‘Saturday Night Live’ seeks an Emmy comeback in a category it has dominated

2023 was the end of an era in the Best Comedy Supporting Actress Emmy category. For the first time in 10 years, “Saturday Night Live” was snubbed in the category in which it has been nominated a record 22 times and has won twice, both for Kate MicKinnon. Can it rebound in 2024?

Ever since the TV academy allowed “SNL” cast members to enter in the comedy acting categories in 2008, the sketch series has dominated supporting actress, with 2013 and 2023 being the only years it has failed to earn a nomination. McKinnons is “SNL’s” most nominated performer in the category — and overall — with nine bids, the second most in the category after Rhea Perlman and Loretta Swit, who each received 10.

After McKinnon’s final nomination for her final season in 2022, it was clear that “SNL” might struggle to continue its nomination streak. She was “SNL’s” only nominee in the category that year, down from three bids in 2021 and two in 2020. Former nominee Cecily Strong, the longest-tenured female cast member, departed the show early in Season 48 in December 2022 and was not predicted to earn a nomination last year, sitting in 10th place. Neither were Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner nor Chloe Fineman. Strong was the last of the early 2010s cast of Emmy-nominated “SNL” women — McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Leslie Jones and Vanessa Bayer — to leave the long-running series.

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Since “SNL” was shut out last year, this means it has no former supporting actress nominee in its current Season 49 cast. And going by the odds, it might not add one this year either. Nwodim is the highest-ranked “SNL” star in 11th place, four places out of the expected field of seven. Fineman is in 19th and Gardner, despite her recent buzz for hilariously breaking in the Beavis and Butt-Head sketch, is in 30th. None of them have been nominated before, so it’s not surprising they’re underdogs in a category populated by bigger shows and former nominees and winners. Meryl Streep, who’s seeking her fourth Emmy, is currently in first place for “Only Murders in the Building,” followed by 2022 champ Sheryl Lee Ralph (“Abbott Elementary”), two-time nominee Hannah Einbinder (“Hacks”), Abby Elliott (“The Bear”), two-time nominee Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”), Liza Colón-Zayas (“The Bear”) and seven-time champ Allison Janney (“Palm Royale”). Reigning champ Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”) is upgrading to lead, where she’s first in the odds, making room for Elliott and Colón-Zayas, the latter of whom wasn’t even submitted last year, to represent the 10-time Emmy-winning series in supporting actress.

Perhaps what’s most concerning for “SNL” is that Emmy voters haven’t taken to its newer generation of cast members yet outside of two-time nominee Bowen Yang. Gardner joined the show in 2017, Nwodim in 2018 and Fineman in 2019, but none were able to break through while the old guard of “SNL” ladies was still around.

But “SNL” has been through this before. Before McKinnon, Kristen Wiig was voters’ go-to “SNL” nominee in comedy supporting actress. Wiig received her fourth and final bid in 2012 for her final season and “SNL” was snubbed the following year. But it came back with a vengeance in 2014 when McKinnon, who joined “SNL” weeks before Wiig’s exit, scored her first of nine consecutive nominations. “SNL” only took a one-year “break” then, so maybe it can surprise us all with a nomination in July. Or maybe it’ll take a wee bit longer than one year to rebuild in this category.

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