2015 Emmy Contenders: Best Actress in a Drama Series

2015 Contenders
Gillian Anderson "The Fall"
Patricia Arquette "CSI: Cyber"
Hayley Atwell "Agent Carter"
Caitriona Balfe "Outlander"
Chloe Bennet "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Megan Boone "The Blacklist"
Connie Britton "Nashville"
Lizzy Caplan "Masters of Sex"
Joelle Carter "Justified"
Olivia Colman "Broadchurch"
Claire Danes "Homeland"
Viola Davis "How to Get Away With Murder"
Nina Dobrev "The Vampire Diaries"
Michelle Dockery "Downton Abbey"
Mireille Enos "The Killing"
Vera Farmiga "Bate's Motel"
Eva Green "Penny Dreadful"
Mariska Hargitay "Law & Order: SVU"
Katherine Heigl "State of Affairs"
Taraji P. Henson "Empire"
Elizabeth Hurley "The Royals"
Tea Leoni "Madam Secretary"
Julianna Margulies "The Good Wife"
Tatiana Maslany "Orphan Black"
Elizabeth McGovern "Downton Abbey"
Elisabeth Moss "Mad Men"
Ellen Pompeo "Grey's Anatomy"
Keri Russell "The Americans"
Katey Sagal "Sons of Anarchy"
Taylor Schilling "Orange is the New Black"
Amanda Schull "12 Monkeys"
Kerry Washington "Scandal"
Ming-Na Wen "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."
Olivia Williams "Manhattan"
Ruth Wilson "The Affair"
Robin Wright "House of Cards"

Commentary - Both Best Actress races this year are simply brutal. There is a huge crop of new contenders to this category that could wipe out the past and create a clean slate, but there are some strong returning favorites who have made good cases for their return. Claire Danes, Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss, Michelle Dockery, Lizzy Caplan, Vera Farmiga, Julianna Margulies, and Robin Wright, all recent nominees in this category for these same characters, had work this season that was awards worthy. And that is eight names, for only six, maybe seven slots. That doesn't include the additions. Taylor Schilling got in on the Comedy side, and had a great season that is definitely worthy on the Drama side. Ruth Wilson won the Golden Globe, and The Affair has great Emmy buzz. Then there is Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis, both of whom will most likely make the cut, and could, each having awesome episode potentials, easily win the big prize. Throw in Gillian Anderson, Olivia Colman, Olivia Willians, Eva Green, Oscar-winner (and past Emmy winner) Patricia Arquette and Tea Leoni, and you could have yet another category full of great performances. Then there is the third, yes third, category: performances from veteran shows that have been overlooked. I'm talking about Katey Segal, Tatiana Maslany, Keri Russell, Nina Dobrev, Megan Boone, and Joelle Carter. Even ten nominees this year wouldn't probably be sufficient for this crop of actresses. How the cards will fall no one knows at this point. Although with only six weeks till the nominations, we need to start trying to make heads and tails of all these contenders. But with so many in the running, where do you start?