Netflix’s Best New Show Is A Surefire Emmy Contender

This week, I find myself reminded of a situation back in April of 2023 when I watched “Beef” on Netflix for the first time. “Oh man, they both need Emmys for this,” I remember thinking about its leads. Then, nearly a year later we had Steven Yeun and Ali Wong pick up Best Actor and Actress in a Limited Series trophies at the Emmys.

Now, I’m going to call a shot again.

Another Netflix show. Another story about terrible people. Another actor who I believe is absolutely going to win an Emmy a year from now. The show is Apple Cider Vinegar and the actress is Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Australian influencer Belle Gibson who faked having brain cancer to build a wellness brand, even going so far as to have her recipe app featured as part of the Apple Watch debut.

It is hard to overstate just how much Dever throws herself into the role of serial narcissist and unstable liar in the show, totally transformed from anything I’ve seen her in, which is a wide range from Justified to Booksmart to Unbelievable. Truly, I had no idea she could push herself this far.

One of the wildest parts of Dever’s performance is her nearly perfect Australian accent as an American from Arizona, so much so that actual Australians have assumed she was Australian after seeing the show, and were surprised to learn she wasn’t. While we’ve seen foreign actors do pretty convincing American accents many times, it is not often the case the other way around.

But it’s not just about accent work here, it’s about Dever’s electric, often horrifying performance as the repulsive Belle Gibson, the influencer in question whose life unraveled after her lie was unearthed, alongside discoveries of charity fraud for which she had to pay $410,000 as a fine. Last we heard, the real-life Gibson had not paid those fines, claiming to be broke, and in 2020 and 2021 police went to her home to seize items related to those unpaid fines.

I absolutely believe that Dever’s transformation into Belle will get a nomination and even not having seen any other shows over the next ten months, like Beef, I’m going to make the call that she should get the win, especially in the smaller pool of the Limited Series category. I would also make the case for The 100/Fear the Walking Dead’s Alycia Debnam-Carey resurfacing for her role as Milla, an influencer that had actual cancer, that she should get a Best Supporting nomination or win at the same time.

In fact, I believe Dever might end up with two Emmy nominations in the same year, one for Apple Cider Vinegar, and another, possibly, for The Last of Us season 2, where she will play Abby, the co-lead of the second season which adapts part of the second game. No, we haven’t seen her performance yet but A) knowing Dever’s abilities, B) knowing what the role of Abby will involve and C) The Last of Us season 1 being nominated for 24 Emmys, yes, I believe she’ll be nominated. And if she isn’t for Apple Cider Vinegar, then I don’t know what the award show is even for.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.