Emmys 2016: Should Peter Dinklage, Jonathan Banks, or Jon Voight win Supporting Actor – Drama?
We’ve long felt that the Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category is among the most complicated ones that is out there for the Primetime Emmy Awards, and after looking at the field this time around, we certainly do not think there is a clear favorite. You’ve got a past winner in here, some other names with many nominations to their names, and of course an icon in Jon Voight who has more credits to his name than we can count.
So who should win this year? That’s what we want to do our best to figure out here.
The nominees
Jonathan Banks, “Better Call Saul” (AMC)
Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
Kit Harington, “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
Michael Kelly, “House of Cards” (Netflix)
Ben Mendelsohn, “Bloodline” (Netflix)
Jon Voight, “Ray Donovan” (Showtime)
Analyzing the field – This is one of those cases where, in theory, we could see anyone winning — though Kelly is probably the biggest longshot just because “House of Cards” isn’t the buzzy show that it once was. One of the larger questions here is going to be whether or not the two “Game of Thrones” guys end up canceling each other out in some capacity, and if someone like Banks can win even though this was not his character Mike’s strongest season of the show / “Breaking Bad.”
Who should win – We are still leaning towards Banks, in part because he sometimes does so much with so little, and also because of his legacy of getting snubbed routinely for this role. We do understand a strong case for Mendelsohn, and right now he’d probably be in second place. We love Dinklage personally, but the fact that he has won multiple times for strong Tyrion seasons doesn’t make us as inclined to root for him now.
Who will win – Dinklage is a safe bet, but we could see the vote-split happening with Harington (who will get some votes on the strength of the brilliant action sequences). Still, we’re giving the edge to Voight given that the Emmys tend to love their icons, and we don’t think anyone imaged that Mickey Donovan would be near the top of the list of the actor’s most-notable roles when first signed on. It’s a great story about sometimes, incredible roles can still come later in life in Hollywood, and hopefully it’s a lesson to studios to think outside of the box with the stories they greenlight.
Photo: AMC