2024 Emmy Predictions: Best Music for a Limited Series
Although the fourth season of “Fargo” was decidedly not popular with Emmy voters in 2021, they still saw fit to recognize its original score, thus making it the first four-time nominee in the history of the Best Music for a Limited Series category. Now that composer Jeff Russo has maintained his streak by earning a notice for season five, the FX show has a strong shot at becoming the first two-time recipient of said music award.
As Russo looks to repeat his 2017 success in this category, he faces a tough challenge from Carlos Rafael Rivera (“Lessons in Chemistry”), who beat him three years ago as the composer behind “The Queen’s Gambit.” Also in the running are two more category veterans as well as two first-timers, one of whom is a total Emmys rookie.
In order to determine the true likelihood of “Fargo” making history here, let’s take a closer look at each nominee. Be sure to make your predictions in this and 30 other Creative Arts Emmy categories by September 7.
“All the Light We Cannot See” – Composer: James Newton Howard
Episode: “Episode 4”
Howard’s second nomination in this category comes eight years after he received his first for the telefilm “All the Way” and over two decades after he won Best Main Title Theme Music for the network drama “Gideon’s Crossing.” In his chosen episode of this Netflix series, the story of an unlikely friendship between a blind French girl and a German soldier comes to an end as World War II reaches its final stage.
“Fargo” – Composer: Jeff Russo
Episode: “Blanket”
In addition to earning nominations for all five iterations of this anthology series, Russo picked up a second 2021 bid for the TV movie “Oslo” which he shared with Zoë Keating. In “Blanket,” heroine and recent car accident victim Dot Lyon (Juno Temple) is forcibly taken from a hospital to a barn where her estranged first husband, North Dakota sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm), holds her captive while he participates in a humiliating election debate.
“Lawmen: Bass Reeves” – Composer: Chanda Dancy
Episode: “Part I”
This eight-part, fact-based Paramount+ western tells the story of how the titular runaway slave became an incredibly efficient U.S. Marshal. Dancy, whose past credits include the Emmy-nominated documentary “Aftershock” and the Whitney Houston biopic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” is now the first Black female contender in the history of this category.
“Lessons in Chemistry” – Composer: Carlos Rafael Rivera
Episode: “Book of Calvin”
Rivera, whose first of two Emmy wins came for creating the title theme for “Godless” (2018), is also presently nominated in that capacity for this Apple TV+ series. Its penultimate episode, which takes viewers back to the 1930s, is, as its title suggests, primarily about deceased supporting character Calvin Evans (Lewis Pullman) and how he came to be the man with whom protagonist Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson) fell in love.
“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” – Composers: Kara Talve and Hans Zimmer
Episode: “Episode 1”
One year after sharing in a documentary score notice for “Prehistoric Planet” with current “Beckham” nominee Anze Rozman, this pair have landed double bids for this Peacock series, the other of which is for the original song “Love Will Survive.” Zimmer, who was previously recognized here for “The Pacific” (2010), teamed with Talve in this case to enhance the true story of Lale Sokolov (Jonah Hauer-King and Harvey Keitel), a Holocaust survivor who was tasked with tattooing identification numbers on the arms of other concentration camp prisoners.
So, what will win the 2024 Emmy for Best Music for a Limited Series? The fact that “Fargo” just earned five times more nominations than it did in 2021 bodes well for it all around, although it will likely be passed over in favor of “Baby Reindeer” in most of the main limited series categories. Still, it stands to do well in the six races where it’s not nominated against the Netflix series, including this one and Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress.
Russo and Rivera’s second showdown will certainly be interesting to watch play out, especially since the latter prevailed last time and can maintain the statistic of no program ever winning here twice. Based on the overall strength of their respective programs, however, Russo has a significant edge over his former rival.
PREDICT the Creative Arts Emmy winners through September 7
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