Another Emmy ceremony, another year of that dubious Best Drama Supporting Actor streak continuing. Tobias Menzies won the award on Sunday for his performance on “The Crown,” meaning that Best Drama Supporting Actor will remain the last acting category without a Black winner for another year.
Menzies was second place in the odds, which were topped by the late Michael K. Williams (“Lovecraft Country”). Williams was the season-long favorite to win before his untimely death at 54 on Sept. 6, a week after winner voting closed. He was one of three Black actors nominated for drama supporting actor this year — the others being Giancarlo Esposito (“The Mandalorian”) and O-T Fagbenle (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) — the most ever in a single year in the category.
Formally established in 1970, Best Drama Supporting Actor has seen numerous Black nominees through the years, but no winners. Even the short form acting categories, which were created in 2016, have awarded Black performers. Best Drama Actress was another long-running acting category without a Black winner, but that drought ended when Viola Davis prevailed in 2015 for “How to Get Away with Murder.” Zendaya joined her last year after winning for “Euphoria.”
Counting Williams’, Esposito’s and Fagbenle’s noms, 13 Black actors have received 23 bids in drama supporting actor. Esposito is the only one of the three to have been nominated in this category before. He received his first one in 2012 for “Breaking Bad” and then made the cut in 2019 and 2020 for the “Breaking Bad” spin-off prequel “Better Call Saul.” His bid for “The Mandalorian,” for which he was nominated in guest actor last year, makes him the second person to be nominated in this category for three different shows after his “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” co-star Jonathan Banks.
Fagbenle was a first-time nominee while Williams was on his fifth and fourth for acting. His first three acting bids were in the limited/TV movie supporting actor category, for “Bessie” (2015), “The Night Of” (2016) and “When They See Us” (2019), and he earned a nomination as a producer on “Vice” in 2018.
The other nominees this year were John Lithgow (“Perry Mason”), Bradley Whitford (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), Max Minghella (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) and Chris Sullivan (“This Is Us”).
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