Harriet Walter’s back-to-back double guest nominations mark an Emmy first

Harriet Walter once again has double the reason to celebrate. The actress scored Emmy nominations for her guest appearances on “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” for the second year in a row, making her the first performer to earn concurrent drama and comedy guest nominations more than once.

Walter’s repeat double for her dual matriarchs — Lady Caroline Collingwood on “Succession” and Deborah Welton on “Ted Lasso” — were expected: She was in first place in the Best Drama Guest Actress odds and was in sixth in the Best Comedy Guest Actress odds. The noms bring her career total to five — all for “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” in the guest categories. Her first Emmy bid was for “Succession” in 2020.

Last year, the dame became the 10th person to receive drama and comedy guest nominations 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).

SEE Full list of Emmy nominations

But double nominees go home empty-handed more often than not. Just ask Walter. Last year, she lost the drama award to Lee Yoo-mi (“Squid Game”) and the comedy one to Metcalf (“Hacks”). No double nominee has won both awards. Dewhurst (“Murphy Brown”) and Smart (“Frasier”) are the only ones to win one statuette.

This year, Walter faces two co-stars in both categories. In drama, Cherry Jones, who beat Walter in 2020 for “Succession,” and Hiam Abbass are nominated as well. The other three nominees are from “The Last of Us”: Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid and Anna Torv. In comedy, “Ted Lasso” also produced noms for Becky Ann Baker and Sarah Niles, who was nominated in supporting last year. The comedy race does feature more than two shows as Quinta Brunson (“Saturday Night Live”), Taraji P. Henson (“Abbott Elementary”) and Judith Light (“Poker Face”) made the cut.

Can Walter convert one of these nominations into a win this time? In the early odds, she’s in first place in drama and fifth place in comedy, which is topped by Henson. While it’s still unclear whether the third season of “Ted Lasso” was its last, “Succession” is definitely over, so this is the last chance to award Walter for the show, if voters feel that kind of urgency. It does kind of feel weird that all of Walter nominations have been for two Emmy juggernauts that have twice won series and are the favorites once again but she has yet to be part of the winner’s circle.

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