and Molly Gordon from “The Bear,” and a huge “Hacks” roster of Jane Adams, Leslie Bibb, Cherry Jones, Ann Dowd, Anna Konkle, Laurie Metcalf, Kaitlin Olson, J. Smith Cameron, Alanna Ubach and Lauren Weedman.
L-R: Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka and Holly Hunter as Chancellor Nahla Ake in season 1 , episode 1 of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Brooke Palmer/Paramount+
Brooke Palmer/Paramount+
On the drama side of guest actor, the category was nearly steady at 84, down three from 87, with the sprawling “Boys” ensemble (Giancarlo Esposito, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kumail Nanjiani, John Noble) joined by Jonathan Bailey (“Bridgerton”), Paul Giamatti (“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy”), Kelsey Grammer (“The Hunting Party”) and Nathan Lane (“The Gilded Age”). Guest drama actress saw the cycle’s sharpest guest decline, falling to 51 from 77. Simone Ashley (“Bridgerton”), Merritt Wever (“The Gilded Age”), Shailene Woodley (“Paradise”), Isabella Rossellini (“The Beauty”), Tatiana Maslany (“Star Trek: Starfleet Academy”) and a “Matlock” guest cluster of Melanie Lynskey, Justina Machado and Yvette Nicole Brown are among the hopefuls. There will be six nominees in each guest acting race.
The gender-neutral short form performer category, always one of the smallest on the ballot, shrank to 11 submissions from 27. Tom Segura (“Bad Thoughts”), Desi Lydic (“The Daily Show: Desi Lydic Foxsplains”) and Randy Rainbow (“The Randy Rainbow Show”) lead a field rounded out by the casts of “Big Law” and “Life After Life.”
Emmy nomination voting runs through June 22.
Leave a Reply