Emmy spotlight: Dominic West reigns supreme over ‘The Crown’

Emmy darling “The Crown” returned last year with a fifth season as the Netflix drama pressed on in its depiction of the royal family. The fifth season featured a new cast, following the show’s tradition of hiring new actors every two seasons. This season covered the time period between 1991 and 1997, when John Major (Johnny Lee Miller) was Prime Minister.

The season depicted some major events in the family’s history, including the infamous Queen Elizabeth‘s (Imelda Staunton) “annus horribilis,” the Queen’s visit to Russia, the start of Tony Blair‘s (Bertie Carvel) reign as Prime Minister, Princess Diana‘s (Elizabeth Debicki) “Panorama” interview, and her public divorce from Prince Charles.

Dominic West is the actor who took on the role of Prince Charles here, taking over from Josh O’Connor in seasons three and four. And West, a staple of British acting for so many years now, fit the role like a glove. He personified Charles— all posh poise and bitterness. As Charles, West was at once kingly and childish, communicating the Prince’s own quiet hunger for power with a frustrating and resentment around his own marriage, as well as his longing for Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams). And critics have been enthusiastic about West’s portrayal of the Prince of Wales.

Kayleigh Donaldson (The Wrap) explained: “Dominic West, who is altogether far too handsome to play Charles, nonetheless has the right balanced of smarm and charm to play the heir-in-waiting. There are moments where the cadence of his speech is near-identical to Charles’ upper-class nasal whine, although West shines best when he’s the scheming prince, perhaps the most adept one in a family full of them, and the only one who seems to support major reforms to the monarchy.”

Angie Han (The Hollywood Reporter) observed: “If Diana is the season’s most sympathetic figure, its most complicated creation might be Charles. Though West bears little physical resemblance to either his predecessor Josh O’Connor or to the real Charles, he does a fine job of carrying on the vexing combination of sensitivity and coldness established in previous volumes. Armed with Morgan’s scripts, West constructs a Charles who’s shrewd enough to recognize that the monarchy needs to evolve, yet oblivious enough to believe that the chorus of support from his sycophants… is definitive proof he’s the man for the job.”

Kristin Baldwin (EW) wrote: “The new ensemble is very strong… West makes Charles a confident, passionate striver, a man energized by the possibility of a new purpose.”

But despite this critical support, West find himself firmly outside of our predicted nominees for Best Drama Actor, where we currently predict the following stars will be nominated: Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”), Brian Cox (“Succession”), Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Kieran Culkin (“Succession”), Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”), and Jeremy Strong (“Succession”). But West isn’t squarely out of the race just yet. He could still earn his first ever Emmy nomination.

This seems somewhat strange, that this acclaimed actor hasn’t been nominated for an Emmy despite starring in several beloved TV shows. He featured in “The Wire,” which was a critical darling during its run time but West was never recognized (to be fair, that show got looked over pretty much everywhere, bar two Drama Writing bids in 2005 and 2008). West then starred in “The Affair,” which was equally treasured. Again, no nomination for West — although he did earn a Best Drama Actor nomination at the 2015 Golden Globes, losing to Kevin Spacey for “House of Cards.” He’s a very recognizable actor and “The Crown” is just one of several great shows he’s been in. Voters may want to finally recognize this long overdue performer.

He has a decent awards history elsewhere, however. He’s a Critics Choice Award winner (for Best Ensemble in 2003 for “Chicago”), a two-time Critics Choice TV Awards nominee, a two-time BAFTA TV nominee (with one win, for Best Actor in 2012 for “Appropriate Adult”), a two-time Golden Globe nominee, and a two-time SAG nominee (with one win, for Best Ensemble in 2003 for “Chicago”). This shows that he is well liked by awards bodies, so Emmy voters could finally follow suit. And that most recent SAG bid? That was for Best Ensemble for this season of “The Crown.” That proves that actors like the performances this season, and a hell of a lot of actors will be voting at the Emmys, so it’s great that West and company have their support.

But that’s hardly a surprise. “The Crown” is consistently rewarded by awards groups, particularly the Emmys. So far, the show has won a whopping 21 Emmys. Being involved in a show this beloved will always help your chances no matter what. But let’s dig a little deeper into Emmy voters’ love for this show. They specifically adore the performances, having awarded “The Crown” 17 nominations in total for its various actors’ roles. That is an incredible number. Season one garnered two bids, season two repaed four nominations, season three received two bids, and season four was greeted with a huge nine nominations. That fourth season was when the Prince Charles/Princess Diana storyline really took off, so it’s no surprise that there was so much love around that season — we know that Hollywood is obsessed with Lady Di stories. This fifth season continues that, so don’t be surprised to see this show earn at least two nominations for its acting.

Currently, we think that “The Crown” season five will be nominated for Best Drama Series, Best Drama Actress for Staunton, and Best Dama Supporting Actress for Debicki. The show is also on the precipice of a bid for Lesley Manville in the same category as Debicki, while it’s also close to a bid for Best Drama Supporting Actor bid for Jonathan Pryce. West is also up for Best Drama Actor, so the show could receive anywhere between two and five nominations for its acting. If the Emmy voters are really taken with this season, as they usually are with “The Crown,” West could easily get swept along for the ride.

This is particularly true as Emmy voters have already shown that they love the role of Prince Charles. O’Connor won Best Drama Actor in 2021, so they clearly like this role. Previously, they twice nominated Claire Foy for Best Drama Actress for playing Queen Elizabeth (she won in 2018) and then also nominated Olivia Colman twice (she won in 2021) for playing the same character. Voters don’t have a problem nominating multiple actors for playing the same role as long as they bring something different to the table. And West definitely does. Watch this space.

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