Ann Dowd (‘The Handmaid’s Tale’) is coming for that Emmy bookend

Jacob Sarkisian
·5 min read
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Ann Dowd is looking to make an Emmys comeback with perhaps her most complex take on Aunt Lydia yet in the most recent season of Hulu’s awards-favorite “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Based on Margaret Atwood‘s book of the same name, the show follows a dystopian future wherein a totalitarian society named Gilead has taken power and women are forced into child-bearing slavery. The series features Elisabeth Moss in the lead role while there are plenty of excellent supporting players including Yvonne Strahovski, Alexis Bledel, Samira Wiley, and the fearsome Dowd.

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Dowd plays the brutal, iron-willed Aunt Lydia, who is one of the staunchest believers in Gilead and who will go to any means necessary to keep the women she is in charge of in place. She is violent, brutish, and terrifying to behold as she commands the screen and everyone around her. In season five, however, cracks begin to show in Aunt Lydia’s hard exterior as something more human begins to creep out, suggesting a redemption arc could be on the cards. And critics agree, Dowd is again one of the standouts.

Nicole Drum (ComicBook) explained: “Ann Dowd’s Aunt Lydia is, as always, an impressive force, but she is incredible this season as some experiences begin to shift Aunt Lydia’s perspectives.”

Fatemeh Mirjalili (Slash Film) observed: “Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), Janine (Madeline Brewer), and Esther (Mckenna Grace) are terrific and have a particularly intriguing story arc, perhaps the most gripping of the season.”

And Greg Wheeler (The Review Geek) wrote: ‘She absolutely owns this role and her character arc has easily been the most defined and interesting out of everyone in this show.”

Dowd has previously reaped the rewards of the critical acclaim around her performance. So far, she’s been nominated four times for Best Drama Supporting Actress for her role as Aunt Lydia. She won in 2017 while she was nominated in 2018 (losing to Thandiwe Newton for “Westworld”), 2019 (losing to Julia Garner for “Ozark”) and 2021 (losing to Gillian Anderson for “The Crown”).

This is very much a treasured performance by Emmy voters. However, Dowd is currently not in our lineup of predicted nominees for Best Drama Supporting Actress this year. At the moment, we think the following stars will be nominated: Carol Burnett (“Better Call Saul”), Meghann Fahy (“The White Lotus”), Christina Ricci (“The White Lotus”), J. Smith-Cameron (“Succession”), Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”), Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”), Rhea Seehorn (“Better Call Saul”), and Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”). But don’t count Dowd out just yet.

We’ve already established that she is an Emmys favorite for this role, but so is “The Handmaid’s Tale.” So far, the show has won 15 Emmys and has been nominated for a mammoth 27 Emmy nominations in acting categories. Out of those 27 bids, 10 were for Best Drama Supporting Actress. Only four other shows in Emmys history has landed more nominations in this category: “The West Wing” and “Lou Grant” with 11 bids, “Game of Thrones” with 12, and “Hill Street Blues” with 13. If Dowd or another co-star lands a nomination this year, the show will move level with “The West Wing” and “Lou Grant.” That’s an impressive record, so don’t be surprised if that continues here. This show is the current airing favorite for this category — no other show comes close (“The Crown” is the next currently-running show with the most nominations here, with five).

Plus, if you look a little closer at the Best Drama Supporting Actress category, you’ll see that voters very much prefer familiar faces in this category and nominate past nominees far more often than giving out first-time nominations to stars. In 2018, five out of the seven nominees were past-nominees. In 2019, three out of six. In 2020 and 2021, seven out of eight. And in 2022, four out of eight. Altogether, that is 26 out of the past 37 nominees in the past five years that have gone to past nominees — 70% overall.

That is good news for some of our predicted nominees, including Coolidge, Seehorn, Smith-Cameron, Ricci, and Burnett. But that’s bad news for Debicki, Plaza, and Fahy, who are all looking for their first ever Emmy bids, with Fahy on the precipice. If she or one of the others were to slip out in favour of a more familiar face, then who better to take their place than Emmy-favorite Dowd?

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