Critics’ Choice TV Awards 2015: Will Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, or Eva Green win Drama Actress?

We feel like we’ve always been blunt in writing this articles for the Critics’ Choice TV Awards, and we are doing so yet again here while we talk about the Actress in a Drama Series category. We will be stunned if this is even close come May 31 when the awards are held. You have one massive favorite in the group, and then a number of other accomplished performers who have to be hoping for an upset. It’s possible, but also unlikely this year when you think about momentum.

As we’ve been doing now for the past week-plus, you can look below for our impressions on the field, and also a poll for you to share some of your personal picks to go along with it!

The nominees

Eva Green, “Penny Dreadful” (Showtime)

Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife” (CBS)

Keri Russell, “The Americans” (FX)

Taraji P. Henson, “Empire” (Fox)

Vera Farmiga, “Bates Motel” (A&E)

Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder” (ABC)

Who should win – It’s Cookie’s world, and we’re all just living in it. As cool as it is to see Green nominated in this category, to us Taraji is a runaway in this category. In looking at some of the other candidates, we think that Farmiga and Russell are great but not as buzz-worthy, Margulies is hurt somewhat by recent stories about the end of Archie Panjabi’s time on the show, and Davis will mostly just be the victim of bad timing.

Who will win – Once again, Taraji. We do feel mightily for Viola here, given that had “Empire” not come around we feel like she’d be in pole position to win this and probably the Emmy a little later this year. She may still have a shot, but Henson has here the rare combination of a wonderful performance and also a show that an enormous audience is behind. The closest thing we’ve seen to this recently was with the cast of “Breaking Bad.”