2023 Emmy Predictions: Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor

Just two years after winning a Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor Emmy for “Mare of Easttown,” Evan Peters currently has a strong shot at conquering the corresponding lead category as the star of “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” By succeeding on this outing, he would not only maintain his perfect acting Emmys record, but would also follow Ed Flanders (“A Moon for the Misbegotten,” 1976; “Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking,” 1977) as the second recipient of both possible limited program performance prizes.

Given the overall strength of this year’s Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor lineup, Peters’s potential win won’t come easily, if at all. The only other previous Emmy nominee in the mix is Kumail Nanjiani (“Welcome to Chippendales”), with most of the slots being filled by well-known first-timers Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”), Daniel Radcliffe (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”), Michael Shannon (“George & Tammy”), and Steven Yeun (“Beef”).

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In order to tell whether Peters really has anything to worry about, let’s take a closer look at each nominee. Be sure to visit our predictions center to make your own picks in this and 25 other Primetime Emmy categories.

Taron Egerton as Jimmy Keene (“Black Bird”)
In his first live action TV venture in nearly a decade, Egerton plays a real-life criminal whose 10-year drug and weapons conviction was overturned following his successful efforts to specifically incriminate suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser). Earlier this year, he received a BAFTA Award nomination for this performance, losing in that case to Ben Whishaw (“This is Going to Hurt”).

Kumail Nanjiani as Steve Banerjee (“Welcome to Chippendales”)
Nanjiani, who previously earned TV academy recognition for his 2019 dramatic guest appearance on “The Twilight Zone,” stars on this series as the shifty founder of the Chippendales stripping troupe. Prior to his suicide in 1994, the entrepreneurial Indian immigrant faced multiple murder for hire charges, including one related to his slain former business associate, Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett).

Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer (“Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”)
Peters, whose acting career began in 2004 when he was 17 years old, has since appeared on nearly two dozen programs, including nine iterations of “Monster” creator Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story.” On the inaugural season of this anthology series, he embodies real-life serial killer Dahmer, who was known to have taken 17 male, mostly non-white victims between 1978 and 1991.

Daniel Radcliffe as Al Yankovic (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”)
In the dozen years since he last played Harry Potter, Radcliffe has intentionally tackled plenty of weird roles, including a surprisingly helpful corpse in the film “Swiss Army Man” and a hapless, time-traveling angel on the sitcom “Miracle Workers.” By stepping into Yankovic’s shoes, he amps up the story of the iconic song parodist’s rise to fame, which involves him forming friendships with radio host Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) and pop star Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood).

Michael Shannon as George Jones (“George & Tammy”)
Three decades into his career, Shannon has earned his first Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Grammy-winning country singer Jones opposite lead female contender Jessica Chastain as the artist’s third wife, Tammy Wynette. Over the course of six episodes, the Showtime series covers two decades worth of life and career high and low points for the couple, who divorced in 1975 after six years of marriage.

Steven Yeun as Danny Cho (“Beef”)
Yeun, who, like Peters, is concurrently nominated for producing his Netflix series, is the only actor in this lineup whose character is entirely fictional. The “Walking Dead” alum portrays Los Angeles contractor Danny as a somewhat unscrupulous man whose depressing life really hits the skids after he engages in a rage-induced car chase with an equally stressed-out businesswoman.

So, who will win the 2023 Emmy for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor? While it may be tempting to point to Radcliffe’s recent Critics Choice Awards triumph in support of his possible Emmys success, it’s important to note that he didn’t face any of his current competitors in that earlier contest. Indeed, the only one of these six nominees who has already bested any of the others is Peters, who prevailed over Egerton at the 2023 Golden Globes.

As evidenced by the fact that both of their series brought Netflix 13 nominations, Peters’s most serious competitor is Yeun, whose show’s April 2023 premiere gives him the arguable advantage of being untested on the TV awards circuit. Still, since it’s unclear just how far voters will go in awarding “Beef,” it’s best to temper expectations, especially given the undeniable strength of Peters’s performance and the academy’s proven favorability toward him.

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