Golden Globes 2017: Will Caitriona Balfe, Evan Rachel Wood, Claire Foy, or Keri Russell win Drama Actress?
Today, we’re focusing entirely on the Actress in a Drama Series – Television category of the 2017 Golden Globes, and it’s one that is certainly fierce. We’ve got several first-time nominees in the category, and the only returning contender is someone making just her second appearance. We’ve heard of starting over with a clean slate, and this is almost the Hollywood Foreign Press’ way of doing just that.
So who is in the best spot right now to take a trophy home? That’s what we are going to do our best to analyze here. At the bottom of the article, be sure to vote for your personal favorite, and we’ll come back on January 8 (the morning of the awards) to give you some of the reader results. Vote however often you’d like!
The nominees
Caitriona Balfe, “Outlander” (Starz)
Claire Foy, “The Crown” (Netflix)
Keri Russell, “The Americans” (FX)
Winona Ryder, “Stranger Things” (Netflix)
Evan Rachel Wood, “Westworld” (HBO)
Who will win – This is a tough race to call given that the Golden Globes do have a tendency to recognize shows with a heavy international flair. That’s why Balfe and Foy are such strong contenders this year, and why someone like Russell, who we find magnificent in every way, could end up getting overlooked by some of the voters. In the case of Ryder, the sheer strength of the entire cast around her may cause some individual notes of her performance to be forgotten.
Just as the HFPA enjoys international flair, though, they also tend to celebrate the show that was the biggest success most recent to the time of voting. That’s why we think that Evan Rachel Wood is the favorite to win for a powerful, at-times gut-wrenching performance on “Westworld” that is deserving in every way.
Who should win – Yet, again, a super-difficult vote given that every one of the contenders this year is solid. We tend to be partial towards Balfe because of our love of “Outlander,” and also some of the exemplary work she did in episodes like “Faith” and “Dragonfly in Amber.” That’s enough to make her our pick. As for the remainder of the field, we’d probably have Wood in second place followed by Russell, Foy (we think she’ll have a great shot at this again next year), and then Ryder. As we said, though, there is no “why is that person nominated?” on this list. It’s hard to go wrong with any choice.