2022 Emmys: Best Limited/Movie Directing category could favor Mike White, Danny Strong and …

There are 136 submissions on the 2022 Emmys ballot for Best Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Directing, which will yield six nominations. As a reminder, last year’s winner was “The Queen’s Gambit” (Scott Frank), while the other nominees were “Hamilton” (Thomas Kail), “Mare of Easttown” (Craig Zobel), “Wandavision” (Matt Shakman), “The Underground Railroad” (Barry Jenkins) and two episodes of “I May Destroy You” (Sam Miller for “Eyes Eyes Eyes Eyes” and Miller and Michaela Coel for “Ego Death”).

For six of the last eight years, the Best Limited/Movie Directing category has rewarded directors who helmed the entirety of their limited series. That could work in favor of Mike White, who directed all six episodes of “The White Lotus,” which should have enough overall support to be competitive in the series category. Miniseries that also only submitted their sole director for the whole series, per the Emmy ruling, include “Gaslit” for Matt Ross, “A Very British Scandal” for Anne Sewitsky and “We Own This City” for Reinaldo Marcus Greene.

Of course, barring any potential vote-splitting, voters more than often go for the deemed frontrunner of the series category in directing, which could help Danny Strong for his sole submission for the “Dopesick” finale. Strong is a prior two-time Emmy winner for producing and writing “Game Change” (2012), but this would be his first directing triumph.

John Wells has been a long-time staple for the Television Academy with “ER” and “The West Wing” and is up for his direction of the penultimate episode of “Maid.” In reality, there are many Emmy darlings and previous nominees from various series looking for a mention, including Thomas Schlamme for “Under The Banner of Heaven,” Hiro Murai and Jeremy Podeswa for “Station Eleven,” Daniel Minahan for “The Girl From Plainville,” and Ryan Murphy for “Impeachment: American Crime Story” (who won in 2018 for an episode of the previous installment), which may benefit them given the directors’ names are on the ballot.

There will also be a number of creators vying for the nomination from their respective series such as Antonio Campos for “The Staircase,” Taylor Sheridan for “1883,” Hagai Levi for “Scenes From A Marriage,” Liz Hannah also for “The Girl From Plainville,” and Dustin Lance Black also from “Under The Banner of Heaven.”

In addition, both “1883” and “Under The Banner of Heaven” went extra in their submissions entering directors Ben Richardson and Christina Alexandra Voros for the former and Isabel Sandoval and Courtney Hunt for the latter, while “Station Eleven” added Helen Shaver and “Impeachment: American Crime Story” added Rachel Morrison, who is also a contender for “The Morning Show.” “The Dropout” went with double submissions as well for Michael Showalter and Francesca Gregorini.

Barry Levinson was the last director to get in for a television movie when he was nominated for “Paterno” in 2018, and could do it again with “The Survivor,” along with Megan Park for “The Fallout.” This category has been kinder to television movies than the writing race, nominating five telefilm directors since 2014 (excluding “Hamilton” and “Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert,” both filmed stage specials), so it will be exciting to see who makes the cut on July 12.

Here are some of the Best Limited/Movie Directing submissions from top Emmy contenders:

“Dopesick”
“The People vs. Purdue Pharma” (Danny Strong)

“The Dropout”
“Green Juice” (Michael Showalter)
“Iron Sisters” (Francesca Gregorini)

“Maid”
“Sky Blue” (John Wells)

“The White Lotus”
All episodes (Mike White)

“The Staircase”
“911” (Antonio Campos)

“Station Eleven”
“Unbroken Circle” (Jeremy Podeswa)
“Wheel Of Fire” (Hiro Murai)
“Who’s There?” (Helen Shaver)

“Under The Banner Of Heaven”
“Blood Atonement” (Thomas Schlamme)
“Revelation” (Isabel Sandoval)
“Church And State” (Courtney Hunt)
“One Mighty And Strong” (Dustin Lance Black)

“A Very British Scandal”
All episodes (Anne Sewitsky)

“Scenes From A Marriage”
“The Illiterates” (Hagai Levi)

“1883”
“1883” (Taylor Sheridan)
“The Fangs Of Freedom” (Christina Alexandra Voros)
“This Is Not Your Heaven” (Ben Richardson)

“We Own This City”
All episodes (Reinaldo Marcus Greene)

“Gaslit”
All episodes (Matt Ross)

“The Girl From Plainville”
“Talking Is Healing” (Liz Hannah)
“Blank Spaces” (Daniel Minahan)

“Impeachment: American Crime Story”
“Man Handled” (Ryan Murphy)
“Stand By Your Man” (Rachel Morrison)

“The Survivor”
Barry Levinson

“The Fallout”
Megan Park

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