Mare of Easttown’s Julianne Nicholson Upsets Kathryn Hahn at Emmys 2021

After giving the performance of her career in the Mare of Easttown season finale, Julianne Nicholson pulled off a major Emmys upset. Facing competition from nominees such as WandaVision’s Kathryn Hahn and her own Mare costar Jean Smart, Nicholson won the 2021 Emmy for supporting actress in a limited series.

The first-time nominee began her speech by thanking show creator Brad Ingelsby. “Great, great material is hard to find and you wrote a script that was true to the horror and beauty and the incredible bonds of ordinary people’s lives, particularly the bonds between women, something we don’t always see,” Nicholson said, before thanking director Craig Zobel. “You took that material and made it sing out loud.”

Nicholson won for her agonizing performance as Lori Ross, the (major spoiler alert) wife and the mother of the two characters involved in the mysterious murder at Mare’s center. Her guilt over this deceit gets even more complicated when one considers her character’s friendship with Kate Winslet’s titular detective. “Man, you’re good at acting,” Nicholson said while addressing her nominated costar. “But, turns out that you’re good at caring for a whole production. You led all of us every step of the way with such care and intelligence and love.”

She continued by crediting Winslet for getting her involved with Mare. “If you hadn’t called and asked if I wanted to join you in Philly, I’d have probably read the first two episodes, thought, Nah, the priest did it, and stayed home. So I owe this to you.” With her final moments onstage, Nicholson paid tribute to women everywhere struggling with their circumstances. “[I owe this] to all the ladies out there in Philadelphia, in Kabul, in Texas, or anywhere who are struggling sometimes, finding it hard to be happy sometimes, understanding that life can be a lot sometimes, but never stopping, never losing hope, never giving up.”

Moments after Nicholson’s victory, her Mare costar Evan Peters won for best-supporting actor in a limited series, signaling a potential sweep for the buzzy HBO series.

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