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Jan 24, 2024

Emmys 2023: Lead Actress in a Drama Series — Dream Nominations

By Team TVLine / June 6 2023, 6:00 AM PDT Should

By Team TVLine / June 6 2023, 6:00 AM PDT

Should Bella Ramsey snag an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series — and in our Dream scenario, the Last of Us star absolutely should — they would be the category's fourth youngest contender ever, following Little House on the Prairie‘s Melissa Sue Anderson (age 15 in 1978), My So-Called Life‘s Claire Danes (age 16 in 1995) and Family‘s Kristy McNichol (age 17 in 1980).

Ramsey is actually one of four HBO performers on our Lead Actress in a Drama Emmy short list. Who are the other three?

Scroll through the list below to review all of our Dream Nominees (remember, these aren't predictions; they’re wish lists) and then tell us if our picks warrant a "Hell, yes!," "Um, no" or "How could you leave off so-and-so?!"

For the record, 2023 Emmy nominations will be voted on from June 15-26, and unveiled on July 12. The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony is scheduled to air on Monday, Sept. 18 on Fox.

Scroll down for links to our previous Dream Emmy categories:

🏆 Outstanding Drama Series — Our Dream Nominees

WHY THEY DESERVE A NOD: Gods be good, D’Arcy was on fire in the Game of Thrones prequel. The actor (who uses they/them pronouns) kept Rhaenyra at a low boil through the back half of the first season and built to a tragic, rage-filled pinnacle in the finale. They cycled through so much fear and uncertainty during that stillbirth scene while also portraying the physical pain of a doomed labor. Stunning! Later, D’Arcy deftly navigated a hairpin plot turn that took the princess from an onslaught of devastating grief to a promise of vengeful resolve, communicating all of it with a look to the camera that still gives us chills.

WHY SHE DESERVES A NOD: In the massively underrated drama's second season, Herrold went full throttle as Harper Stern wooed new business from a self-made billionaire. The character's steely resolve was on full display, giving the actress plenty of space to effuse confidence and competence, while reveling in the delusion, insubordination and crushing defeats that followed. Despite Harper's extreme narcissism and selfishness, we couldn't take our eyes off Herrold as she repeatedly delivered complex, multilayered performances that were always soaked in savagery.

WHY SHE DESERVES A NOD: It takes a special kind of talent to oscillate between black humor and deeply felt family drama, and the Apple TV+ series proves Horgan's got it in spades. As Eva, the oldest of a group of sisters who collude to kill their sibling's abusive husband, she's at one moment cutting (her savage sparring with Claes Bang as the villainous John Paul), the next passionately devoted (Eva's relationship with her sisters is the beating heart of the show). Even better? Horgan also is uproariously funny in the role of a woman as committed to a bad idea as she is to the women in her family.

WHY SHE DESERVES A NOD: We always think we’ve seen Moss take June to her breaking point, and Moss always offers fascinating new insight into the former handmaid. The Hulu series’ Season 5 found June so endangered by terrorists that the only solution was to go on the run. Moss was stellar throughout, but we were struck hardest by that moment in the finale when June boarded the refugee train without Luke. Moss pressed her hand to her mouth and wept silently yet fiercely, giving June a scant moment to sag under the weight of her Sisyphean efforts before she rallied to put on a brave face for her young daughter.

WHY THEY DESERVE A NOD: Ramsey (who identifies as nonbinary) was in an unenviable position ahead of The Last of Us‘ debut, succeeding Ashley Johnson's beloved portrayal of Ellie and facing the original video game's, shall we say, passionate fanbase. But from their first moments on screen, Ramsey easily captured Ellie's spirit: her tenacity, her wit, her youthful innocence that reminded us Ellie was just a kid who longed to know how the pre-apocalyptic world worked. And in Ellie's lowest, most helpless moments — Sam's death in Episode 5, or her last conversation with Joel in the freshman finale — Ramsey magnificently conveyed the emotional burden of becoming humanity's only hope.

WHY SHE DESERVES A NOD: Every time we think Reilly can't possibly impress us more, she's like, "Hold my beer." So we shouldn't have been surprised when, in the first half of the drama's fifth and final season, she delivered one knockout punch after another. As she took Beth Dutton from horror at the fact that brother Jamie had gotten the very thing he’d kept her from ever having — a child — to chilling resolve to see him dead, our jaw hit the floor so often, it smarted worse than Summer Higgins’ after their brawl.

WHY SHE DESERVES A NOD: As clever schemer Shiv, Snook has always been a cool customer with a cutting remark at the ready. But the final season gave Snook a chance to dive deep into Shiv's true feelings, and she responded with a remarkable string of performances as Shiv endured the sudden death of her father Logan and the dissolution of her marriage to Tom, while also trying to play both sides of the GoJo deal — only to have that come crashing down around her, too. Snook took a chance moving from supporting actress to lead this year, but we’re hoping that chance pays off.