Team AD TV’s 2021 Limited Series / Variety Emmy Predictions

We’ve come down to the last categories for the 2021 Emmy Awards.

A year ago, Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit became a true water cooler limited series. Within a month of premiering, nearly everyone was talking about it. The thing you heard the most?

“They made chess fun to watch.”

So, as the season progressed, it marched through the guild season, winning nearly everything for which it was eligible. But surely, we all thought, the spring limited series would interrupt that trajectory. After all, we had a groundbreaking limited series from Barry Jenkins, Kate Winslet returning to television, and Disney+ surprised everyone with the extraordinarily high quality of its first limited series WandaVision.

But last weekend, the Creative Arts Emmys reminded us of one thing: it really was The Queen’s Gambit all along. It dominated the weekend, winning nine awards – by far the most of any other series. That points to a very successful night this weekend when the major categories are handed out.

Given that, it looks like Gambit is poised to take home Limited Series, director, and potentially an acting win for Anya Taylor-Joy. To be fair, other sites are more uniform in predicting Taylor-Joy to win. We are mostly sticking with our initial reaction to Mare of Easttown and Kate Winslet’s stunning work therein, but it’s not a guarantee. And Mare could still take home the series trophy, but smart money should go with The Queen’s Gambit.

At any rate, take a look at what Team AD TV predicts in the Limited Series / Variety races below. Check back with us Sunday night as the 73rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards reveal their winners!