Category: 5. Entertainment

LONDON — An exquisite rhythm rolls across the sheer mass of Emily Kam Kngwarray’s paintings, produced in prolific bursts of creativity between 1980 and 1996, the last decade and a half of her life. As she worked at the forefront of a movement that sought to translate millennia-old Aboriginal cultural traditions onto media such as acrylic, canvas, and batik, much of her oeuvre is marked by a strong visual cohesion. Colorful fields of dots and linear motifs in earthy tones proliferate across the entirety of each picture plane, often covering the edges of the canvases, creating an impression of an expansiveness that seems to incorporate both microcosm and macrocosm, landscape and human, ancestral time and contemporary pressures. 

Kngwarray was an Anmatyerr woman born in Alhalker, in what is now known as the Northern Territory of Australia. An important Elder within her community, she is credited with breaking down the distinctions between fine art, craft, and cultural practice, gaining international recognition for her contribution to contemporary art. Her paintings and batik silks are inextricably rooted in the lands on which she was born, which in her earliest years were untouched by White settlers. However, when she was a child, they colonized Alhalker, and their introduction of sheep, cattle, and fences irrevocably changed her people’s Country.

This concept of “Country” is key to understanding Kngwarray’s work and the culture in which she developed her practice. As an explanatory wall text puts it, “For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, the concept … encompasses the lands, skies and waters to which they are deeply connected, over countless generations. Country is a shared place of spiritual, social and geographical origins.” In Kngwarray’s paintings, such as “Ankerr (Emu)” (1989), this manifests as a map-like depiction of emu footprints emerging from a web of patterns and dots, charting the routes taken by the birds between underground water sources. 

Kngwarray’s work also draws closely on Dreamings: ancestral beings who manifest in the plants, animals, and natural phenomena of Country. Dreamings are intrinsic to Kngwarray’s worldview and practice, with a focus on animals and plants which are special to her, including the ankerr (emu) and anwerlarr (pencil yam). Yet in Western contexts, such traditions have too often been exoticized, flattening their complexity and cultural significance. The Tate show doesn’t openly refer to previous Western cultural or curatorial practices in relation to art by Aboriginal peoples, but it does take pains to explicate the respectful approach used throughout this show, using terms like Country and Dreaming without romanticization, and applying spellings of Anmatyerr words deemed appropriate by Kngwarray’s family and community. In addition, the exhibition texts use Aboriginal place names alongside English ones, as well as Anmatyerr words for the plants and animals Kngwarray depicts. 

Some of Kngwarray’s paintings relate to Awely, women’s ceremonies celebrating certain animals or plants, in which they grind pigments to paint dots and patterns on each other’s bodies. Included in the exhibition is a video in which Kngwarray’s family members perform one such ceremony; they also contributed to the curating and textual interpretation of the exhibition. The show draws convincing parallels between these rituals and the texture, techniques, and patterning of some of the large-scale works displayed nearby, such as “Alhalker – My Country” (1992), a heavily layered tall panel dotted with shades of rust and ocher. Swirling patterns emerge and fade before the viewer’s eyes, recalling the cyclical verses of ceremonial songs, or the tradition of temporary sand drawings made by women to tell stories. 

The corridor connecting Kngwarray’s earlier works with some of her later experiments is wallpapered with an aerial photograph of Alhalker Country, which at first glance could be a blown-up reproduction of one of Kngwarray’s paintings. The next gallery features “The Alhalker Suite” (1993), a huge composition made up of 22 panels offering a similar aerial perspective on the landscape. This work moves away from her previous characteristic earthy palette, instead embracing a collection of red, purple, and blue tones to capture changing light and seasonal transformation. Rejecting the Western art historical (and implicitly colonial) tenet of the single viewpoint, this work uses iteration and patterning to explore the multiplicitous identities of a place, drawing on a notion of layering that is key to her entire oeuvre. 

While many Western viewers might dismiss subjects like emus, yams, or seeds as trivial, Kngwarray and her kinswomen approach these beings with profound seriousness. Through the dedication with which she meticulously renders layer upon layer of these motifs, she reveals an alternative vision of art that centers the nonhuman ecologies at the heart of Aboriginal life, spiritual practice, and creative culture. An intimate knowledge of the growth cycles of plants and the movements of animals is essential for survival on Country, while the concept of the Dreaming suggests an essential ongoing continuum between human and nonhuman inhabitants of these places. Kngwarray’s work encourages us to take these worldviews and ecologies seriously too; in an era of climate breakdown and extinction, our future may depend on it. 

Emily Kam Kngwarray continues at Tate Modern (Bankside, London), through January 11, 2026. The exhibition was curated by Kelli Cole.

Just hours after Independent 20th Century art fair closed its doors to the public, the fair announced that Sotheby’s will host its 2026 edition in the auction house’s soon-to-be flagship headquarters in Manhattan’s historic Breuer building. The move, first reported by the New York Times, will be a significant expansion for the fair and a first-of-its-kind collaboration between an art fair and an auction house in the art market’s modern era.

Founded in 2022, Independent 20th Century spotlights overlooked and celebrated artists of the last century, with curatorial programming that reframes movements from women in Surrealism to Arab Modernism. Its move to the Breuer—a landmark of Modernist architecture designed by Marcel Breuer and recently renovated by Herzog & de Meuron with PBDW Architects—will allow the fair to considerably enlarge its footprint to more than 50 galleries.

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“This is more than a new venue location, it’s a symbol of how we wish to imagine unforgettable exhibitions of the 20th Century for a well-informed audience and for a new generation of collectors,” Independent’s founder Elizabeth Dee, said in a statement. “Independent 20th Century will create a museum-caliber exhibition experience that supports extraordinary galleries and brings their curatorial and market expertise to light in new ways.”

The Breuer, once home to the Whitney Museum of American Art and later host to the Met Breuer and the Frick Madison, will now serve as the setting for Independent’s intimate, non-trade-fair format. Matthew Higgs, the fair’s founding curatorial advisor, said the aim remains “to create environments that allow art to be seen in its best light” rather than replicate the “trade fair-like aesthetics” of larger events.

While the alliance with Sotheby’s underscores a changing art landscape, Independent stressed its autonomy. “Sotheby’s will not have any curatorial voice within our exhibition,” Dee said, noting that the partnership is “mission driven” and designed to broaden the audience for 20th-century art through shared programming and new public initiatives.

For Sotheby’s, which will formally occupy the Breuer later this year, the collaboration aligns with its push to reposition its buildings as cultural venues rather than auction-only sites. “Together with Independent 20th Century, we hope to create a dynamic environment for discovery, dialogue, and exchange at the Breuer,” said Madeline Lissner, Sotheby’s global head of fine art.

The fair will run September 24–27, 2026, with a roster expected to exceed 50 exhibitors, up from 31 at its most recent edition at Casa Cipriani.

BBC Radio 1 has unveiled the star-studded lineup for Live Lounge Month 2025, bringing some of the biggest global acts and breakthrough artists to its iconic stage this October.

The event begins on Monday, September 29, on Rickie, Melvin and Charlie’s Radio 1 show (10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.), with performances airing at 12 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout the month.

This year’s lineup includes major names such as Lewis Capaldi, Demi Lovato, Conan Gray, mgk, Robbie Williams, Reneé Rapp, Wet Leg, Mumford & Sons and Florence + The Machine. Each act will perform live versions of their biggest hits alongside unique cover tracks.

The 2025 edition also introduces the first-ever Radio 1 Anthems Live Lounge, with Robbie Williams performing on Friday, October 10, to celebrate the launch of the station’s new Radio 1 Anthems channel.

Highlights of the schedule include Conan Gray (Oct. 1), mgk (Oct. 6), Reneé Rapp (Oct. 17), Lewis Capaldi (Oct. 20), Demi Lovato (Oct. 22), Louis Tomlinson (Oct. 29) and Florence + The Machine (Nov. 3). Fans will also get a special Live Lounge Late from Capaldi on October 20, broadcast during Jack Saunders’ New Music Show.

Radio 1 head Aled Haydn Jones described the series as “intimate, unforgettable performances that fans can’t experience anywhere else.” Past Live Lounge sessions have featured Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo and Ed Sheeran, attracting millions of views worldwide.

All Live Lounge Month 2025 performances will be available on Radio 1, BBC Sounds, BBC iPlayer and YouTube, ensuring fans don’t miss a moment of the exclusive music event.

The new mural on London’s High Court is thought to criticise Britain’s crackdown on protests in solidarity with Palestine Action group.

Anonymous street artist Banksy has unveiled a new mural on London’s High Court, depicting a judge striking a protester with a gavel, in what appears to be a commentary on the mass arrests of demonstrators backing the banned campaign group Palestine Action.

The anonymous artist shared images of the work on Instagram on Monday. The stencilled piece shows a bewigged judge bringing down a gavel on a protester sprawled on the ground, clutching a blood-stained placard.

The mural was painted days after nearly 900 people were detained during a protest in London opposing the government’s proscription of Palestine Action.

The artwork has since been fully covered up by British police, after attracting curious bystanders.

In July, Britain designated the activist network a “terrorist organisation” after its members stormed a Royal Air Force base and damaged military aircraft. Supporting or belonging to the group now carries criminal penalties.

But rights groups and campaigners have accused the British government of criminalising pro-Palestinian activism, saying the ban threatens the right to peaceful protest.

Lawyers and civil liberties advocates argue that proscribing Palestine Action sets a dangerous precedent for restricting activism on foreign policy issues, with Amnesty International calling the decision by the Labour government “a disturbing legal overreach”.

Banksy has long used his work to highlight Palestinian struggles under Israeli occupation. His murals in the occupied West Bank include ones that depict a girl conducting a body search on an Israeli soldier, a dove wearing a flak jacket, and a masked protester hurling a bouquet.

In 2017, he opened the “Walled Off Hotel” in Bethlehem, designed to offer what he called “the worst view in the world,” a direct reference to Israel’s separation barrier known as the apartheid wall, which stands in front of the hotel.

The wall that stretches for more than 700km (435 miles) on Palestinian land inside the occupied West Bank was termed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.

One of his most famous West Bank works, a rat armed with a slingshot, was painted near Bethlehem in 2007. The artwork was later removed by Israeli art dealers and displayed in a Tel Aviv art gallery in 2022.

The move was condemned by Jeries Qumsieh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism, who told The Guardian at the time: “This is theft of the property of the Palestinian people.”

“These were paintings by an international artist for Bethlehem, for Palestine, and for visitors to Bethlehem and Palestine. So transferring them, manipulating them and stealing them is definitely an illegal act,” Qumsieh had said.

The latest London mural has already been cordoned off with protective barriers, underscoring both the value of Banksy’s art and the controversy it generates. While the artist rarely explains his creations, his consistent focus on Palestine ensures this new work will be seen as a sharp critique of Britain’s clampdown on pro-Palestine activism.

For many of his supporters, the High Court mural is not just about Palestine Action but also a broader reflection on how state power and the judiciary are wielded against movements challenging Britain’s political establishment.

In the course of speaking about her wedding, Nora Arrhenius Hagdahl describes herself as “very much a fashion girl,” “a flirty girl,” “a craft girl,” and “a waist girl.” So, to accommodate all of these different aspects of herself, the bride donned three looks over the course of the celebration at which drew creatives from Berlin, London, and Stockholm.

Hagdahl, an art critic and co-founder (with Frida Vega Salomonsson) of Nuda Paper, a culture and fashion magazine, tied the knot with Kornél Kovács a DJ, music producer and co-founder (with Axel Boman and Petter Nordkvist) of the record label Studio Barnhus. They were introduced by a mutual friend one cold and dark winter in 2021. “It was very much like love at first sight,” Hagdahl recalls. “Kornél was basically telling me that he wanted to get married after a couple of times that we met. And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, let’s make that happen.’ It is just a very natural and electric and fantastic relationship.”

As Nuda regularly stages exhibitions and happenings, Hagdahl took the wedding planning in her stride. “I always dreamed of having a big party for my friends, and because I lived in different places and Kornél has so many friends all over the world, the dream was to have everybody meet,” she says. “That was the big appeal for me, to have all these worlds come together.” This comingling took place at the bride’s parents’ home in Opptuna, about an hour away from Stockholm. The houses on the property, which are surrounded by fields, date to the 18th and 19th century and there is archeological evidence that the area has been inhabited since the early Bronze Age. There was nothing retrograde in the wedding attire, however. The groom wore Our Legacy and the bride’s first dress, made of vintage shirt collars, was by Ellen Hodakova Larsson, whom Hagdahl has previously written for.

The bride’s something old: A Hodakova dress made of vintage collars.

Photo: Luke Sullivan

Henrik Ibsen’s second-most famous play, Hedda Gabler, has been plenty messed around with in recent years. There was a much-derided stage production starring Mary-Louise Parker. There was Liz Meriwether’s sci-fi reimagining, Heddatron. And now there is Nia DaCosta’s film Hedda, a rejiggering of the narrative that places a premium on subterfuge and sexual intrigue. It sometimes lands its intended jolt, but too often mistakes arch style for profundity.

That was also true of DaCosta’s Candyman sequel, an endlessly attractive film that was an otherwise confused update of the 1992 classic. Hedda fares better; it’s the work of a more assured and restrained writer-director, one who is willing to, on occasion, let visual flash take a backseat to more mechanical matters of storytelling. But there is nonetheless a recklessness to DaCosta’s version, its brash iconoclasm throws both baby and bathwater out of the manor-house window.

The action has been transposed from 19th-century Oslo to 1950s Great Britain, where former bohemian free-spirit Hedda (Tessa Thompson) has moved into a sprawling estate with her new husband, pinched and humorless academic George (Tom Bateman). They’ve decided to throw a party, ostensibly to celebrate the house and their return from a long honeymoon, but actually functioning as a way to secure George a crucial teaching position. DaCosta immediately foreshadows that the bash is going to end badly, sending Hedda stalking around the place with a wicked strut, pistol in hand. An old friend – really, an old lover – has just phoned to say she’ll stop by and Hedda seems both unnerved and invigorated by the news.

What Hedda plans to do about the impending arrival of Eileen Lovborg (Nina Hoss) – who is an academic rival of George’s and a mostly out lesbian who refuses to acquiesce to social code in the way that Hedda is at least partially willing to – is, essentially, the mystery of DaCosta’s film. It’s a mousetrap sort of affair, a jury-rigged evening of cruel manipulation all serving Hedda’s grand design for self-preservation.

Which is certainly one facet of Ibsen’s play; Hedda has always been a bit cunning and ruthless, always steadfastly determined to keep herself in the finer things. But DaCosta turns her into a remorseless sociopath. She goes for bite and nastiness in the way of, say, Saltburn, badly boiling away the complexity of one of modern theater’s great characters.

DaCosta takes some pains to tease out an idea of why Hedda has become this way: she is closeted and cosseted, she is Black in a largely white ecosystem, she not unjustifiably fears what may become of her should she lose her tenuous purchase on status. That argument is muddled, though. Race is glancingly mentioned but then never engaged with in a meaningful way. The film has more to say about sexuality, but depictions of queer repression’s dark consequence have been rendered more thoughtfully elsewhere. DaCosta fails to make a properly convincing case for her Hedda’s awful misdeeds.

Thompson tears into the role, plummy accent and all. Her line readings are alternately blithe and venomous, she casts sly and calculating looks across rooms, she coils around her prey with seductive menace. It’s fun to watch, but it’s also too grandly villainous. DaCosta sends Thompson tearing through the film without the guardrails of nuance or credible complication.

Then Hoss storms across the film’s ballroom, dragging the tablecloth with her. Hoss’s performance is a marvel; so marvelous, in fact, that DaCosta can’t help but shift the whole focus of the film on to her. Here is the picture of patriarchy’s warping effect that the film wants to paint elsewhere, here is the worthy and compelling figure of feminist outrage and frustration. As the film follows Eileen (who is a man called Eilert in the original play) on her dismal downward spiral, it finally whips up an unignorable resonance. Hedda, meanwhile, is left to plot in the periphery, making her seem all the more psychotically vicious.

There is maybe indication in DaCosta’s script that said psychotic viciousness is, in fact, some sort of manic depression that has been plaguing poor Hedda. But making that diagnosis requires too much work on the audience’s part, and perhaps too much familiarity with the original text. Watched in a vacuum – which, ideally, adaptations should be able to withstand – DaCosta’s Hedda is an annihilating and ultimately empty portrait of one woman destroying another out of the most basic, boilerplate motivation.

Still, there is the wonder of Hoss’s breakneck work, and the sensory pleasures of DaCosta’s design. She captures the film’s nightmare party in richly saturated color, drenched in the golden glow of practical lighting. DaCosta dexterously moves her camera between rooms, gliding through scenes with smooth, exciting momentum. It’s an impressive feat of technical film-making, which has now become a hallmark of DaCosta’s work. But she caves to baser impulses in reinterpreting an old and, some might say, crusty play. There is a better Hedda Gabler to be made in this modernist, eye-popping mode. It just shouldn’t be one that so readily cheapens a character who’s earned over a century of close and careful attention, for good reason.

Michael Caine is eyeing a return to acting with a sequel to “The Last Witch Hunter” at Lionsgate. The 92-year-old screen legend is set to come out of retirement for the feature, which will also see Vin Diesel return to headline. The sequel is being fast-tracked through development at Lionsgate and Diesel’s production banner One Race Films, Variety has confirmed.

Though a deal for Caine hasn’t been finalized, the actor is expected to reprise his role from the 2015 original “Last Witch Hunter.” Caine played Dolan, a priest who assists Diesel’s warrior Kaulder as he fights to stop a plague propagated by a witch queen.

The original “Last Witch Hunter” was somewhat of a passion project for Diesel, who promoted that the adventure film was an adaptation of his own “Dungeons & Dragons” campaigns, in which he played as the original character of Melkor the Witch Hunter. Released in October 2015 by Lionsgate, the film grossed just $27 million in North America, but proved a stronger draw overseas with $119 million from international territories. Per Lionsgate, the second life of “Last Witch Hunter” on digital and home video, which includes a run as one of the most-watched movies on Netflix this year, led to the sequel’s development 10 years later.

“‘The Last Witch Hunter’ has grown since its theatrical release into a global fan favorite, with audiences continuing to discover and rewatch it across every platform over the past decade. That enduring enthusiasm made clear there is an appetite for more stories set in this world,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture group chair Adam Fogelson in a statement confirming the sequel’s development. “Vin and I have partnered many times over the years, and he is a true force in our industry. I’m thrilled to be reuniting with him as he returns to this iconic role, and excited by how advancements in filmmaking technology now allow us to economically deliver a sequel on an even more ambitious scale.”

“The Last Witch Hunter” sequel would mark Caine’s first feature since announcing his retirement from acting in 2023 at the age of 90. He revealed the decision while promoting his last on-screen turn in Oliver Parker’s “The Great Escaper,” about a World War II veteran who breaks out of his care home for an anniversary commemoration of D-Day.

“I’ve figured, I’ve had a picture where I’ve played the lead and it’s got incredible reviews,” Caine told BBC Radio 4’s Today show at the time. “The only parts I’m likely to get now are old men, 90-year-old men, maybe 85. And I thought, ‘Well, I might as well leave with all this — I’ve got wonderful reviews. What have I got to do to beat this?’”

Bringing the Limited or Anthology Series or Movie division to a close, we take a look at the Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress categories.

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What You’ll Find in This Article

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Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: The Nominees

The Lead Actor category happens to feature a couple of movie stars who usually get themselves Oscar nominations. What they did on the small screen can hardly be considered slumming, so let’s dive into it and take a look at who’s who and what’s what.

The nominees are:

• Colin Farrell for The Penguin
• Stephen Graham for Adolescence
• Jake Gyllenhaal for Presumed Innocent
• Cooper Koch for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
• Brian Tyree Henry for Dope Thief

Bryan Tyree Henry’s Performance in Dope Thief

Brian Tyree Henry is quickly becoming one of those actors who have to be seen every time he shows up in something (seriously, he never makes a misstep).

Even in a lesser work like, say, the Marvel movie Eternals, you have to acknowledge that he is at the top of his craft. Is he one of the best actors of his generation, and it’s only a matter of time before he starts winning these awards by the barrel? This year is not when this is going to start, but it’s important to note these things. 

Jake Gyllenhaal and Colin Farrell Square Off

The movie stars come next. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a fabulous performance in Presumed Innocent, the David E. Kelley reimagining of the Harrison Ford movie from the early ’90s (based on a book written in the ’80s).

It’s hard to follow in the footsteps of a legend, but Gyllenhaal made the role his own. Colin Farrell’s transformation into the Penguin, meanwhile, was unrecognizable in The Batman three years ago and is still jarring. The unbridled evil dripping off that performance was strong enough to require a shower after viewing.

In other years, I think Farrell would be the frontrunner. It’s a shame that two actors are lined up in front of him.

The Verdict: Cooper Koch vs. Stephen Graham

Cooper Koch’s breakout performance as Erik Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story took everyone by surprise. Turning a convicted murderer into a multifaceted and, arguably, sympathetic figure is hard enough, but consider that it’s the first major role of his career, much less the first lead role, and it becomes even more impressive. It’s an astonishing piece of work that establishes him as a young actor to watch. 

In any other year, I think he would be something of a shoo-in for this thing. Unfortunately, this year he’s up against Stephen Graham, the star and co-creator of Adolescence. Graham has made a successful career out of cops, criminals, thugs, lowlifes and others of the type.

Eddie Miller is similar to these guys, but he’s a working-class gent, a devoted family man who owns his own business and only wants the best for his two children.

Graham appears in just two of the series’ four episodes, specifically the first and last ones. Still, in those episodes, he shows us a father’s desperation as he so badly wants to believe his son is not capable of the horrible thing he’s accused of doing, struggles to keep his family together, and ultimately has to face the reality of the situation. 

The show’s final scene, as Eddie kisses his son’s teddy bear and realizes that he is guilty of every parent’s nightmare — failing his child — is utterly devastating, and perhaps the finest moment of an already impressive career. 

With apologies to the young Mr. Koch, who now has a burgeoning career of his own and will surely be back here sooner rather than later, this is Stephen Graham’s award to lose.

Who Should Win: Stephen Graham

Who Will Win: Stephen Graham

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie: The Nominees

We now get to the one category in this division that doesn’t have anyone from Adolescence in it, which means that we’re going to have a very different conversation. 

The nominees are:

• Cate Blanchett for Disclaimer
• Cristin Milioti for The Penguin
• Michelle Williams for Dying for Sex
• Meghann Fahy for Sirens
• Rashida Jones for Black Mirror

Rashida Jones vs. Cate Blanchett

I have to admit to never being a huge Black Mirror fan, just because that particular kind of dystopian storytelling doesn’t tend to be my thing. Call me a delicate flower if you must, but there it is.

I’ve seen episodes here and there, and when these nominations were announced, I watched the episode for which Rashida Jones was nominated, so I know enough to talk about it.

Jones is a skilled actress and a talented writer (who had written an episode in a previous season of the show), and her performance in this particular episode is pretty powerful. That said, I think this is one of those nominations that is its own reward.

Cate Blanchett is one of the best actresses on the planet, and I think that’s why she earned this nomination. This is the second time she’s earned an Emmy nod for a performance (she also earned one for producing Mrs. America), and I think the odds are in her favor that she will someday win one; I just don’t think it’s this year.

The show, directed by the brilliant Alfonso Cuarón, never really found an audience, and while it’s good, I don’t think enough people care about it to give it a win here. 

The Case for Meghann Fahy

The most interesting nominee in this category is actually Meghann Fahy, who was nominated previously for season 2 of The White Lotus. This is an actress whose star is on the rise, and I think it’s only a matter of time before she hits the stratosphere.

Sirens was a fun show that sort of fell apart at the end, but Fahy ably holds the whole thing together. This nomination feels like a signal to the industry that people are paying attention to her, and we’re going to be seeing a lot more of her in the days, weeks, and months to come.

Ultimately, though, I think this race is between Cristin Milioti and Michelle Williams.

The Verdict: Cristin Milioti Goes Head-to-Head With Michelle Williams

If you’ve been paying attention, you know how talented Milioti is, and that it was only a matter of time before she landed a role like Sofia Falcone. Sofia is a dark, devious, nearly perfect villain, and Milioti not only holds her own with costar Colin Farrell, she owns every scene she’s in. 

Williams, meanwhile, has been giving us spectacular work for a couple of decades now, with Oscar and Emmy nominations galore, and a win six years ago for playing Gwen Verdon in Fosse/Verdon opposite Sam Rockwell.

Williams is absolutely devastating as Molly, the woman dying of cancer who decides to go out on her own terms. It’s one of those multifaceted roles that expertly mixes tragedy and comedy, with laughs one moment and tears the next.

It’s remarkable, and completely different from what Milioti does, though what she does is remarkable, too.

I think this is a toss-up. If it were up to me, I might root for a tie, but since that’s not going to happen, I’m going to say that Milioti’s villainous turn is going to get a couple more votes than Williams’ tragicomic one. Does she deserve it more? Maybe by the tiniest, thinnest hair. Maybe.

Who Should Win: Cristin Milioti (by a tiny, thin hair)

Who Will Win: Cristin Milioti 

Final Takeaways

The latest Emmy nominees in limited series show that great performances come from a mix of seasoned pros and breakout newcomers. Whether transforming into chilling villains or deeply flawed family men, these actors prove that commitment and nuance matter. If you’re an up-and-coming actor aiming to make your mark, here are some takeaways from this year’s standout contenders:

• Don’t shy away from morally ambiguous or difficult roles. They can showcase your range and depth.
• Even with limited screen time, a powerful, memorable moment can define your career.
• Take risks with character transformations; the more unrecognizable you are, the more you stand out.
• Build your craft steadily. Consistency keeps you on industry radars.
• Collaborate and create. Involvement beyond acting can sharpen your perspective and opportunities.

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