Following his 2015 Emmy win for the final season of “Mad Men,” Jon Hamm took a large step back from TV stardom in order to beef up his film resume with titles such as “Baby Driver,” “Richard Jewell,” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” Now that he has made a splashy return to the small screen by playing new roles on “Fargo” and “The Morning Show” and reprising one on “Good Omens,” his Emmy nominations total could instantly rise from 16 to 19. If all of his possible 2024 bids come to fruition, he will be only the fourth person and second man to ever compete for three acting Emmys at once.
Hamm’s string of recent TV acting gigs began last July when he returned for season two Prime Video’s “Good Omens” as supporting character Gabriel – a humanoid version of the biblical archangel. He then fulfilled the new role of ambitious tech billionaire Paul Marks on Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” from September to November and finally starred as sadistic North Dakota sheriff Roy Tillman on the fifth iteration of FX’s “Fargo” from November to January.
For these respective roles, Hamm is seeking recognition in the Emmy categories of Best Comedy Supporting Actor, Best Drama Supporting Actor, and Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor. He has yet to compete for any of those specific awards, as all of his previous bids came for his dramatic lead acting or producing work on “Mad Men” and comedic guest appearances on “30 Rock” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”
Not counting voice work, the only male actor who will have preceded Hamm in collecting three Emmy bids in one year is Will Geer, who achieved the feat posthumously in 1978. His haul included his sixth drama supporting actor mention for “The Waltons” and one notice in each of the now-defunct Best Single Appearance in a Comedy or Drama Series categories (lead: “The Love Boat”; supporting: “Eight is Enough”). He ultimately came up short in every contest, respectively losing to Robert Vaughn (“Washington: Behind Closed Doors”), Barnard Hughes (“Lou Grant”), and Ricardo Montalban (“How the West Was Won”).
In 1972, Glenda Jackson technically became the first performer to simultaneously receive three Emmy nominations, but she was only eligible for two actual awards. As the star of the miniseries “Elizabeth R,” she amassed one Best Drama Actress and two Best Single Performance by a Lead Actress bids. She ended up taking both prizes, overcoming a potential vote split with herself in the latter category.
Geer was followed on the list of concurrent triple category contenders by Blythe Danner (2005) and Laurie Metcalf (2016). Danner’s first of two drama supporting wins for “Huff” was accompanied by respective lead and guest bids for the telefilm “Back When We Were Grownups” and the sitcom “Will & Grace,” on which she lost to S. Epatha Merkerson (“Lackawanna Blues”) and Kathryn Joosten (“Desperate Housewives”). Metcalf received her three notices for “Getting On” (comedy lead), “The Big Bang Theory” (comedy guest) and “Horace and Pete” (drama guest) and was respectively bested by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”), Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (“Saturday Night Live”), and Margo Martindale (“The Americans”).
According to Gold Derby’s odds, Hamm is widely predicted to win for “Fargo” and at least be nominated for “The Morning Show,” with his strongest competitor in the drama supporting race being his own castmate (and 2020 champion) Billy Crudup. His potential comedy bid is much more of a longshot, but he remains a feasible candidate there.
Given that Hamm has already been concurrently nominated for two acting Emmys on four different occasions, it’s safe to assume it will happen again this year. From there, the idea of him becoming a triple contender is perfectly plausible.
PREDICT the 2024 Emmy nominations through July 17
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I love both Jon and Billy but Jon has had much more experience and as a big Mad Man fan I think he should win. He also recently made a guest appearance on SNL was was really funny.