2018 Emmy nominations predictions: Best comedy actress contenders

As the nominations period comes to an end, EW’s team of experts and critics have compiled a list of the top contenders for the 2018 Emmy Awards.

For more TV talk, check out EW critic Kristen Baldwin, editor at large Lynette Rice, and editor in chief Henry Goldblatt’s witty new podcast about the Emmy Awards, Chasing Emmy. (Subscribe now via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.)

Inspired by the real-life Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, a televised female-wrestling showcase that ran in the late ’80s, GLOW was a big departure for Brie, 35, who was previously best known to TV fans as Pete Campbell’s reserved but determined ex-wife, Trudy, on Mad Men and perky overachiever Annie on Community.

Viewers devoured every moment of Miriam “Midge” Maisel’s journey, which Brosnahan, 27, played with equal parts hilarity and poignancy as her heroine went from being a stay-at-home wife and mother to becoming a bold new name in stand-up comedy.

When she wasn’t Oscaring up for her breakout role in I, Tonya, Janney, 58, continued to skillfully mine laughs by playing a rough-around-the-edges addict who mothers a similarly frantic alcoholic daughter.

In her show’s sophomore season, Issa (the character) navigated post-breakup life, and Rae, 33, raised her performance to convey just how messy this new reality was for her character. She was hella funny, real, vulnerable, and more when the script called for it.

As mom Rainbow, Ross, 45, brought the comedy in season 4 of her sitcom. But in its final episodes, she stretched her dramatic-acting muscles as the series explored her character’s broken marriage.

Season 4 produced some unexpected journeys for 78-year-old Tomlin’s Frankie. On top of embracing life (helping deliver a baby in a kiddie pool) and literal death (she was declared legally dead!), she escaped an assisted-living facility she was put in by meddling offspring.