All hail Dame Harriet Walter, the new queen of the Emmy guest actress world. For the second year in a row, Walter pulled off an incredible feat: She’s nominated for both guest actress in a drama and guest actress in a comedy. That’s right, a consecutive double play, for her roles in HBO’s “Succession” and Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.”
Granted, it doesn’t hurt that she’s part of TV’s two biggest shows — and now, the Emmy front-runners (again!) for drama and comedy. Normally I would reach out to talk with Walter about her unique place at last year and this year’s ceremonies (Which table does she sit at? Does being a double nominee make it doubly stressful?).
But due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Walter is unavailable to speak. Still, I marvel at how she has juggled playing the matriarch of powerful and dynamic people on both shows. In “Succession,” she’s Caroline Collingwood, the second wife of Logan Roy and the difficult and passive-aggressive mother of Kendall, Roman and Shiv. She’s just as cold and absent as their father, so it’s not hard to see why those kids turned out the way they did. In “Ted Lasso,” as Deborah Welton, the mother of Rebecca, Walter is even more aloof (in the season’s last episode, Deborah interrupts her daughter — about to reveal some important information — to share that she’s taking up skateboarding).
In the comedy race, Walter is up against two more “Ted Lasso” stars: Sarah Niles and Becky Ann Baker. In drama, she’s also facing off with two “Succession” actors, Hiam Abbass and Cherry Jones. Coincidentally, Jones won in 2020 for playing Nan Pierce on that show — over fellow nominee Walter.
And that’s perhaps a sign of what has made the guest actor and actress races a bit tricky in recent years. It’s a thin line between guest, recurring and even full-time performer in an age of short-order series. Performers can enter in the guest category if they appear in “less than 50% of the eligible episodes.” Niles, who was nominated in the supporting comedy actress category last year, appeared in fewer scenes this season — allowing her to move to guest.
Should a recurring character still be considered a “guest”? I don’t know the answer to that. Last year, Nathan Lane won the comedy guest actor Emmy for “only Murders in the Building” as Teddy Dimas. This year, he’s back in the category — and among his competitors is Sam Richardson, playing Edwin Akufo on “Ted Lasso,” which also earned him a nom last year.
In drama guest actor, “Succession” stalwarts James Cromwell (nominated in the category three times as Ewan Roy) is back, as is Arian Moayed (as Stewy). At least they won’t be up against Alexander Skarsgård, who graduated to supporting actor this year as that show’s Lukas Matsson, after competing last year as a guest. By the way, this category is completely dominated by HBO, which is also fielding four “The Last of Us” contenders who are true guest stars (as in, they won’t be back next year because … well, watch the show!): Murray Bartlett, Lamar Johnson, Nick Offerman and Keivonn Montreal Woodard.
Also always unique: the appearance of “Saturday Night Live” hosts in the guest comedy categories. In 2021, both Dave Chapelle and Maya Rudolph took home wins in comedy guest for “SNL.” This year, Emmy overachiever Pedro Pascal is in as an “SNL” host on the guest comedy actor side, while Quinta Brunson is representing “SNL” in guest comedy actress. Coincidentally, Brunson will be facing off with the guest star who played her mother on “Abbott Elementary,” Taraji P. Henson.
Yep, the guest actor categories are all over the map, and ripe with trivia and oddities — and as someone who has a blast chronicling those obscure facts every year, I love it.
