Peak TV may be over, but it’s still Peak FYC for quite a few players both in front of and behind the camera. Because we’re no longer in the era of 22-episode seasons — once the rule, now the exception — the idea of exclusivity has been thrown out the door. That’s why you keep seeing your favorite actors all over your TV screens, as there seems to be no stopping of some stars’ work ethic.
Fine, I’m talking about you, Nicole Kidman. If there was ever an MVP of the streaming era, it would be Kidman, whose output this season includes Netflix’s “The Perfect Couple,” Paramount+’s “Lioness,” AMC+’s “The Last Anniversary” and Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers” (which is premiering too late for eligibility this cycle, but still).
Kidman is far from the only one. Of all the unlikely TV overachievers, Harrison Ford makes the grade this year for Apple TV+’s “Shrinking” and Paramount+’s “1923.”
Then there’s Steve Carell in “The Four Seasons” and “Mountainhead”; Nathan Lane in “Mid-Century Modern” and “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”; John Goodman in “The Righteous Gemstones” and “The Conners”; Giancarlo Esposito in “The Residence” and “Godfather of Harlem”; Jon Hamm in “Your Friends & Neighbors” and “Landman”; Diego Luna in “Andor” and “La Máquina”; Lee Jung-jae in “Squid Game” and “The Acolyte”; and Jeffrey Wright in “The Last of Us” and “The Agency.”
On the actress side, there’s Kathryn Hahn in “Agatha All Along” and “The Studio”; Natasha Rothwell in “How to Die Alone” and “The White Lotus”; Catherine O’Hara in “The Studio” and “The Last of Us”; Michelle Monaghan in “Bad Monkey” and “The White Lotus”; Eva Longoria in “Land of Women” and “Only Murders in the Building”; Helen Mirren in “1923” and “MobLand”; Allison Janney in “The Diplomat” and “Another Simple Favor”; Cristin Milioti in “The Penguin” and “Black Mirror”; Meghann Fahy in “The Perfect Couple” and “Sirens”; and Uzo Aduba in “The Residence” and “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You Can-Eat.”
And, listen, that is not an exhaustive list. It also doesn’t include guest categories — where shows like “The Studio” are so jam-packed with star cameos that virtually everyone can be considered a double contender.
I’m perhaps most excited to see lesser-known names get their due. I don’t know if anyone worked harder this year than O-T Fagbenle, and he stands out in each role – as Luke Bankole, June’s husband in “The Handmaid’s Tale”; as Nico Della Guardia, the ambitious and smarmy new D.A. on “Presumed Innocent”; and as Dennis, the mama’s boy looking for a house with his wife on “No Good Deed.”
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Those are three very different shows and, I’ve got to imagine, a treat for an actor to jump from one to the next. So I gave Fagbenle a call to hear about his strategy behind landing so many unique roles.
“When I first got into acting, I was doing theater, and you do so many different genres,” he says. “In a single year, I would do Shakespeare to a physical theater piece, to a modern, gritty urban piece. That was par for the course in London. One of the things that I found funny about moving more into television was that the roles would become a bit same-y after a little while. With my agent, I said, ‘Look, I really want to explore the diversity, both in genre and types of character. I’m just really excited that I got a chance to go back to kind of my roots.”
Fagbenle has also become a bit known for his unique take on accents, particularly the drawl he gave his character on “Presumed Innocent.” He laughs at how much attention he’s received over that choice.
“The funny thing is, my natural accent changes all the time,” he explains. “If I’m with my Nigerian family, it becomes one thing. If I’m with my London friends, it becomes another thing. So I’m always doing an accent. I was kind of like swinging the bat a little bit, but I was somewhat surprised just how interested people were in it!”
And I’m sure there will be plenty more roles to come for Fagbenle to try on a few more.
From Variety US