Can Amanda Plummer or Michelle Forbes break the 54-year ‘Star Trek’ actors drought at the Emmys this year?
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Fifty-four years. That’s how long it has been since an actor in a “Star Trek” franchise series has been nominated for an Emmy. Back in 1969, the late Leonard Nimoy received his third and final Emmy nomination for his iconic role as First Officer Spock in the original series, the only actor from the sci-fi classic to be nominated from the show, which ran for three seasons on NBC in the late 1960s. Since then, it’s been crickets from the TV academy when it comes to “Star Trek” actors.
Not even Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard? Nope. He did score a rare Screen Actors Guild Award nomination back in 1994 for the final season of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” but Emmy voters subsequently overlooked him, despite nominating the show for Best Drama Series for its seventh and final season that same year.
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OK, how about Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg as barkeep Guinan? Nope. Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” or his late co-stars, Tony winner René Auberjonois as Odo and Oscar winner Louise Fletcher as Kai Winn Adami? Nope, nope and nope.
What about Emmy nominee Kate Mulgrew (“Orange is the New Black”) as Captain Janeway in “Star Trek: Voyager,” or Emmy nominee Scott Bakula (“Quantum Leap”) as Captain Jonathan Archer in “Star Trek: Enterprise,” or anyone from the more recent iterations of the franchise — “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Star Trek: Picard,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks” and “Star Trek: Prodigy” — like Sonequa Martin-Green, recent Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, Anson Mount or Rebecca Romijn? Zero, zilch, nada.
It’s clear that while “Star Trek” has often performed admirably below the line, amassing bucket-loads of creative arts nominations and wins over the decades for its high production values, Emmy voters have turned a blind eye to “Star Trek” actors. In fact, they have shunned actors in space-set dramas (space operas, if you will) full stop, with a few recent exceptions for actors in “The Mandalorian,” like Taika Waititi, Giancarlo Esposito, Timothy Olyphant and Carl Weathers. Could 2023 finally see a “Star Trek” actor boldly go where no one has gone before (since 1969)? Affirmative, but it’s going to be an uphill battle to overcome the decades-long bias against the genre.
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“Star Trek: Picard” is coming off its best-ever reviews for its dynamite third (and by all accounts final) season, currently streaming on Paramount Plus. Critics have unanimously praised the show, proclaiming it as its best season, which boasts a staggering perfect 100% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The third season sees Picard reuniting with the former command crew of the USS Enterprise (portrayed by “Next Generation” actors LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner and Marina Sirtis) and the crew of the USS Titan (including Todd Stashwick as prickly Captain Liam Shaw and “Voyager” alum Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine). They’re being hunted by a mysterious new villain with links to the Dominion, the Federation’s most formidable adversary of genocidal changelings, with a rogue element having stealthily infiltrated every level of Starfleet.
So, who is most likely to garner the attention of those picky Emmy voters from the only live action “Trek” series eligible this Emmy season? The obvious choice might be the Shakespearean-trained Stewart, the four-time Emmy-nominated veteran (for “Moby Dick,” “The Lion in Winter,” “Extras” and “Hamlet”), who is still waiting for that first Emmy win. But a nomination in the ultra-competitive Best Drama Actor lineup is a tough ask. That category is brimming with so many contenders vying for six spots, I just don’t see it happening for the legendary octogenarian.
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Instead, I think Michelle Forbes has a real chance to break the drought, for reprising her “TNG” fan-favorite role as Ro Laren in the fifth episode of the “Picard” final season. Forbes is already a previous Emmy nominee in 2011 for “The Killing,” and her appearance on “Picard” generated the heat of a thousand suns on social media as fans and critics loved the nostalgic throwback to a beloved character, while hailing her intense and emotional performance on the show. Best Drama Guest Actress will not be as crowded as Best Drama Actor, so that’s a possibility. She’ll have to overcome possible contenders Melanie Lynskey, Anna Torv and Christine Hakim (“The Last of Us”), Mckenna Grace (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Claire Foy and Natascha McElhone (“The Crown”), Cherry Jones (“Succession”) and Jacki Weaver (“Yellowstone”).
Another real threat could be Amanda Plummer, who portrays the nefarious rogue changeling Vadic with a similar blood-curdling bravado that her late father, Oscar winner Christopher Plummer (“Beginners”), doled out as the iconic one-eyed Klingon general Chang in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” way back in 1991. Plummer is given so much material to wow voters with. She puffs on a cigar from her perch in her enormous arachnid starship the Shrike, waxing lyrically with soliloquy after ferocious soliloquy as she metaphorically chews the scenery around her with charismatic aplomb, stealing every single scene she is in. It’s some of the best work she has ever done — and that’s saying something.
Plummer is a three-time Emmy winner. Yes, you read that right — three Emmys — for “Miss Rose White” (1992), “The Outer Limits” (1996) and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2005). Emmy voters clearly love her, and if enough of them see her performance in “Picard,” I think she has a genuine shot at a nomination in the (albeit competitive) Best Drama Supporting Actress lineup. Granted, she would have to fend off frontrunners like awards magnet Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus: Sicily”) and previous nominees Rhea Seahorn (“Better Call Saul”), Sarah Snook (“Succession”) and Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”), but stranger things have happened in the supporting categories.
Relative outsiders like Constance Zimmer (“UnREAL”) in 2016 and Masi Oka (“Heroes”) in 2007 demonstrate that every once in a while, the supporting categories throw us a curveball. Maybe this year, that curveball might also be that breakthrough for “Star Trek” that is a long time coming.
PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12
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