SAG Awards: What happens when co-stars compete for Best TV Drama Actress?
Twenty-two years ago, “The Sopranos” actresses Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, and Nancy Marchand made history as the first trio of TV performers to face each other in the same Screen Actors Guild Awards lineup. Although Falco nabbed the trophy, costars who face off in Best TV Drama Actress races only have a 31% chance of winning. That stat is based on the fact that the women involved went home empty-handed in nine of the category’s other dozen matchups.
This puts current nominees Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (“The Morning Show”) in a tenuous position, but victory is still possible for one of them depending on whether or not their competitors meet certain criteria.
Judging by the nine instances in which drama actress co-stars lost to someone else, the best way to beat such a duo or trio is to be younger than at least one of them. This has been true in all nine cases and applies to all three of 53-year-old Aniston and 45-year-old Witherspoon’s challengers. The youngest in the group is Jung Ho-yeon (27, “Squid Game”), followed by Sarah Snook (34, “Succession”), and then Elisabeth Moss (39, “The Handmaid’s Tale”).
When going against a set of drama actress co-stars, it also helps to be a past nominee. Five of the nine champs had already been recognized in this category, while an additional three had previously picked up TV bids elsewhere. Since Jung and Snook are both SAG Awards newcomers, Moss is the only one who could benefit from this statistic, having earned three past notices here for this series between 2018 and 2020 as well as two for “Mad Men” in 2009 and 2011.
In terms of past wins, it is better for someone challenging a drama actress pair or trio to not have any in the category, since five of these nine victors had never won here before. However, since three had already pulled off victories in other categories, a general SAG win helps more than it hurts. This signals more good news for Moss, who has lost on all of her individual outings but scored two ensemble wins for “Mad Men” in 2009 and 2010.
If either “Morning Show” actress does triumph, she will continue a trend started last year by “The Crown” performer Gillian Anderson, who prevailed here over her costars Olivia Colman and Emma Corrin. The next most recent entrant on this winners list was Falco, who, in 2003, beat Bracco as well as “The West Wing” pair Allison Janney and Lily Tomlin. Janney went up against a different castmate, Stockard Channing, in 2002 and 2004 and defeated both her and the two “Sopranos” women in the former contest.
In 2013, Michelle Dockery and Maggie Smith were both nominated here for “Downton Abbey” against eventual victor Claire Danes (“Homeland”). Four years later, Claire Foy (“The Crown”) bested “Stranger Things” actresses Millie Bobby Brown and Winona Ryder. Before they both lost to Anderson in 2021, “Ozark” actresses Julia Garner and Laura Linney vied for the 2019 prize against winner Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”). And, lastly, Colman’s three-way showdown was preceded by a head-to-head battle with a different “Crown” costar, Helena Bonham Carter, that ended in a draw when they both fell to Aniston.
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