Harriet Walter seeks Emmy history with another pair of guest nominations for ‘Succession’ and ‘Ted Lasso’

It could be Emmy déjà vu for Harriet Walter. Last year, the dame earned nominations in the drama and comedy guest categories, having made the cut for “Succession” and “Ted Lasso.” She can repeat the feat this year for the same shows, which would make her the first double nominee to accomplish this more than once.

Walter was the 10th performer to score guest bids in drama and comedy in the same year since the guest categories were standardized in 1989. The first nine were Jack Gilford (“thirtysomething,” “The Golden Girls,” 1989), Colleen Dewhurst (“Road to Avonlea,” “Murphy Brown,” 1991), Gwen Verdon (“Homicide: Life on the Street,” “Dream On,” 1993), Marlee Matlin (“Picket Fences,” “Seinfeld,” 1994), Jean Smart (“The District,” “Frasier,” 2001), Cloris Leachman (“Joan of Arcadia,” “Malcolm in the Middle,” 2005), Michael J. Fox (“The Good Wife,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” 2012), Nathan Lane (“The Good Wife,” “Modern Family,” 2013) and Laurie Metcalf (“Horace and Pete,” “The Big Bang Theory,” 2016).

No one has ever converted both of their nominations into wins, and only Dewhurst (“Murphy Brown”) and Smart (“Frasier”) managed to win one trophy. Last year, Walter lost Best Comedy Guest Actress to Metcalf for “Hacks” and Best Drama Guest Actress to “Squid Game” star Lee Yoo-mi.

At the moment, Walter is only expected to snag a drama guest actress bid for her reprisal of Roy matriarch and Logan’s (Brian Cox) second wife, Lady Caroline Collingwood. In fact, she’s predicted to win, having been in first place in the odds weeks before she made her appearance in the last two episodes of “Succession’s” fourth and final season. While Walter did not have a killer scene like her one opposite Sarah Snook‘s in Season 3’s “Chiantishire,” she delivered two memorable moments when she rounded up Logan’s ex-wives and lovers to sit in the same pew at his funeral in “Church and State” and gave us a new name for eyes in “With Open Eyes”: face eggs.

SEE ‘Succession’s’ Harrriet Walter and Hiam Abbass will battle for guest actress Emmy

“Succession” produced triple drama guest actress nominees last year with Walter, Hope Davis and Sanaa Lathan, and the Best Drama Series frontrunner is expected to triple up again with Walter, Cherry Jones (third place) and Hiam Abbass (sixth). Jones, who could also reap drama and comedy guest bids for “Succession” and “Poker Face,” beat Walter in 2020 when both were up for “Succession.” Melanie Lynskey (“The Last of Us”) is in second, with Anna Torv (“The Last of Us”) and Fiona Shaw (“Andor”) in fourth and fifth, respectively.

In comedy guest actress, Walter is just on the outside looking in, sitting in seventh place, behind Taraji P. Henson (“Abbott Elementary”), Quinta Brunson (“Saturday Night Live”), Shirley MacLaine (“Only Murders in the Building”), Judith Light (“Poker Face”), Jones (“Poker Face”) and her “Ted Lasso” co-star Sarah Niles. Walter returned as Deborah, Rebecca’s (Hannah Waddingham) mother, in two episodes of the third and possibly final season. She FaceTimes her daughter in the second episode, “(I Don’t Want to Go to) Chelsea,” but had a more substantial scene in the finale, “So Long, Farewell,” as Rebecca tells her about Ted (Jason Sudeikis) returning to Kansas and that she’s thinking of selling AFC Richmond. The episode aired three days after the “Succession” finale. Did anyone have a better finale week than Harriet Walter?

Last year, Walter was the only “Ted” representative in the category, which featured four nominees from “Hacks.” The Max comedy is sitting out this cycle, so that’s good news for the other hopefuls. Season 3 of “Ted” was divisive, but the show is an Emmy darling, and if Walter could double dip last year for the two reigning series winners, it’s far from impossible for her to do it again.

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