Before Emmy Gold: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Someone in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category is going to win their first career Emmy this weekend…unless Zendaya has something about it. The Hollywood megastar can be found in several of the summer’s biggest films, and yet has managed to carve out an iconic career on screens both large and small. She is already a two-time winner for her work as Rue on Euphoria, the lone woman in this category to already have an Emmy trophy on her shelf.

But with a fellow young starlet in Chase Infiniti looming, or multi-time nominees like Carrie Coon, Keri Russell, and Rhea Seehorn angling for the first Emmy wins of their career, Zendaya is facing some stiff competition amidst Euphoria‘s final season.

Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane as we reflect on each nominee’s chances and their journeys up until this point.

Carrie Coon

Nominated For: The Gilded Age

Previous Nominations: 2024. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie – 2017. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – 2025.

Hidden Gem: His Three Daughters

Already a highly accomplished screen actress, Carrie Coon has become a particular icon amongst film and TV buffs in recent years alongside her husband, actor/playwright/podcaster/physical media extraordinaire Tracy Letts. But when she is not sitting down to watch a collector’s edition Blu-Ray of In The Realm of the Senses, Coon is delivering a diverse set of performances in both film and television. Her work on The Gilded Age strikes an impressive balance between sophisticated and cheeky, not unlike her Emmy-nominated work on The White Lotus last year.

If you are on the lookout for even more darkly comic work from Coon, however, turn to Netflix for the feature film His Three Daughters, where the star teams up with Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen to paint a warm portrait of a hostile family rallying around grief and hardship. Coon may face an uphill battle to win this weekend, but we are lucky to have her at the ceremony, not to mention returning as The Gilded Age‘s Bertha Russell on November 1st.

Chase Infiniti

Nominated For: The Testaments

Previous Nominations: None.

Hidden Gem: One Battle After Another

Perhaps One Battle After Another is not much of a hidden gem, but we cannot discuss the meteoric rise of the gorgeous and talented Chase Infiniti without recalling the reigning Best Picture winner from Paul Thomas Anderson. The 2025 epic introduced Infiniti in a big way, her only prior screen credit as the daughter on Apple TV’s Presumed Innocent. It’s an unmemorable albeit essential performance, paling in comparison to her work as Willa Ferguson in One Battle, which may have been snubbed at last year’s Oscars, but still dramatically altered the trajectory of Infiniti’s career.

Hulu’s The Testaments arrived just in time to capitalize on Infiniti’s newfound stardom. The spinoff of Emmy-winning series The Haindmaid’s Tale, The Testaments follows a new generation of women coming of age in Gilead. Infiniti plays Agnes, who begins to rebel against her own indoctrination and oppression as she learns the true nature of her identity. The rising star may be a long-shot to win the Emmy on Monday night, but she is likely to remain in these conversations for a very long time.

Keri Russell

Nominated For: The Diplomat

Previous Nominations: 2016-2018, 2023, 2025. Also nominated for Outstanding Drama Series 2025-2026.

Hidden Gem: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Since its debut in 2023, Netflix’s The Diplomat has remained steadily represented at the Primetime Emmys, even as it awaits its first win in any category. The same could be said for its star, Keri Russell, who claimed several deserving nominations from 2016-2018 for her terrific work on FX’s The Americans. Her Americans co-star/husband Matthew Rhys is nominated alongside Russell this year for his hilarious work on Apple’s Widow’s Bay (he may even be the frontrunner in his category). One can’t help but wonder if there is some friendly competition amongst the couple, particularly as Rhys won the Emmy in 2018 for the spy thriller that launched both their marriage and their shared ascent to television royalty.

Of course, Russell and Rhys are no strangers to the big screen as well! The most underrated work of Russell’s career might have been in Matt Reeves’ Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), one of the great blockbusters of the 21st century. It can be easy to forget about the incredible human performances in that franchise, but Russell, alongside co-stars Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, turns in really moving work as Ellie, a former CDC nurse whose medical expertise proves increasingly crucial to Caesar and his simian compatriots.

Zendaya

Nominated For: Euphoria

Previous Nominations: 2020, 2022. Also nominated for Outstanding Drama Series and doubly nominated for Original Music Lyrics in 2022.

Hidden Gems: The Drama

What a year for Zendaya! It can be easy to forget that the final season of Euphoria is even among her many milestone in 2026. It’s a bizarre piece of television that struggles to resonate with the previous two seasons, but none of that is the fault of its star, who still injects into Rue a powerful dose of pathos and urgency, no matter how pulpy or violent the show might become. While Zendaya may not be the odds-on favorite to win the Emmy, she is no stranger to this category, and it would not be a surprise to see the TV Academy reward her for one last run as Rue.

Truth be told, I have long been skeptical of Zendaya’s acting chops, but Euphoria has always stood out as some of her best work. Fortunately, 2026 has given us her best performance yet for the big screen in the form of Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama. Zendaya is excellent opposite Robert Pattinson, leveraging both her striking beauty and her relative immaturity in painting a complex portrait of Emma, a bride-to-be whose future is thrown into disarray after she reveals to her fiancé the worst thing she has ever done. If you have managed to avoid that spoiler up until this point, allow me to keep it that way. Go experience the film for yourself ASAP.

Rhea Seehorn

Nominated For: Pluribus

Previous Nominations: Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series – 2022. Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – 2022-2023.

Hidden Gem: Veep

Finally, we arrive at our heavy favorite to take home the Emmy gold on Monday. Pluribus star Rhea Seehorn should have several Emmys on her trophy shelf back home by now. Her performance as Kim Wexler on Better Call Saul is among the greatest television work of the 21st century, yet it was snubbed time and time again by the TV Academy voters. Vince Gilligan might have created Pluribus for the sole goal of getting his star that Emmy, and honestly, I’m not mad about it! Pluribus did not blow me away like I did so many other viewers (including those at the TV Academy, if last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys were any indication), but Seehorn is unsurprisingly excellent in a very tricky role, tasked with carrying the entire show (not to mention, the fate of the universe) as Carol Sturka.

While Seehorn was quite busy filming Better Call Saul between 2015-2022, she did take the time to film a brief multi-episode arc on the final season of HBO’s Veep, one of the funniest TV comedies of all time. Seehorn’s Michelle York was a fiercely loyal and painfully honest campaign manager to Selina Myer’s political rival Tom James. She truly can do it all!