Mark Mylod (‘Succession’) leads tight drama directing Emmy race, and there’s a tie for second place

The 2023 Emmys line-up for Best Drama Directing features three “Succession” episodes competing against three newcomers — “The Last of Us,” “Andor” and “Bad Sisters” — plus “The White Lotus,” which is new to the category after switching over from the Limited Series genre. Also for the second consecutive year, all five dramas in the directing category are recognized in writing, with four having the same episode in contention for both. “Succession” submitting three episodes and getting all of them nominated proves the massive support it has within the directing branch, with all directors being previous nominees.

Last year, when the reigning Best Drama Series champ had triple episodes up for directing, none of them were able to pull off a win due to vote-splitting. (Hwang Dong-hyuk prevailed instead for “Squid Game.”) But now it looks like there may be a clear choice within the show selection: Mark Mylod for helming the “Connor’s Wedding” episode. Following him, there’s a tie for second place on our charts between Peter Hoar (“The Last of Us”) and Mike White (“The White Lotus”).

Here are Gold Derby’s current Best Drama Directing Emmy 2023 racetrack odds:

“Succession” (“Connor’s Wedding” by Mark Mylod) — 5/1 odds
“The Last of Us” (“Long, Long Time” by Peter Hoar) — 11/2 odds
“The White Lotus” (“Arrivederci” by Mike White) — 11/2 odds
“Succession” (“America Decides” by Andrij Parekh) — 13/2 odds
“Succession” (“Living+” by Lorene Scafaria) — 13/2 odds
“Andor” (“Rix Road” by Benjamin Caron) — 13/2 odds
“Bad Sisters” (“The Prick” by Dearbhla Walsh) — 7/1 odds

Mark Mylod is on his third straight directing nomination for “Succession,” having won twice for producing. This year seems like his best shot for helming what is arguably the biggest episode of the HBO family drama’s final season in “Connor’s Wedding,” in which the leading patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox) perishes on a plane, leaving his adult kids grieving in real time. Mylod beautifully captures the anxiety of all the children who are trying to come to terms with the loss through unique camera angles and close-ups, including a 30-minute long take during filming and concealing camera magazines on set to keep shooting on 35 mm film while the actors were given high range to move around for the sequence.

The water cooler episode factor is what helped his fellow nominee Andrij Parekh trump Mylod back in the second season in 2020, the last time Parekh was nominated. His win was considered a bit of a surprise since Mylod directed the season finale that Jesse Armstrong won the writing award for, but in retrospect, made sense given Parekh’s episode had a more memorable scene with the “boar on the floor” sequence. This year Parekh is up for the election night episode “America Decides,” which also features intense scenes featuring multiple characters and quick paces with the story, as the siblings try to sway and influence the voting numbers for their own personal gain and business interests.

Lorene Scafaria is also on her second nomination for “Living+,” probably the most satirical episode of the three, filled with paradoxical humor as the family launches the new title product. It begins with Logan making his first appearance since his death and ends with Kendall (Jeremy Strong) successfully making a grandiose presentation for the launch.

If anything were to stop “Succession” from winning or cause a potential vote-split, it would likely be “Long, Long Time” from HBO’s “The Last of Us,” which is considered the season’s strongest, featuring lingering shots and simple scenes with beautiful cinematography, examining a profound love story between two male characters spanning almost two decades. Peter Hoar is the only first-timer in this category and has directed many British television programs such as “Doctor Who” and “It’s a Sin,” as well as comic-book based series like “Daredevil” and “The Umbrella Academy.”

SEE ‘Succession’ director Mark Mylod reveals line cut from Roman’s final scene

Last year, Mike White won the directing prize for the entirety of “The White Lotus’s” first season in the limited series race. Due to the switch in drama and the fact that he was behind the camera for all episodes of the HBO dark satire’s second season, he was only restricted to one episode for submission. We will see if a single episode can do the trick as he is up for the season finale, which balances a lot of action sequences toward the end, but also the more intimate moments between the various ensemble of characters as well as the humor throughout.

Disney+’s “Andor” is the only series that has a different episode in directing than in writing, but it’s a powerful one with a lot of stakes. In the season finale, Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) tries to rescue Bix (Adria Arjona) from imprisonment, while being hunted by Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) for capture, during his mother Maarva’s (Fiona Shaw) funeral that creates a riot of rebellion. Benjamin Caron also directed a number of British television series in his career and is a two-time previous nominee for “The Crown.”

Finally, Apple TV+’s “Bad Sisters” is contending for its pilot. Dearbhla Walsh is able to introduce and paint a picture of all the members of the family, particularly the sisters of the Garvey clan, while juggling two timelines. She provides enough information but leaves much mystery about the circumstances surrounding the death of the husband of one of the sisters. Walsh is a previous Emmy winner for directing the British miniseries “Little Dorrit” in 2009.

So who will ultimately win Best Drama Directing? “Succession” has proven it can overcome a vote-split in this category, but it did lose last year with three episodes nominated to the pilot of “Squid Game,” which had numerous visual aesthetics and unique colorful production design. This time, the category doesn’t have an episode quite resembling that level of production stature, but it seems that when it comes to visual achievement buzz, it looks to be a race between Mylod and Hoar. “Succession” has been considered the man of the hour even more so than ever for the final season, and if Mylod looks to be the clear choice, he should be able to skate through to a win if the support is that strong, otherwise it may likely be Hoar who would be looking at his first win.

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