Emmy nominations 2018: Predicting all the contenders from Game of Thrones and Westworld to GLOW

The fresh blood and returning big-hitters that may be in this year's race

Another year, another batch of Emmy Award nominees to chew over - this Thursday (12 July) sees the announcement of the latest TV shows that'll be duking it out for trophies this coming September.

Save for a few big-hitters (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her Veep colleagues), several of the same shows are in contention this year also with Atlanta, The Crown, The Handmaid's Tale, Stranger Things and This Is Us returning to even bigger acclaim with their respective second seasons.

This year's party-crasher will undoubtedly be Game of Thrones following a year off due to its delayed penultimate season in 2017. Its absence paved the way for Hulu sensation The Handmaid's Tale to win the main prize usually reserved for Thrones, and their inevitable nominations as part of this year's race will make for the most exciting battle in recent Emmys memory.

There is new blood, however - this year in the form of drama shows Killing Eve, Mindhunter and Ozark, Bill Hader's comedy series Barry as well as Godless and Patrick Melrose in the Limited Series categories. Of course, we shouldn't forget three recent big revivals - Curb Your Enthusiasm, Will & Grace and Twin Peaks: The Return which wasn't eligible despite airing the majority of its episodes over a year ago.

Looking to scoop awards in its glory lap akin to the likes of Breaking Bad and Mad Men is the now-concluded series The Americans which will see Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys ones to beat in the acting categories. Then again, HBO's seminal series The Leftovers was completely shunned for its final season last year so who knows...

Check out all of our predictions below.

Best Drama

The Americans 
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
This Is Us
Westworld

Other contenders: The Good Doctor, Mindhunter, Ozark, Stranger Things

Best Actor - Drama

Matthew Rhys, The Americans
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
Freddie Highmore, The Good Doctor
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us

Others: Rami Malek - Mr Robot, Jason Bateman - Ozark, Donald Sutherland - Trust, Jeffrey Wright - Westworld

Best Actress - Drama

Keri Russell, The Americans
Claire Foy, The Crown
Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Other contenders: Claire Danes - Homeland, Tatiana Maslaney - Orphan Black, Laura Linney - Ozark

Best Supporting Actor - Drama

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
Joseph Fiennes, The Handmaid's Tale
Mandy Patinkin - Homeland
David Harbour - Stranger Things
Noah Schnapp - Stranger Things
Anthony Hopkins - Westworld

Other contenders: Noah Emmerich - The Americans, Matt Smith - The Crown, Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

Best Supporting Actress - Drama

Vanessa Kirby, The Crown
Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
Ann Dowd, The Handmaid's Tale
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid's Tale
Crissy Metz, This Is Us
Thandie Newton, Westworld

Other contenders: Margo Martindale - The Americans, Elizabeth Marvel - Homeland, Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things

Best Comedy

Atlanta 
Barry 
Better Things 
black-ish  
GLOW  
The Marvellous Mrs Maisel
Will & Grace 

Others: Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Good Place, Insecure, Modern Family, Silicon Valley, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Best Actor - Comedy

Donald Glover, Atlanta  
Bill Hader, Barry  
Anthony Anderson, black-ish  
Ted Danson, The Good Place 
William H. Macy, Shameless
Eric McCormack, Will & Grace  

Others: Zach Galiafanakis - Baskets, Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Danny McBride - Vice Principals

Best Actress - Comedy

Pamela Adlon, Better Things
Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish  
Alison Brie, GLOW  
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie 
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvellous Mrs Maisel 
Allison Janney, Mom  

Others: Jane Fonda - Grace and Frankie, Issa Rae - Insecure, Debra Messing - Will & Grace, Ellie Kemper - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Limited Series

Alias Grace
American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Godless
Patrick Melrose
The Terror
Twin Peaks: The Return

TV Movie

Black Mirror: USS Callister
Cocaine Godmother
The Tale
Fahrenheit 451
Flint
Paterno

Lead Actor - Limited Series / TV Movie

Darren Criss, American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace
Michael B. Jordan, Fahrenheit 451
Al Pacino, Paterno
Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
Kyle MacLachlan, Twin Peaks: The Return

Lead Actress - Limited Series/TV Movie

Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Cult
Edie Falco, Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders
Jessica Biel, The Sinner
Laura Dern, The Tale
Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake: China Girl