When it comes to awards shows in the entertainment world, people say that it’s an honor just to be nominated. I’ve begun to believe that more and more over the years, and now I know it’s even more true than I thought, because it turns out sometimes being nominated can be near impossible. That became clear when I learned about an Emmy rule that has made it so one of Meryl Streep's performances can't be recognized this year.
Every award show needs to have rules regarding what it takes to be nominated for a given award, and those rules will always change over time in an attempt to find the most appropriate balance. However, one recent rule change regarding acting nominations for the Emmys really doesn’t seem right, as it's arguably screwed over a lot of great performances.
The Emmys Made A Change To Its Guest Performer Rules
Variety reveals that at the beginning of 2025, the TV Academy, which runs the Emmys, made a rule change that stated that an actor who previously had been nominated for a Lead or Supporting acting Emmy could not submit their name in the Guest Performance category for the same role. The problem, according to one veteran publicist, is that it keeps dramatic performances from multi-season series out, while still leaving the door open to say, a former Saturday Night Live cast member who returns to host the show. They said…
It’s not fair. This is a rule that’s uniquely beneficial to sketch shows, and punishes those who received nominations by sheer luck, or unlucky, if they didn’t.
One major example of this is Meryl Streep. She was nominated for Supporting Comedy Actress for Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building. Then, she returned as the same character in a guest star capacity for the next two seasons. However, the rule made her ineligible to submit for Guest Performance for Season 4 of the show, and she isn’t eligible for Season 5 for the same reason.
The rule also bars James Marsden, who was nominated for Supporting Drama Actor for the first season of Hulu’s Paradise. He only appeared in two episodes of Season 2, which wouldn’t qualify him for the supporting category this year, but he can't be submitted for Guest Performance either because of the rule.
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At the same time, somebody like Amy Poehler, who was nominated for Emmys more than once for her years as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, can be submitted as a Guest Performance for hosting a Season 51 episode, because as the “host,” she’s not playing the same role.
It has to be said, this rule does feel like splitting hairs. It’s an odd punishment for success because if Meryl Streep or James Marsden hadn’t had their larger performances deemed worthy of nomination, they would be fully eligible to be nominated in the Guest role. It also doesn’t appear that the rule works in reverse. If somebody is nominated in the Guest Performance role and is then promoted to a larger role in a later season, the double nomination appears to be possible.
Emmy nominations for this year will be announced in July. If your favorite Guest Performance isn’t nominated, it’s worth remembering that it may not be because it wasn’t great, it may have just been against the rules.