Nicholas Hoult (‘The Great’) poised for Emmy return

Nicholas Hoult could do great things again with his comedy TV series “The Great.” This Hulu hit comes from “The Favourite” screenwriter Tony McNamara. The series depicts Elle Fanning as the titular Catherine the Great who, in 18th century Russia, is torn between her own happiness and the future of her country when she marries Hoult’s Emperor Peter III of Russia.

As Peter, Hoult has the same wicked playfulness he displayed in “The Favourite.” However, he ramps it up a notch — bringing together a sense of absolute fun with a dose of sardonic wit. It’s as much fun to watch him and Fanning spar as it must have been for them to act out these playful scenes.

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Critics certainly took note of Hoult’s hold on the character in season three. Below, just a sampling of his rave reviews:

Jack Seale of The Guardian observed: “A monster of a performance by Nicholas Hoult makes Peter a very funny caricature of a ruler intoxicated and infantilised by privilege, who can turn and become chillingly ruthless if that luxury is threatened.”

Steve Greene of Indie Wire wrote: “You can almost see Hoult’s giddiness coming off the screen as Peter has been freed from all remaining sense of responsibility. Peter still has a certain petulant streak, but in the moments when he claims to have all he needs, it’s hard not to believe him. Hoult proved through the show’s opening episodes that he could spin the most outrageous claims and desires into simple statements of fact.”

And Alexis Nedd of Mashable commented: “Nicholas Hoult earned a SAG nomination, among others, for his work as Peter in Season 1, a performance that he handily surpasses in the second season as Peter tantrums his way through five stages of grief for his imperial birthright.”

Hoult earned his first-ever Emmy nomination last year. He lost that race for Best Comedy Actor to Jason Sudeikis, who won again for “Ted Lasso,” which also went on to repeat as Best Comedy Series. However, the first nomination was the win for Hoult and he could follow that up this year with a consecutive nomination for the same show. At this time of writing, Hoult is in eighth place in our odds chart for Best Comedy Actor.

Currently, we predict that the six nominees in this category will be Jason Segel (“Shrinking”), Martin Short and Steve Martin (both “Only Murders in the Building”), Bill Hader (“Barry”), Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), and Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”). We are again thinking that Sudeikis will win the award. Donald Glover (“Atlanta”) sits just outside the predicted six in seventh place, so Hoult will have to leapfrog Glover and one of the predicted names in order to crack the predicted six and earn that consecutive nomination.

Consecutive nominations in this category are incredibly common. Sudeikis won consecutive awards while Ted Danson (“The Good Place”), Michael Douglas (“The Kominsky Method”), Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”), Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish”), Don Cheadle (“Black Monday”), and William H. Macy (“Shameless”) have all recently scored two or more consecutive nominations. Hoult could join that pack.

If he did, it would be the seventh Emmy nomination for “The Great.” Two of those came in 2020 — Comedy Director for Matt Shakman (losing to Andrew Cividino and Dan Levy for “Schitt’s Creek”) and Comedy Writing for McNamara (losing to Levy for “Schitt’s Creek”). Four of those came in 2022 — the aforementioned bid for Hoult along with Comedy Actress for Fanning (losing to Jean Smart for “Hacks”) and a bid for Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) (losing to “The Gilded Age”). It won for Best Period Costumes.

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