With the Primetime Emmy Awards just over a week away, we are breaking down key categories that will determine the best series awards, beginning with a deep dive into Best Limited Series/Movie Directing. This race is unusual in that it only has four nominees for the first time since 2005, thanks to multiple ties for the last slot. Per the Emmy rulebook:
“In the case of ties, the closest number to the targeted number of nominations will prevail, unless there are fewer than three or more than seven nominations, in which case the Awards Committee will determine the number of nominations.”
The directing award for limited series/movie will be presented at this weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, a week ahead of the Primetime ceremony, due to the Television Academy’s desire to “deliver a fresh new take on the Emmys broadcast.”
With only four nominees from three shows, there is nowhere to hide and lots to explore. Here is our rundown in order of Gold Derby’s experts’ odds.
Steven Conrad for DTF St. Louis
Synopsis: A love triangle leads to an unexpected death and a police investigation.
Emmy history: Conrad has three nominations this year for directing, writing, and producing DTF St. Louis.
While DTF St. Louis may not be the most technically impressive nominee in the bunch, its biggest asset is the way it balances tone throughout its seven episodes. Conrad juggles myriad genres, such as suburban satire, middle-aged relationship angst, and a presumed murder mystery, while going through character nuances and exploring their kinks and complexity. That examination involves the same balance with the camera, from uncomfortable sexual closeups contrasted with absurd, humorous sequences and motifs, such as the weather broadcast or the recumbent-bike surveillance.
Lee Sung Jin for Beef
Episode: “Oh, the Comfort, the Inexpressible Comfort”
Synopsis: A hospitalization provides an opportunity for one couple, and takes a turn for another with an emergency medical crisis.
Emmy history: Lee Sung Jin has three nominations this year for directing, writing, and producing Beef Season 2. He won all three for the first season in 2023, and scored an additional nomination for producing Silicon Valley in 2015.
Taking place primarily in a hospital emergency room after Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) jumps out of a car, this episode involves all four main characters. The conflict between the rival couples climaxes as Josh (Oscar Isaac) exploits Ashley’s situation to benefit himself, while Austin (Charles Melton) questions Ashley’s honesty after talking to Chairwoman Park’s (Youn Yuh-jung) assistant. Similar to DTF St. Louis, this episode balances tone, providing humorous moments in a serious situation, particularly towards the end when things, in style with the show, become erratically menacing.
Jason Bateman for Black Rabbit
Episode: “The Black Rabbits”
Synopsis: Jake and Vince struggle to keep up their restaurant amid financial issues with their creditors that threaten their lives.
Emmy history: This is Bateman’s 18th overall nomination, and his fourth for directing. He has previous nominations for Arrested Development, Ozark, Lessons in Chemistry, and The Outsider, and has four bids this year for Black Rabbit and DTF St. Louis in various categories. He won in 2019 for directing Ozark.
This sophomore episode of Black Rabbit sets up the titular restaurant world as a legitimate business and a pressure cooker, with the two brothers trying to get investors while also paying their enormous debt. The entire episode is full of instability and claustrophobia with interrupted conversations, fragmented perspectives, and uncomfortable rhythms, ending in a drawn-out and dangerous chase scene that results in a severed pinky finger. Another intense, suspenseful nominee in this category that consistently feels restless, especially beneath the surface psychologically.
Jake Schreier for Beef
Episode: “It Will Stay This Way and You Will Obey”
Synopsis: The two couples go on a hectic journey in Seoul and are forced to make life-changing decisions on whom to protect and whom to abandon.
Emmy history: Schreier has two nominations this year for directing and producing Beef Season 2. He was also nominated for directing and producing the first season of the anthology, winning for the latter category.
Even though this season finale of Beef is ranked lowest in the odds, it is a more technically impressive episode with its camerawork, featuring a one-take shot of a chaotic fight, inspired by Park Chan-wook’s 2003 Korean action thriller Oldboy. It is a roller-coaster episode as the characters navigate through Seoul hiding a USB, and all meet different fates, ending with a flash-forward of whether the two couples stay together or not and the complexities and lingering tensions of the relationships. It is an extremely volatile installment that is aesthetically striking with high stakes at every turn and wraps up on a somber note.
Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2026
Despite the episodic nominees all featuring unpredictable and manic moments with showy camerawork and shots, DTF St. Louis has an overwhelming lead in the current Gold Derby experts’ odds with a 94% chance of triumphing, followed by Lee Sung Jin for Beef with 6%.
Because the Netflix anthology has two episodes in contention, experts believe this may cause a vote split. Further, the second season of Beef did not inspire the same passion as the first, when it swept all the main categories. History has also shown that the directing branch at the Emmys tends to reward the achievement of an entire limited series, rather than individual episodes, with past winners including The Night Manager, Chernobyl, Unorthodox, The Queen’s Gambit, and Ripley.
The 2026 Creative Arts Emmys for scripted programming will take place Sept. 6.
