Emmys: Lance Reddick (‘The Legend of Vox Machina’) could be 2nd posthumous voice acting winner

Lance Reddick’s unexpected death in March 2023 halted a thriving acting career that consisted of many memorable performances, including several voice-over gigs on TV series like “Castlevania,” “Duck Tales” and “Rick and Morty.” In addition to half a dozen mid-production projects, his legacy could include a posthumous Emmy victory in honor of his vocal work on the Amazon Prime Video animated series “The Legend of Vox Machina.” After Chadwick Boseman, who won the 2022 Best Character Voice-Over prize for “What If…?” two years after his death, Reddick would be the second posthumous recipient of any voice acting Emmy.

Reddick joined the recurring cast of “The Legend of Vox Machina” in its second season, which concluded less than a month before he died. His character, Thordak, is the leader of a group of dragons known as the Chroma Conclave, whose destructive plans are encumbered by the heroic, interspecific members of Vox Machina. Naturally, the imposing, intelligent beast served as a terrific vessel for the strong, commanding voice that Reddick’s fans had come to love over the course of a quarter century.

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Reddick would also follow Boseman as the second deceased man to even compete for a voice acting Emmy. The first such nominee in general was Jessica Walter, who earned a character voice-over notice for “Archer” months after her death in 2021 and then another in 2022. She lost on the first outing to Maya Rudolph (“Big Mouth”). Unlike Boseman’s “What If…?” character, T’Challa, whose own death was confirmed in the 2022 film “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Walter’s Malory Archer simply lives on as an unseen retiree. There has been no word about what will become of Thordak following Reddick’s death.

Boseman, who was the first posthumous acting Emmy winner in nearly three decades, was preceded by just seven others. The four who died before they received their nominations were Alice Pearce (comedy supporting actress, “Bewitched,” 1966), David Burns (drama supporting actor, “The Price,” 1971), Diana Hyland (movie/limited supporting actress, “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble,” 1977) and Raul Julia (movie/limited actor, “The Burning Season,” 1995). The remaining three whose deaths occurred after they were nominated and before they won were Marion Lorne (comedy supporting actress, “Bewitched,” 1968), Ingrid Bergman (movie/limited actress, “A Woman Called Golda,” 1982) and Colleen Dewhurst (comedy guest actress, “Murphy Brown,” 1991).

As one of three “Legend of Vox Machina” cast members on this year’s character voice-over ballot (along with Ralph Ineson and Liam O’Brien), Reddick could be the first performer from a Prime Video program ever nominated for a voice acting Emmy. He faces stiff competition from Rudolph and other past champions like Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy”) and Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons”), but Boseman’s triumph seems to indicate that he could easily achieve a farewell honor as well.

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