Emmy nominee profile: Nick Offerman (‘The Last of Us’) seeks first career victory for dramatic turn
Nick Offerman has been a bit of an Emmys bridesmaid so far, as the versatile actor has been nominated three times in his career but failed to turn any of them into cold, hard wins he can put on his shelf. This year, he earned his fourth nomination — and, surprisingly, his first one as an actor. He was nominated for Best Drama Guest Actor for HBO’s hugely successful video-game adaptation “The Last of Us.”
In the show, Offerman appears as Bill in episode three — “Long, Long Time.” Perhaps the most emotional episode of the entire series, Offerman is front and center of the drama and truly gets a chance to show off his acting chops. Bill lives a solitary life on his compound when the epidemic breaks out. But his uneasy quiet is disturbed when Murray Bartlett‘s Frank stumbles upon the land. Bill is reluctant to help the stranger but does agree to feed him. Initially, Bill wants Frank to be on his way promptly but the two bond over their love of music and food, and a romance quickly begins. The episode then charts their time together across many years in what is a beautiful LGBTQ+ love story. Bill and Frank strike up a friendship with Anna Torv‘s Tess and Pedro Pascal‘s Joel before Frank falls with a terminal illness.
Frank orders his now-husband to assist in his suicide by helping him drink drugged wine but Bill, refusing to live without his love, drinks the wine, too. Right at the end of the episode, Joel and Bella Ramsey‘s Ellie arrive at the compound and find the dead couple together. Joel finds a letter addressed to him written by Bill explaining how much he loved Frank and leaving his belongings to Joel. Both Offerman and Bartlett make for a heartbreaking couple and the episode is so good it could have been a short film all by itself.
As such, Offerman and Bartlett both received nominations for Best Drama Guest Actor and so did their co-stars Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Montreal Woodard. This puts “The Last of Us,” which has now become the first live-action video game adaptation to receive major Emmy nominations (“Arcane” became the first ever video game adaptation to win an Emmy when it won Best Animated Program last year), at four nominations for Best Drama Guest Actor. This marks only the second instance of a series receiving four notices at once in this category, after “Succession” did so last year.
There could be more history made if Offerman were to win, however, as he would be just the 12th actor to beat a co-star in this category since its inception in 1989. This Is Us” star Ron Cephas Jones beat co-star Gerald McRaney in 2018. McRaney beat Brian Tyree Henry and Denis O’Hare the year before for the same show. In 2007, John Goodman bested Eli Wallach for “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” The year before that, Christian Clemenson defeated Michael J. Fox for “Boston Legal.” Ray Lotta beat Red Buttons in 2005 for “ER” and Charles S. Dutton took down John Larroquette in 2002 for “The Practice.” In 2001, Michael Emerson beat René Auberjonois for the same show, following up James Whitmore’s defeat of Paul Dooley and Henry Winkler in 2000. In 1999, Edward Hermann defeated Tony Danza — again for “The Practice.” In 1994, Richard Riley beat James Earl Jones for “Picket Fences.” And, in 1989, Joe Spano won over “Midnight Caller” co-star Peter Boyle.
If Offerman does beat Bartlett, Woodard, and Johnson (as our odds charts suggest he will), then he would be the first actor in this category to ever beat three co-stars to win the award. So far, the record is two — McRaney beat Henry and O’Hare in 2017 and Whitmore beat Dooley and Winkler in 2000. It should be pointed out that Bartlett, Woodard, and Johnson could also achieve this feat, of course. They are joined in this category by James Cromwell and Arian Moayed, who both feature in “Succession.” Offerman will be hoping to turn his first acting nomination into a win. Previously, he was nominated three times for Best Reality Host in 2019, 2020 and 2022 for “Making It.” He shared all three nominations with Amy Poehler, his “Parks and Recreation” co-star.
Offerman is the only actor in this lineup, however, to be nominated for three Emmys and not win. Cromwell has been nominated for seven Emmys, winning one — for “American Horror Story” for Best Limited Series/TV Movie Supporting Actor in 2013. Bartlett won that category last year for “The White Lotus” and has also been nominated this year in the same category for “Welcome to Chippendales.” Moayed has now been nominated twice for “Succession” in this category, bringing his total to two bids. Woodard and Johnson are both first-time nominees.
This article is part of Gold Derby’s “Emmy nominee profile” series spotlighting the 2023 acting contenders.
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