^{Credit: Big Mouth (Netflix)} 

After eight seasons on Netflix, Big Mouth bowed out with its series finale, “The Great Unknown.” The final episode was submitted for Outstanding Animated Program consideration, although it missed the nominations lineup. Big Mouth ended without an Animated Program Emmy to its name, although it’s not like the profane cumming-of-age comedy went completely unrecognized. In addition to winning Outstanding Derivative Interactive Program for Big Mouth Guide to Life in 2020, Maya Rudolph has picked up four Emmys for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. Voicing Connie the Hormone Monstress, Rudolph is nominated again this year for her work in the episode, "Why Do We Go Through Puberty?"

Between Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and the retired Outstanding Voice-Over Performance category, which included documentary narrators, Rudolph is tied for the most wins with Hank Azaria, Dan Castellaneta, and Seth MacFarlane. Rudolph is already the most awarded female in this category’s history. If she wins again this year, she’ll break the overall record. Of course, she’s not the only one who could win a fifth voiceover Emmy. She’s nominated against Azaria, who is up for voicing Moe Szyslak in The Simpsons episode “Abe League of Their Moe.” Azaria has lost to Rudolph twice in this category. His last win was in 2015 for “The Princess Guide.”

Azaria isn’t the only returning nominee that Rudolph has triumphed over in the past. Julie Andrews has been nominated four times for voicing Lady Whistledown in the Bridgerton franchise. Submitting the Season 3 finale, “Into the Light,” Andrews might be acting royalty, although a performance from a live-action show has never won in the character voice-over category. This also might hurt Alan Tudyk, who voices K-2SO in the Andor episode, "Who Else Knows?" Although this is Tudyk’s first nomination in the category, Rudolph has faced off against Star Wars robots before. In 2020, she beat Taika Waititi for voicing IG-11 in The Mandalorian.

Of all the years she’s been nominated in this category, Rudolph has only lost once to the late Chadwick Boseman for What If...? in 2022. Boseman also beat his What If…? co-star Jeffrey Wright, who voices The Watcher. Wright got nominated again this year, submitting "What If... 1872?" Wright, a past Emmy winner for his supporting performance in the miniseries Angels in America, is also nominated this year for his guest work in The Last of Us. With two nominations this year, voters may be compelled to vote for him somewhere. If they favor his Last of Us co-star Joe Pantoliano or another Guest Actor nominee, voters may throw Wright a bone in Voice-Over Performance. Plus, if Boseman hadn’t been nominated in 2022, would Wright have beaten Rudolph then?  

The wild card here is Steven Yeun for voicing the titular character in Invincible. Last year, Sterling K. Brown was nominated for voicing Invincible’s nemesis Angstrom Levy / Angstrom #646, losing to Rudolph. Yeun has submitted the episode, “What Have I Done?,” which sees Angstrom return. He isn’t alone, bringing Invincible variants to wreak havoc upon Mark Grayson’s world. As such, Yeun doesn’t just voice one character, but 18. While they’re all Mark Grayson, Yeun brings a distinct touch to each version. "We were spitballing in the booth a lot," Yeun told Entertainment Weekly. "They would tell me what the character was like, and I would just try some things out and they would give me feedback. For me, it was most about understanding the specific psyche of the character that helped me."

^{Credit: Invincible (Amazon Prime Video)}

Yeun is technically only nominated for voicing one character, per category rules. That’s why Azaria is only nominated for voicing Moe, despite playing multiple Simpsons characters. Nevertheless, voters who watch “What Have I Done?” will likely take note of Yeun’s range. Going purely by episode submissions, Yeun could win here. Of course, submissions don’t seem to matter as much as they used to. When it comes to making voters watch every nominated performance, the Emmys have grown more lenient, arguably resulting in more ballot check winners. This could pave the way for Rudolph to stroll her way to a record fifth win. It would be Rudolph’s seventh Emmy overall, having won two more for her guest work on SNL at Kamala Harris’ peak.

That said, Yeun is an Emmy favorite as well. Although he doesn’t have as many as Rudolph, Yeun won two Emmys for Beef, one for his lead performance and another for producing the miniseries. Of this year’s Character Voice-Over nominees, Yeun and Tudyk stand out as the only ones who haven’t competed against Rudolph before. So, they may stand the best chance of an upset, although Yeun benefits from being the lead of his show. In fact, he’s my prediction to win.

Part of that might be wishful thinking, as I was pulling for Invincible to get its first Outstanding Animated Program nomination this year. Aaron Paul also should’ve been nominated for his voiceover work as well. Rudolph might be vulnerable, however. Every year that she won for voicing Connie, Rudolph was nominated in another category as well. Sometimes, she’d win multiple Emmys in one night. The year Chadwick Boseman won, Big Mouth was Rudolph’s only nomination. Likewise, Rudolph only has one nomination this year, potentially mirroring the year she lost to a superhero. Rudolph still may be the smart choice, but between Yeun’s versatile episode submission and recent ascension to the Hollywood A-list, I’m betting on Invincible to live up to his name. 

My Predictions:

1. Steven Yeun as Mark Grayson / Invincible for Invincible – “What Have I Done?”

2. Maya Rudolph as Connie the Hormone Monstress for Big Mouth – “Why Do We Go Through Puberty?”

3. Alan Tudyk as K-2SO for Andor – “Who Else Knows?”

4. Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher for What If…? – “What If... 1872?”

5. Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak for The Simpsons – “Abe League of Their Moe”

6. Julie Andrews as Lady Whistledown for Bridgerton – “Into the Light”

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!