Outlander season 3: Analyzing the Sam Heughan – Golden Globe odds before nominations

The Golden Globe nominations are going to be revealed bright and early on Monday, December 11 — at least on the West Coast. What this means is that there will no longer be any mystery as to whether or not Outlander and some of its cast receive nominations.

We’ve made it no secret that we want Sam Heughan to get a nod this year as Jamie Fraser — and we know from the results of our Golden Globe polls that many of you are in agreement. Yet, will that actually happen?

Yesterday, we noted that Caitriona Balfe is as close to a lock for a nomination as one from this show is going to be, mostly because of her performance (incredible) coupled with her recent nomination at the Critics’ Choice Awards along with Globes nods in the past. Sam’s also given an incredible performance both on this season and the two before it, but unfortunately we’ve seen him snubbed by both the Globes in the past and even the Critics’ Choice Awards this past week.

Nonetheless, given the Globes’ past history of being favorable towards Outlander plus a number of other factors (including the timing of the third season and the greater exposure of the show itself), we’re optimistic that Heughan will get some love this year — though cautiously so.

The first thing that Sam has to wade through to get a nomination is excellent competition. Some of the top contenders for the actor nod this year include Freddie Highmore from The Good Doctor, Sterling K. Brown from This Is Us, James Franco for The Deuce, Bob Odenkirk for Better Call Saul, Kit Harington for Game of Thrones, Jonathan Groff for Mindhunter, Jason Bateman for Ozark, and a wide array of other names that we haven’t even mentioned here. There’s also another great potential nominee from Starz in Power star Omari Hardwick.

Sam is worthy of being on that list, but we’ve seen ballots among critics both including him and snubbing him. The international popularity of Outlander should come to his favor, but will that be able to overtake the newness of The Good Doctor or the sweeping popularity of This Is Us? With no clear frontrunner in the Actor in a Drama series race, this could be one of the most chaotic and surprising categories of the entire Globes. As of right now we’d say that Brown is the favorite with critics / past awards shows, but the Globes have a history of going against the grain.

If Sam does get the nomination come Monday morning, be prepared to celebrate and dance around in the streets. If it doesn’t happen, remember that this doesn’t take away from a great performance or a great season.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at the Golden Globe odds for Outlander itself leading to the nominations taking place. Share your thoughts on this story in the comments and like CarterMatt on Facebook for some more news. (Photo: Starz.)