Critics’ Choice TV Awards 2015: Carrie Coon, Joelle Carter, Christine Baranski compete for Supporting Drama Actress prize

We have profiled a variety of different categories already in our Critics’ Choice TV Awards article series, but we have to say at this particular moment that the Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series field is our favorite. Not only that, but we really do not even feel like any one analyst out there can say that there is a winner here pinned down. You’ve got some great performers across the board, and it does not matter if you are talking about someone who has been a nominee many times over, or someone completely new to the awards circuit.

Below, we are going to do our best to give you what are at least our quick impressions on this category, including who we think are the most likely contenders to come away with the title.

The nominees 

Carrie Coon, “The Leftovers” (HBO)

Christine Baranski, “The Good Wife” (CBS)

Joelle Carter, “Justified” (FX)

Katheryn Winnick, “Vikings” (History)

Lorraine Toussaint, “Orange Is the New Black” (Netflix)

Mae Whitman, “Parenthood” (NBC)

Who should win – We struggled with this one. Carter had a great final season, and we’re thrilled to see people like Winnick and Whitman in the mix here. Our pick here would probably be Carrie Coon, given that the Nora Durst scenes on “The Leftovers” were astronomically the strongest of the entire series. She was so unbelievably strong, and she offered a little bit of gravitas to a show that was at times very difficult to watch.

Who will win – It’s once again a tough choice here. We’re going to say that Carter is the favorite given the amount of love that the critics had for “Justified” in terms of total nominations, but we’d consider Baranski a safe bet, as well. We’ve complained a lot about some elements of “The Good Wife” this year (mainly the way the Archie Panjabi exit was handled), but she was always a shining star when she was onscreen.