2016 Golden Globes: Why Eva Green, Caitriona Balfe, Gillian Anderson deserve Drama Actress nods

At the Emmys earlier this year, we saw Viola Davis take home the trophy and deliver one of the most powerful speeches in recent memory. Does this victory make her the favorite at the Golden Globes for the same Actress in a Drama Series category? Not necessarily.

While we would say going into our latest Golden Globes spotlight article that she is the favorite, this is an extremely competitive category where a variety of different people could win. One thing to especially remember here is that the Hollywood Foreign Press is often attracted to new shows, so do not be surprised if a number of women from first-year series make it onto the final ballot. The following list is what our personal ballot would be if we were a part of the voting group.

You can of course vote for your favorite in the poll below, and we’ll keep the voting open until December 9 at noon Pacific time, just under a day before the nominations are announced.

Gillian Anderson, “The Fall” (Netflix) – Like the Jamie Dornan in the Actor category, Anderson benefits by the fact that season 2 aired early this year on Netflix, technically making her eligible despite it airing in Britain / Ireland in 2014. We’re grateful for the rule structure, mostly because she was truly magnificent as Stella and she is worthy of a nod. This has been a fantastic year for Gillian as a whole, given that she was also wonderful in her supporting role on “Hannibal.”

Caitriona Balfe, “Outlander” (Starz) – The funny thing about Balfe is that despite our intense and very-present love for “Outlander,” we still feel like we still underrated her abilities earlier this summer at the conclusion of season 1. This is what time and reflection is for: Picking up on some of the nuance and the range of a performance that enters your consciousness over time. She gave her all to bringing Claire Randall / Fraser to life, and set the bar very high for all of season 2. Our favorite Caitriona moment of season 1 may come via the way she tackled the decision to not return to her present through the stones, and to stay in Scotland with Jamie.

Viola Davis, “How to Get Away with Murder” (ABC) – As we said, Davis has to be the favorite going into the show early next year. She’s amazing at some of the most intense, challenging scenes that you will see anywhere on TV. Annalise Keating is not an easy character to base a show around, given that she’s not always inherently likable and very rarely lets her guard down. Yet, there is something Davis does, in particular with her expressions and her non-verbal communication, that allows us to gravitate to this character. You still want to root for her at times, even knowing that she helps people who have no business out of prison.

Eva Green, “Penny Dreadful” (Showtime) – Green to us is probably the biggest underdog on TV, noting most awards-shows reluctance to admit that great performances can happen on a show full of complicated supernatural characters and creatures. Yet, she is outstanding as Vanessa on this series. Eva plays this part with the gravitas of a motion-picture epic, and it may be some of her experience in cinema that may allow her to be better-suited to tackle some of these grander themes with the necessary gravitas and grace.

Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black” (BBC America) – We imagine that we’ll continue to nominate Maslany until the end of time, mostly because how can you not? This series is just so innovative, and the fact that she is so many characters really just adds to it. Everyone has their favorite clone, and interestingly she is so good at each one individually that you could probably make a case for her just on that alone. Then, you remember that she plays everyone else.

Honorable mention – Jaimie Alexander, “Blindspot” (NBC), Priyanka Chopra, “Quantico” (ABC), Michelle Dockery, “Downton Abbey” (PBS), Taraji P. Henson, “Empire” (Fox), Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men” (AMC).