--- title: Emmys 2017 Predictions: Who Will Win? description: Here’s who will—and should—win Emmys this year. canonical: https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/ author: Daniel D'Addario article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-12T12:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:30.770Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Here’s Who Should—and Actually Will—Win Emmys This Year og:description: The field is considerably more wide open than in years past og:url: https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf00b65e52168846c/6988dd01fb4eac5cbe893a48/emmys-feature.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: emmys-2017-feature-image og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s Who Should—and Actually Will—Win Emmys This Year twitter:description: The field is considerably more wide open than in years past twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf00b65e52168846c/6988dd01fb4eac5cbe893a48/emmys-feature.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here’s Who Should—and Actually Will—Win Emmys This Year ## Video: Elisabeth Moss and Margaret Atwood on the Urgency of The Handmaid's Tale [Watch (HLS stream): Elisabeth Moss and Margaret Atwood on the Urgency of The Handmaid's Tale](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KQNiWmZW.m3u8) (2:39)  _Published 2017-08-31. The Handmaid's Tale book landed back on bestseller lists and the TV show has been called 'prescient' by critics and fans in 2017._  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Sep 12, 2017 12:00 PM UTC  HBO; Hulu; NBC  by [Daniel D'Addario](https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/)  ## Daniel D'Addario Sep 12, 2017 12:00 PM UTC This year’s Emmys are as chaotic an awards ceremony as any in memory—many fields feel wide-open. [Any number of narratives](http://time.com/4931073/emmys-becoming-a-battlefield/) could open up, from politics, spurred by the socially conscious shows up for prizes, to platforms, as streaming television could well claim its first top Emmy. Out of the [long and diverse list of nominees](http://time.com/4854403/emmy-nominations-2017/), here’s who looks likely (and who really deserves) to take home the prize:  Stranger Things; The Handmaid's Tale Netflix; Hulu ## Best Drama Series **Will Win:** _The Handmaid’s Tale_ (Hulu) **Should Win:** _Stranger Things_ (Netflix) With [_Game of Thrones_](http://time.com/game-of-thrones-2017/) ineligible this year due to its later-than-usual airdate and seven nominees that have never won before, this field is free and clear. But not all nominees are created equal. Those with the broadest potential bases of support would seem to be the emotional drama [_This Is Us_](http://time.com/4643022/this-is-us-nbc-review/), the sci-fi sensations [_Westworld_](http://time.com/4590307/westworld-finale-review/) and [_Stranger Things_](http://time.com/4590307/westworld-finale-review/), and the dystopian saga [_The Handmaid’s Tale_](http://time.com/4734904/margaret-atwood-elisabeth-moss-handmaids-tale/). Of those, _The Handmaid’s Tale_ makes the most urgent claim to voters’ attentions. [Fortuitously timed](http://time.com/4732788/handmaids-tale-review/) and expertly marketed, the show’s resonances with present-day troubles make it seem like a worthy vote. While I tended to find _The Handmaid’s Tale_ [more interesting than well-made](http://time.com/4815007/handmaids-tale-season-finale-review/), I recognize the value of the Emmys’ crowning a show in part for its centrality to the culture. Given TV’s diffuseness, “best” is a tough claim to make, and the award show is at its best when it seeks to mark a cultural moment. For that reason, I’d give _Stranger Things_ the edge on my own ballot over my second choice, [_Better Call Saul_](http://time.com/4732801/better-call-saul-gus-fring/). A beautifully crafted story of innocent adventurism told in the remixed argot of a rec-room VHS shelf, _Stranger Things_ is, if anything, a bit critically underrated. Its [mega-impact on the culture](http://time.com/tag/stranger-things/) all through summer 2016 make it perhaps the defining streaming sensation of our time, and would make it a very deserving winner.  Veep; Atlanta HBO; FX Networks ## Best Comedy Series **Will Win:** _Veep_ (HBO) **Should Win:** _Atlanta_ (FX) It’s easy enough to imagine [_Veep_](http://time.com/4732295/review-veep-season-6/) rolling on to a third consecutive win despite a marked loss of direction in its most recent season. No other nominee seems quite strong enough to overtake it—though [_Black-ish_](http://time.com/3419268/review-blackish/) has certainly picked up steam in nomination count and consensus popularity since its first year. In its most recent season, though, the show’s ever-present commodity fetishism and obsessive materialism curdled a bit, going from joke to simple fact. My pick would be [_Atlanta_](http://time.com/4476768/best-fall-tv-pilots/), a sitcom that, like fellow nominee [_Master of None_](http://time.com/4111777/master-of-none-aziz-ansari-review/), uses its creator’s idiosyncratic viewpoint to build out an engaging, seemingly boundless world. Both nominees are pushing forward what television can do and be.  Big Little Lies; Black Mirror: San Junipero HBO; Netflix ## Best Limited Series and Best TV Movie **Will Win:** _Big Little Lies_ (HBO) and _Black Mirror: San Junipero_ (Netflix) **Should Win:** _Big Little Lies_ and _Black Mirror: San Junipero_ Both categories seem likely to award their worthiest competitor. [_Big Little Lies_](http://time.com/4722273/big-little-lies-finale-review/) stealthily engrossed its viewer in a staid social whirl with a prosaic set of problems, before delivering a radical story of the power of women united, and the power they lose when allowing men to divide them. [_San Junipero_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%5FJunipero), the most effective of last year’s [_Black Mirror_](http://time.com/tag/black-mirror/) episodes, isn’t really a TV movie, but deserves to be honored for its big-hearted, inventive story of love in the age of boundless technological advance. Both projects had deep reserves of imagination and humanity—it’s hard to imagine many viewers who’ve seen them voting against either.  The Handmaid's Tale George Kraychyk—Hulu ## Best Actor and Actress, Drama **Will Win:** Sterling K. Brown, _This Is Us_ (NBC) and Elisabeth Moss, _The Handmaid’s Tale_ **Should Win:** Bob Odenkirk, _Better Call Saul_ (AMC) and Elisabeth Moss, _The Handmaid’s Tale_ _This Is Us_ has two actors from its cast nominated—a state of affairs that’d usually suggest a split vote. But Brown gets more to do than the stoic patriarch played by Milo Ventimiglia, does it better, and was a deserving and charming Emmy winner for the miniseries [_The People v. O.J. Simpson_](http://time.com/4193893/review-the-people-v-o-j-simpson-american-crime/) just last year. [Elisabeth Moss](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/arts/television/elisabeth-moss-interview-emmys-handmaids-tale.html?%5Fr=0) will win in small part because of the opposite fact: she’s never had the chance to charm future voters with an Emmy speech despite seven previous nominations for her roles in [_Mad Men_](http://time.com/mad-men-last-days/) and [_Top of the Lake_](http://variety.com/2017/tv/reviews/top-of-the-lake-china-girl-review-sundancetv-jane-campion-elisabeth-moss-nicole-kidman-1202544564/). That she has delivered a sensitive and carefully thought-through performance that leads the audience through the wild narrative swings her series takes cements the win. There are several overdue winners in both categories, but I give Moss the edge over [_The Americans_](http://time.com/4361705/the-americans-season-4-finale-review/)’ [Keri Russell](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/keri-russell-perfect-timing-americans-final-season-1026787) for her longer wait for a win. _The Americans_’ Matthew Rhys would narrowly lose my vote to Bob Odenkirk, whose sensitive, bruised soulfulness-turning-to-soullessness on _Better Call Saul_ shouldn’t go unrewarded a third year in a row.  Atlanta FX Networks ## Best Actor and Actress, Comedy **Will Win:** Donald Glover, _Atlanta_ and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, _Veep_ **Should Win:** Donald Glover, _Atlanta_ and Pamela Adlon, _Better Things_ (FX) Much though Golden Globe winner [Tracee Ellis Ross](http://time.com/4627910/golden-globes-2017-tracee-ellis-ross-speech/) seems to edge closer to the win at the Emmys, it’s still hard to imagine betting against an end to Louis-Dreyfus’s long winning streak. Ross would be a worthy winner, but I’d cast my vote for the creative force behind the FX gem [_Better Things_](http://time.com/3989101/louis-ck-bigger-things/), a show whose exhausted and frayed-nerve take on parenting is made both painful and joyful through Pamela Adlon’s achingly real performance. Another FX auteur, Donald Glover, seems likely to break Jeffrey Tambor’s own winning streak for [_Transparent_](http://time.com/4129514/transparent-season-2-review/)_._ The [near-universal acclaim Glover got](http://time.com/4465184/donald-glover-atlanta-childish-gambino/) for _Atlanta_ was one of last year’s biggest TV stories, and deservedly so. His quiet, subtly heartbreaking performance as a would-be rapper who wants much more than life’s given him proves Glover’s more than just a visionary. As an actor, he’s the real deal.  Big Little Lies HBO ## Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress, Miniseries/Movie **Will Win:** Robert De Niro, _The Wizard of Lies_ (HBO), Nicole Kidman, _Big Little Lies_, Alfred Molina, _Feud_ (FX), and Regina King, _American Crime_ (ABC) **Should Win:** Riz Ahmed, _The Night Of_ (HBO), Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgard, and Laura Dern, all for _Big Little Lies_ Nicole Kidman’s [shockingly edgy](http://time.com/4721757/nicole-kidman-big-little-lies-finale-celeste/) and painfully raw Big Little Lies performance was widely seen as reinvigorating her career. (That this “revival” happened after she received an Academy Award nomination in January proves just how staggering a leap forward _Big Little Lies_ was.) Her fellow movie star Robert De Niro would seem likely to triumph over less-heralded competition for his role as Bernard Madoff, while Alfred Molina provides a worthy way to honor the much-nominated [_Feud_](http://time.com/4748141/review-feud-finale/) and Regina King seems likely to complete a hat trick for her [_American Crime_](http://time.com/4193893/review-the-people-v-o-j-simpson-american-crime/) performances. Kidman, despite the strength of her competition, simply _must_ win. As for the rest: I wish I believed voters’ memories were long enough to honor Riz Ahmed’s transformative work as a kid in over his head in the justice system in last summer’s _The Night Of_. And while Molina is sensitive and empathetic on _Feud_ and King delivered perhaps her best-ever work on _American Crime_ this season, I simply can’t ignore the impact of _Big Little Lies_. Skarsgard transformed the neighborhood hot dad—gradually, then all at once, convincingly—into an out-and-out monster, while Dern provided a virtuosic outlet for the sheer rage all of her neighbors managed to hide behind social graces.  Westworld HBO ## Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Drama Will Win: John Lithgow, _The Crown_ (Netflix) and Thandie Newton, _Westworld_ Should Win: Jeffrey Wright and Thandie Newton, both for _Westworld_ In a competitive field, it’s worth looking for the Emmy favorite—given the awards ceremony’s tendency to play favorites. John Lithgow’s long TV history (he’s won five trophies for his work on _3rd Rock from the Sun_, _Dexter_ and—yes!—[_Amazing Stories_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing%5FStories%5F%28TV%5Fseries%29)) compounds upon the novel nature of an American playing Winston Churchill and the fact that [_The Crown_](http://time.com/4557482/the-crown-review-netflix-queen-elizabeth/) is likely to get blanked in several other places it’s nominated. Honoring him honors the show. The same’s true of [Thandie Newton](http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/oprah-winfrey-thandie-newton-westworld-color-purple-actors-on-actors-1202454286/), a standout from the cast of _Westworld_ whose performance as an android coming alive to the possibilities of her intelligence was among her show’s most convincing special effects. I’d applaud her winning, and would give a prize, too, to her costar Jeffrey Wright, whose discovery of his true nature made for one of the season’s most memorable moments.  SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- "Margot Robbie" Episode 1705 -- Pictured: (l-r) Alec Baldwin as Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump and Kate McKinnon as Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton during the "Debate Cold Open" sketch on October 1, 2016 -- (Photo by: Will Heath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) NBC/Getty Images ## Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Comedy **Will Win:** Alec Baldwin and Kate McKinnon, both for _Saturday Night Live_ (NBC) **Should Win:** Matt Walsh, _Veep_ and Kathryn Hahn, _Transparent_ Coming off a period of perhaps its [greatest relevance in memory](http://time.com/4673000/the-uncanny-catharsis-of-saturday-night-live/), _Saturday Night Live_ seems poised to be a big winner at the Emmys. While I’m sanguine about shows like _The Handmaid’s Tale_ getting prizes for their status as zeitgeist hits, I’d argue that neither Baldwin nor McKinnon had wholly successful seasons—Baldwin never constructed a truly compelling take on Trump besides a vulgar dunderhead, and [McKinnon’s “Hallelujah” performance](http://time.com/4569026/saturday-night-live-snl-donald-trump-review/) post-election was as noxiously sentimental as her [_Fatal Attraction-_spin](http://time.com/4668150/saturday-night-live-kellyanne-conway-jake-tapper-donald-trump/) on Kellyanne Conway was cruel and underthought. Still, these two performers were the talk of the TV season. I’d vote instead for two underheralded actors: Walsh has never won an Emmy for his work on _Veep_, and his hangdog good humor in the face of endless crisis felt all the more welcome in an unmoored season. And [Hahn’s performance](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1063517/) as the biggest and most open heart on _Transparent_ became more wrenching and convincing still now that she’s broken. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/"},"headline":"Here’s Who Should—and Actually Will—Win Emmys This Year","datePublished":"2017-09-12T12:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:58:30.770Z","description":"The field is considerable more wide open than in years past, here's a look at who should take home a statue","url":"https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf00b65e52168846c/6988dd01fb4eac5cbe893a48/emmys-feature.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel D'Addario","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-daddario/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf00b65e52168846c/6988dd01fb4eac5cbe893a48/emmys-feature.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"emmys-2017-feature-image","caption":"","creditText":"HBO; Hulu; NBC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/","name":"Here’s Who Should—and Actually Will—Win Emmys This Year"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Elisabeth Moss and Margaret Atwood on the Urgency of The Handmaid's Tale","description":"The Handmaid's Tale book landed back on bestseller lists and the TV show has been called 'prescient' by critics and fans in 2017.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KQNiWmZW/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-08-31T19:12:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KQNiWmZW.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/","duration":"PT2M39S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4936043/emmys-2017-predictions/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```