Jason Sudeikis vs. Jeremy Allen White: Who has the edge in 2023 Emmy battle?

Jason Sudeikis has been undefeated thus far in the Best Comedy Actor race at the Emmys, winning for the first two seasons of the Apple TV+ comedy “Ted Lasso.” But this year might be his most difficult battle yet as he has some significant competition in Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), a newcomer among a slew of perennial nominees. Even though Sudeikis is the defending champion for the Emmy, White has picked up some serious hardware over the course of the awards season, winning a Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and Screen Actors Guild Award for the Hulu freshman series.

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This category is perhaps the most split between the combined predictions of Experts, Editors and Top 24 Users. With the 11 Expert journalists, it is straight down the middle with an even four predicting either Sudeikis or White, however the latter leads our Editors’ predictions with eight out of the 11 total editors going for him, while the former racks up the remaining three. But the reigning Emmy winner dominates the majority of our Top 24 Users and our All-Star Top 24, each having 18 going for him. White takes five of the Top 24 votes and three of the All-Star.

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Sudeikis, who leads our combined odds with 19/5, certainly has Emmy history on his side as he has never lost the category and we know how much the TV academy loves rewarding repeat winners. He also has the advantage that his show is airing what may likely be its final season, right at the end of eligibility and before nominations voting, so that combination can sustain his momentum and sentimentality. Sudeikis plays the titular Ted Lasso, an American football coach who now coaches soccer in the UK.

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On the other side of the coin, White (currently at 4/1 odds) has been collecting all the precursor television awards and “The Bear” itself nabbed the Producers Guild of America Award against another contending frontrunner “Abbott Elementary.” Not to mention that the highly anticipated second season will premiere in June when nominations will be decided, a strategy that has helped many shows win in the past, including “Ted Lasso.” White takes on the role of a Chicago chef who deals with the death of his brother.

White could be the only new contender in the Comedy Actor category, as it rounds out with previous winner Bill Hader (“Barry”), who takes two of our Experts’ predictions and is not far behind White with 5/1 odds, Steve Martin and Martin Short (“Only Murders In The Building”), Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) and Nicholas Hoult (“The Great”), all of whom were nominated last year. But watch out for Jason Segel for “Shrinking,” another Apple TV+ comedy by the executive producers of “Ted Lasso.” One Expert even has Segel winning the category.

PREDICT the 2023 Emmy nominees through July 12

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