Mckenna Grace could continue this Emmy streak for ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

Luca Giliberti
Updated ·4 min read
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After earning an Emmy nom — her first — for her guest turn in the fourth season of “The Handmaid’s Tale” in 2021, Mckenna Grace is now eligible again in Best Drama Guest Actress for the Hulu drama’s fifth installment. And if she’s shortlisted, she will continue one of the show’s longest-running streaks.

“Handmaid’s” has fielded at least one Best Drama Guest Actress nominee each time it was eligible in the category. Its streak began with Alexis Bledel, who was the show’s sole representative and prevailed for its debut season in 2017. The following year, it tripled its Season 1 total, producing nominations for Kelly Jenrette, Cherry Jones and the eventual champ, Samira Wiley, for its second season. Although the dystopian drama wasn’t eligible for a full season in 2019, it was allowed to enter the final three outings of Season 2 as orphaned episodes that year and thereby pocketed another bid and a victory for Jones. For its third installment in 2020, it then picked up a single nom for Bledel, who was also cited alongside Grace for the fourth season in 2021.

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Best Drama Supporting Actress is the other acting category “Handmaid’s” has never missed, but Best Drama Guest Actress is the only one in which the show has been recognized in five different years (remember: Per TV academy rules, orphaned episodes can only be submitted in episode-specific categories, which means “Handmaid’s” was ineligible in all races that honor a body of work, including series and all four main acting categories, in 2019).

SEE Don’t count out ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ for another Best Drama Series Emmy nomination

Grace is the only former “Handmaid’s” nominee who can now make it six years, since Bledel, Jones and Jenrette didn’t appear in Season 5 and Wiley was in too many episodes to be guest-eligible. The 16-year-old actor, who is in three episodes, had plenty to work with this season as her character, child bride-turned-handmaid Esther Keyes, is put through the wringer yet again. While two of her three episodes, “Ballet” (5.02) and “Together” (5.06), would make for particularly strong Emmy submissions, it’s in the latter in which Grace gets her biggest showcase. As Esther, who is revealed to be three weeks pregnant, divulges that she was raped by Warren Putnam (Stephen Kunken) and scolds Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) for her insincere repugnance in response to this horrific news, Grace turns in a devastating performance that should, at the very least, earn her a second nomination.

At the moment, though, Grace is outside the top six, in 11th place, in our drama guest actress odds — but people might be underestimating her. While “Handmaid’s” appears to be in a weak position after getting ignored by all major winter awards for the first time in its run and the fifth season’s fall release could make it a distant memory by the time voting begins on June 15, a complete Emmy shutout seems unlikely. Voters have, after all, showered the timely show with a total of 75 bids and 15 wins, including Best Drama Series in 2017 and six for acting, over the course of its first four seasons, and have a proclivity for going back to their old faves over and over again. So it’s not inconceivable for “Handmaid’s” to squeak out at least a few bids on, if nothing else, legacy alone, and considering how well it’s done in the guest categories, it wouldn’t be surprising if a nom for Grace was one of them.

SEE How ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’s’ Elisabeth Moss could cross into record territory at the Emmys

Of course, Grace likely won’t be the show’s lone submission for Best Drama Guest Actress — Clea DuVall, who plays Bledel’s onscreen wife, is also eligible and in 19th place in our odds. But given that Grace is already a former nominee for it and Esther Keyes has become a pivotal part of the story, she is probably the one who holds the, uh, key to “Handmaid’s” extending its streak in the category.

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