Game of Thrones Emmy Nominations 2016: Battle of the Supporting Actresses

The Emmy nominations for 2016 are in and there’s only one thing on my mind. Are any of the ladies finally going to be awarded for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series? Peter Dinklage has won Outstanding Supporting Actor twice before, once in 2011 and again in 2015 and is now nominated for a third time, but he is the only star of the show to actually win an Emmy so far.

The fantasy drama won 12 Emmy’s in 2015, has won many more in previous years, and is nominated for a whopping 23 this year for what has been arguably the most impressive series yet. But still, despite nominations in previous years for Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Diana Rigg, no actress has won an Emmy for their role in Game of Thrones as yet. 2016 needs to set this right.

So this year, we have three of the wonderful women of Westeros (and surrounding areas) up for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Who are the nominees? In the red corner we have Lena Headey, who plays the best villain the show has left; Cersei Lannister. In the blue corner we have Emilia Clarke as the Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen. Both of these heavyweights have been nominated before. Both have lost to actresses from other shows. Both of their characters are probably heading for an epic eventual showdown. Bring on the dragons.

And in a third corner, let’s call it the green corner, we have the underdog (or should that be underdirewolf) we’ve all been waiting for; Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. It’s a shame these three have to go head to head to head, but if I’m going to pick one to be my favourite, it’s going to have to be Maisie Williams. However, this series has not really been her pivotal year despite all the hardship she has endured, and actually I think that Lena Headey may have the best and most deserving shot at the title. Forget Emila, I still haven’t forgiven her for Terminator Genisys.

All three will have to fend off the likes of Maura Tierney from The Affair, Maggie Smith from Downton Abbey and Constance Zimmer from UnREAL. In other words, it’s definitely got to be the year for one of the actresses from Game of Thrones surely! With the female characters rising and rising in importance over the course of the series as a whole, and particularly in series 6, it would be fitting to finally see one of the actresses rewarded.

If you ask me, it’s a shame Gwendoline Christie isn’t nominated as well for her role as Brienne of Tarth, even if she’s never in the show as much as I’d like. Perhaps as the number of characters battling for the Iron Throne starts to dwindle as they all get killed off in the final couple of series, some of the actors and actresses left over can be shunted up into the Lead Actress and Actor categories. When all of the cast are so brilliant, it’s a shame to see them constantly relegated to the supporting actor/actress categories, but I suppose that’s what you get for starring in a show so rich and complex with its wonderful cast of characters.

Whose corner are you in in the battle of the Outstanding Supporting Actresses?