From shows just getting their start, shows hitting their stride and shows coming to their end, there was no shortage of fantastic dramatic performances to choose from. Read on as our number 1 pick may surprise you.

Here are our picks for the Top 5 Leading Performances in a Dramatic TV Role in 2022.

5.) Zendaya

Euphoria: Season Two

Zendaya being great in Euphoria isn’t shocking. She has appeared on this list for us before, coming in second place last year, and that was off the back of the Euphoria specials. Rue is a character Zendaya seems to channel rather than act. She becomes Rue, and she embodies her in an almost unnatural and unhealthy way, given the characters’ drug addictions.

Rue is a lot less likable in Season 2 than she was in the first season. As she falls back into her drug habits, as an audience member, it’s hard to want her to succeed consistently, and you almost wish she would get some comeuppance, but I’m sure it’ll come in Season 3. Still watching Zendaya, she crafts Rue as such a multi-faceted and interested character that it’s hard not to root for her to win.

– Dylan Blight

4.) Adam Scott

Severance: Season One

Known mostly for his comedic work, Adam Scott gets to showcase his dramatic chops in the dual roles of Mark S, the ‘innie’ who works Lumon Industries’ Macrodata Refinement division, and Mark Scout, the outie who is still trying to overcome the death of his wife. Adam Scott is excellent as the everyman and provides the perfect entry point for viewers into this world as both versions of Mark are reluctantly pulled into discovering what is really going on in Lumon Industries.

– Ashley Hobley



3.) Bob Odenkirk

Better Call Saul: Season Six

Bob Odenkirk is well aware that Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman is the role of a lifetime and has spoken several times about how thankful he has been to have played the character from his debut on Breaking Bad in 2009 through to the final season of Better Call Saul this year. But I’m thankful for him and the team on Better Call Saul, taking a comedic role from Breaking Bad and making it into one of the most interesting characters I’ve ever had the pleasure to watch on TV. And Bob Odenkirk proved time and time again in this show he’s more than just a comedy guy. It’s hard to look past the final handful of episodes of Better Call Saul as a showpiece for Odenkirk, especially the last episode, where it’s Odenkirk’s subtle delivery of lines and moments that tell you everything you need to know about what’s happening in McGill’s head. A true television great, “Better Call Saul!”

– Dylan Blight

2.) Paddy Considine

House of the Dragon: Season One

Paddy Considine gave a performance worthy of a king. As King Viserys Targaryen, a good man in a world that rarely rewards kindness, we see him deal with tragedy, betrayal and the eventual consequences of a choice made in self-indulgence. Seeing him slowly whither away over the course of the season was hard to watch but each moment we got to spend with him was impactful and is sure to have ripple effects in the seasons to come.

– Ashley Hobley

1.) Rhea Seehorn

Better Call Saul: Season Six

With great honour, I can say that Rhea Seehorn is the winner of our Best Leading Performance in a Drama Award. I got her close in 2020 but only managed to get her into second place on our list, but that ends now. As such, I expect her to win an Emmy and every other award under the sun for her final performance as Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul: Season 6.

Kim is the Jesse Pinkman to Better Call Saul. A character that not even the creators knew the true potential of, but like all good art, Kim came to life through the performance of Seehorn, and the writers were happy to keep playing to her strengths and building this wonderfully rich character. And in the final season of Better Call Saul, Seehorn gets to deliver some of her most brilliant work yet. Be it the subtleties in how Kim acts in the present timeline, after living through the event of Jimmy/Saul, her breakdown on the bus that kills me every time I see it, or the fire chemistry between her and Odenkirk in the show’s final scene — Rhea Seehorn brought one of TV’s most dynamic characters to life over the past six years

– Dylan Blight

Dylan Blight and Ashley Hobley compiled this Top 5 list. The TV shows nominated must release between November 15th 2021 – November 15th 2022 and have been released in Australia via network TV, VOD or a streaming platform.

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