Some of TV’s Top Stars Have Yet to Win an Emmy

The following article is an excerpt from the new edition of “IndieWire’s The Lead Up,” a weekly newsletter in which our Awards Editor Marcus Jones takes readers on the awards trail, interviewing key figures responsible for some of the most compelling stories of the season, and offering predictions on who will win. Subscribe here to receive the newsletter in your inbox each week.

As we head for the home stretch of Emmy campaigns, I’ve become a little bored with repeating over and over again exactly who I think will win Emmys and why. If there are any aspects left of the TV awards race still capable of shocking you all, I believe it is highlighting some of the people who have been nominated several times over, yet never won.

To be clear, some of the names that have had a long stretch of receiving an acting nomination for their performance on one particular show, like Gary Oldman on “Slow Horses,” or Jessica Williams on “Shrinking,” or Tyler James Williams and Janelle James on “Abbott Elementary,” I’ve excluded. Even “DTF: St. Louis” producer/star David Harbour ended up on the bubble since the two shows he’s best known for are the two shows he has been nominated for. 

While I will list all the nominees in the lead and supporting categories this year that have not won an Emmy though, just to be fair, what I really wanted to look at are names that not only stood out as actors this year, but have played a key role in award-winning series several times over.

Steve Carell, “Rooster” (11 Emmy nominations)

Steve Carell in ‘Rooster’Courtesy of Katrina Marcinowski / HBO

Having played one of the most iconic sitcom characters of the 21st century on “The Office,” and having since built up a successful career as a film star to the point of being nominated for an Oscar for his dramatic turn in “Foxcatcher, it still often comes as a shock that Carell has never received an award from the Television Academy. The aforementioned NBC sitcom delivered the majority of the Emmy nominations he has received, but Carell has recently come back into the prestige TV fold, earning a nod for his memorable supporting performance on Apple TV’s “The Morning Show,” and appearing in the Emmy-nominated Netflix comedy “The Four Seasons” last year before receiving awards recognition for his latest lead role on the HBO comedy “Rooster.”

Will They Finally Win This Year? Painfully, the Emmy is closer in reach than normal, as there has not been a true consensus favorite in the category up until nominations day. But the end-of-season peak praise for “Widow’s Bay” has put star Matthew Rhys ahead of the pack, which includes two more Emmy winners: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Martin Short.

Keri Russell, “The Diplomat” (8 Emmy nominations)

Keri Russell in ‘The Diplomat’Courtesy of Netflix

Speaking of Rhys, his Emmy win for “The Americans” is one of the more inspired choices voters have made in years. However, Russell, his co-star (and partner in life), who has had a much more storied career on American television, has yet to receive an award herself. Keep in mind, before she was one of the faces of the critical darling FX series about Russian spies, she was America’s sweetheart on “Felicity,” a series that launched several careers, including the ones of co-creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. Both she and her new Netflix series “The Diplomat” have been nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series all three seasons the show has been on so far.

Will They Finally Win This Year? There is a lot of hope for Russell stemming off of her Actor Award win this year, but she is nominated against two other women who are also on this list. At this point, the most likely scenario would be her winning the Emmy for the final season of her series, as was the case when Rhys won for “The Americans.”

Jason Segel, “Shrinking” (6 Emmy nominations)

Jason Segel in ‘Shrinking’Apple TV

Including Segel could be seen as a bit of a cheat, since all his nominations stem from him being the co-creator and star of the hit Apple TV series “Shrinking.” But his TV roots run way deeper. This is one of the stars of “Freaks and Geeks,” a one-season-wonder still being praised to this day. Years later, shortly before he began a decade-long run as a bankable lead of studio comedies, he spent nine seasons on network sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” which earned 10 Emmys throughout its run. His first effort as a creator/star, AMC series “Dispatches from Elsewhere,” earned a GLAAD Media Award nomination, and he appeared on the Emmy-nominated “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” as well.

Will They Finally Win This Year? Segel is in a similar boat to Carell, where fellow Apple TV comedy “Widow’s Bay” casts a shadow over he and his show’s Emmy chances. But “Shrinking” does seem to be more and more popular among TV Academy members year by year, so he could still be considered a dark horse in the Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category (one of the three categories he is nominated in this year).

Linda Cardellini, “DTF St. Louis” (4 Emmy nominations)

Linda Cardellini in ‘DTF: St. Louis’HBO

Even more the star of the beloved, gone-too-soon “Freaks and Geeks,” Cardellini has appeared in over a dozen series since then, most notably earning her first Emmy nomination for her guest role in “Mad Men” Season 6, and two more Emmy nominations for the Netflix comedy “Dead to Me” opposite Christina Applegate. Even her time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe circled back to her appearing on another TV show, the limited series “Hawkeye.” In terms of actresses synonymous with great television, Cardellini lands toward the top of the list, with “DTF: St. Louis” being another example that keeps the momentum going.

Will They Finally Win This Year? Finally, some positive news on this front. Cardellini is sitting pretty comfortably as the frontrunner of this year’s Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie race, as her HBO series is in the sweet spot of being well seen enough to overperform on nominations day, but not overexposed enough to where there isn’t a healthy chunk of the TV Academy giving “DTF: St. Louis” a first watch to see what all the fuss is about.

Carrie Coon, “The Gilded Age” (4 Emmy nominations)

Carrie Coon in ‘The Gilded Age’Courtesy of Karolina Wojtasik / HBO

Carrie Coon is one of those actresses where if she is in a project, then you know it’s good. Even when she ends up in an MCU movie, it’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” Ultimately, it is fascinating that the only series that she has been Emmy-nominated for are “Fargo,” “The White Lotus,” and now “The Gilded Age” two times over, when a whole a swarm of critics would argue she deserved to win an Emmy for her work on all three seasons of the cult HBO series “The Leftovers.” 

Will They Finally Win This Year? We have not even gotten through all of this year’s Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series nominees that are on this list, and all of them are on shows that got nominated for Outstanding Drama Series too. Ultimately, Coon is in a position where she can star in more than just “The Gilded Age” in one calendar year, so my guess would be her eventual Emmy win will be for another lauded project.

Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus” (4 Emmy nominations)

Rhea Seehorn in ‘Pluribus’Courtesy of Apple TV

Although she is another person whose history with the Emmys only extends to one other TV performance, if you search the keywords “Rhea Seehorn Emmy snub,” you’re going to get thousands of results. Not only did she not earn an Emmy for her breakout role as Kim Wexler on “Breaking Bad” follow-up “Better Call Saul,” after finally being nominated for her work on the sixth and final season of the AMC series (which was split in half, netting two go’s at bat), but the show itself went zero and 53 at the ceremony. Though her first post-”Saul” show “Cooper’s Bar” also earned her an Emmy nomination in the Short Form category, her new Apple TV sci-fi series “Pluribus” is both Seehorn and creator Vince Gilligan’s grand return to the awards stage.

Will They Finally Win This Year? All signs point to this finally being Seehorn’s year. Even if she lost the Actor Award to Russell recently, her show “Pluribus” earned more than double the amount of Emmy nominations than “The Diplomat,” positioning it as the only drama that serves as a threat to recent Emmys juggernaut “The Pitt.” Seehorn is quite literally the center of the universe on her series, so if members of several TV Academy branches give the series a chance, her showstopping performance will be top of mind when it comes time to vote.

Oscar Isaac, “Beef” (3 Emmy nominations)

Oscar Isaac in ‘Beef’Courtesy of Netflix

At this moment in time, Oscar Isaac is the person on this list most seen as a movie star. He did just play the title character in the Oscar-winning Netflix film “Frankenstein” after all. Film even plays into the appeal of him being on “Beef” Season 2, as it reunites him with his “Drive” and “Inside Llewyn Davis” co-star Carey Mulligan. But between memorable roles in everything from “Ex Machina” and “A Most Violent Year” to “Star Wars; The Force Awakens” and “Dune,” Isaac has led some incredible, underrated limited series like David Simon’s “Show Me a Hero,” which earned him a Golden Globe nomination, and the recent “Scenes from a Marriage” remake, which earned him his very first Emmy nomination.

Will They Finally Win This Year? Being the star of a show like “Beef,” which nearly swept the Limited or Anthology Series categories its first season, and is the nominations frontrunner this year, put Isaac in a great position to win his first Emmy. But once again I mention Rhys, whose second Emmy nomination this year is for fellow Netflix series “The Beast in Me.” Either way it goes is likely a win for the streaming services, which boasts having four out of five of the nominees in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Emmy category.

Other nominees who have yet to win an Emmy

Comedy Series: Elle Fanning, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”; Harrison Ford, “Shrinking”; Stephen Root, “Widow’s Bay”; Tyler James Williams, “Abbott Elementary”; Michael Urie, “Shrinking”; Kate O’Flynn, “Widow’s Bay”; Michelle Pfeiffer, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”; Dale Dickey, “Widow’s Bay”; Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”; Jessica Williams, “Shrinking”; Megan Stalter, “Hacks”

Drama Series: Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”; Rufus Sewell, “The Diplomat”; Chase Infiniti, “The Testaments”; Patrick Ball, “The Pitt”; Tom Pelphrey, “Task”; Carlos-Manuel Vesga, “Pluribus”; Gerran Howell, “The Pitt”; Jack Lowden, “Slow Horses”; Karolina Wydra, “Pluribus”; Sepideh Moafi, “The Pitt”; Taylor Dearden, “The Pitt”; Fiona Dourif, “The Pitt”

Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”; Sarah Pidgeon, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette”; Carey Mulligan, “Beef”; David Harbour, “DTF St. Louis”; Charles Melton, “Beef”; Constance Zimmer, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette”; Youn Yuh-jung, “Beef”; Dakota Fanning, “All Her Fault”; Joy Sunday, “DTF St. Louis”

See IndieWire’s full list of 2026 Emmy predictions, complete with frontrunners, contenders, and long shots on our website. As a reminder, my email is [email protected] if you’d like to share any feedback.