Will ‘The Crown’ beat its own Emmy record for most acting nominations in one year?

Jacob Sarkisian
·6 min read
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With 21 wins under its belt, Netflix’s royal drama “The Crown” has always been an Emmys favorite. So much of the excitement around the show comes from its cast, which rotates every two seasons. Claire Foy and Matt Smith led the line as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in seasons one and two while Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin featured as Prince Charles and Princess Diana in seasons three and four. Now, in season five, the show is led by Imelda Staunton as the Queen, Dominic West as Prince Charles, and Elizabeth Debicki as Diana.

Those stars are hoping to be the latest in a long line of “The Crown” actors nominated for their work on the show. So far, “The Crown” cast has received 17 acting nominations in total. That is an incredible number. Season one garnered two bids, season two reaped four nominations, season three received two bids, and season four was rewarded with a whopping nine nominations.

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And here are the breakdowns in terms of wins: John Lithgow won Best Drama Supporting Actor in 2017 and Foy won Best Drama Actress in 2018, while 2021 reaped five acting wins for the show: Foy for Best Drama Guest Actress, Gillian Anderson for Best Drama Supporting Actress, Tobias Menzies for Best Drama Supporting Actor, Olivia Colman for Best Drama Actress, and O’Connor for Best Drama Actor. Those five wins also came for season four.

The question is — will season five be able to better that record of nine acting nominations and five wins? It’ll be a tough ask, but here’s the rundown.  There is a total of 15 possible nominations for season five of “The Crown.” Four actors could receive bids for Drama Guest Actor: Alex Jennings (Prince Edward), Khalid Abdalla (Dodi Fayed), Timothy Dalton (Peter Townsend), and Prasanna Puwanarajah (Martin Bashir). Natascha McElhone (Penny Knatchbull) could be nominated for Drama Guest Actress while previous “The Crown” stars Vanessa Kirby (appearing as a young Princess Margaret) and Foy (a young Queen Elizabeth) could also be nominated in this category. Foy has a big boost here — she won this category in 2021.

Meanwhile, Johnny Lee Miller, who plays Prime Minister John Major, and Salim Daw, who plays Mohamed Al-Fayed, could both be nominated for Drama Supporting Actor. Miller could join other performers in “The Crown” who were nominated in supporting categories for playing a Prime Minister. Lithgow played Winston Churchill and won in 2017 while Anderson won for playing Margaret Thatcher in 2021.

Jonathan Pryce (this season’s Prince Philip)  could join them. The Emmys like Prince Philip — Smith was nominated for this role, while Menzies won for playing him. Two actresses are hoping for a Drama Supporting Actress bid — Camilla Parker Bowles actress Olivia Williams and this season’s Princess Margaret, Lesley Manville. Manville has some hope here — the Emmys previously nominated Kirby and Helena Bonham-Carter (in 2020 and 2021) for playing Princess Margaret, so it’s clear they like this role. Plus, Emerald Fennell was nominated in 2021 for playing Camilla, so Williams has a bit of hope there. And West will be looking for a Best Drama Actor nomination for playing Prince Charles. He would follow O’Connor, who won in 2021 for the same role.

However, none of those names are currently predicted to earn nominations according to our odds charts. Only two names are — Staunton and Debicki. Staunton is in our predicted odds chart for Best Drama Actress alongside Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Emma D’Arcy (“House of the Dragon”), Bella Ramsey (“The Last of Us”), Melanie Lynskey (“Yellowjackets”), and Sarah Snook (“Succession”). Staunton has a great chance for a nomination here. First and foremost, the Emmys love this role. Every season of “The Crown” so far has garnered a nomination for the actress playing Queen Elizabeth — Foy in seasons one and two (and four) and Colman in seasons three and four. Plus, she has already been nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA TV award for this role — so we know that major awards groups love her performance.

Debicki, meanwhile, is the latest incarnation of Princess Diana. Hollywood adores the people’s princess. Corrin was nominated for Best Drama Actress in 2021 and we expect Debicki to follow suit — just in the supporting category. We think she will be nominated alongside Carol Burnett (“Better Call Saul”), Meghann Fahy (“The White Lotus”), Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”), J. Smith-Cameron (“Succession”), Aubrey Plaza (“The White Lotus”), Rhea Seehorn (“Better Call Saul”), and Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”). “The Crown” has been nominated three times in this category, so supporting actresses often do well.

Staunton may be the lead but Debicki, in a role we know voters like, is the soul of the show and it’s her storylines that have been given the most attention. It’s Debicki who would, arguably, be stuck in voters’ minds most of all after season five. Debicki would also be just the latest ingenue to receive Emmy attention in this category, following the likes of Sydney Sweeney (nominated last year for “Euphoria”), HoYeon Jung (nominated last year for “Squid Game”), and two “Game of Thrones” actresses in Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner (nominated in 2019). Debicki would fit right in here.

But that is only two predicted nominations for “The Crown.” If we are and our odds charts are correct, that’s a far cry off the record nine for season four. In fact, it would be the joint lowest amount of acting nominations for a season along with seasons one and three. Plus, neither Staunton nor Debicki are predicted to win in their respective categories. We think Snook will win Drama Actress for “Succession” and Coolidge will win Drama Supporting Actress for “The White Lotus.” If Staunton or Debicki can’t displace those favorites, this would be only the second season of “The Crown” to fail to win a single acting award, after season three. Let’s see.

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