Kate Winslet didn’t need a show like Mare of Easttown, but HBO’s crime drama (which concluded Sunday night) offered the Oscar winner the opportunity to play a great leading role in a popular project for the first time in years. She relished the challenge (see: that accent, those coats, the scenes shared with just about every great character actor you can think of) and is a strong contender, in a very competitive category, for an Emmy.
This firmly fits a trend building within prestige TV’s new limited-series craze: Lauded actors of a certain age, boxed out of Hollywood’s movie-star demographic—some things in this industry never change—finding new acts in handsomely produced, well-paced dramatic miniseries. Over the past decade, that Emmy for best actress in a TV movie or limited series has been won by Frances McDormand, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Williams, Regina King (twice!), and more Oscar nominees and winners. Frankly, the category now stacks up pretty impressively with the best-actress Oscar itself.
So, who else could use a Mare of Easttown to add to their résumé? We thought of a few names. Some could just do with a new challenge; others would benefit from the boost of a strong role. (A few who came to mind were deemed ineligible due to an upcoming project that may fit the bill; Melissa McCarthy, may Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers set you free.) Not that this was an intentional criteria, but all of the following stars also happen to be Oscar nominees, and in some cases winners, so the plaudits have been there. Here’s who HBO and company should keep on their short lists.
Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett has kind of been everywhere on TV lately. Over the past seven years, she’s netted an impressive six Primetime Emmy nominations, with her scene-stealing work in American Horror Story and Master of None doing the bulk of the work there. She’s also got a main episodic cop gig, on Ryan Murphy’s hit Fox procedural 9-1-1, running four seasons strong. Finding that prestige-star turn would feel like a natural next step in her career. For in case you haven’t seen, say, What’s Love Got to Do With It, Bassett is a force when she gets a lead she can really devour.
Anne Hathaway
A juicy limited series can take any actor out of a rut—and that is, well, kind of what Hathaway’s in right now. The Oscar winner has been skirting great TV’s edges to frustrating results, anchoring single episodes of the middling-but-glossy streaming anthologies Modern Love and Solos. A project more suited to (and wholly focused on) her would mark a better use of the charisma that made her a household name. After last year’s brutal double-header of The Witches and The Last Thing He Wanted, a buzzy comeback vehicle would be just the ticket.
Halle Berry
Long before Hilary Swank, another Oscar winner now lost to mediocre parts, tried to do the astronaut TV thing in Netflix’s (swiftly canceled) Away, Halle Berry got it done as astronaut Molly Woods in CBS’s sci-fi mystery Extant. The show, canceled in 2015 after two seasons, was Berry’s last small-screen effort; she’s since mixed B-movie work with patient time spent on her upcoming directorial debut, Bruised. But as Vanity Fair critic Richard Lawson recently explained on Twitter, she’s gritted her teeth—and thrived—enough in passable genre fare where she’s earned some higher-end pulp. The icing on the cake would be if it maybe, finally brought her back to the Hollywood awards circle.
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Here’s someone who’s been quietly doing some of her best work ever of late, hamming it up with glee in Twin Peaks and Patrick Melrose while shining on Netflix’s relatively scaled-back half hour Atypical (she’s also a fairly recent Oscar nominee for The Hateful Eight). Leigh, a central face of the ’90s independent scene, has settled into a reliable character-actor lane, and it’d be fascinating to see what she could do with a show of her own, particularly one where she gets to show off her range. How would an actor fully convincing in this kind of mode spin expositional case dialogue with a regional accent? We’re ready to find out.
Rachel McAdams
Before emerging as an unmitigated disaster, the idea of a True Detective season two—following up the Emmy-winning, hugely popular original best remembered as the peak of the McConaissance—seemed like a slam dunk. And the potential of Rachel McAdams helping lead the way there? Extremely exciting. The missed opportunity of that season, no fault of the immensely appealing star, will hopefully yield a second chance for her in the subgenre. Combine the procedural prowess she proved in Spotlight with the comic charm she’s displayed in everything from Game Night to Eurovision, and HBO could have its next great detective. For real, this time.
Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock has not appeared in an episode of television since a 2004 installment of George Lopez. This feels wrong, especially considering the medium has moved in a direction that feels tailor-made for her strengths: true star power rooted in a jagged relatability. The time commitment may be a bit hefty for the Oscar-winning actor—aside from a Minions voice role, she’s only appeared in three movies over the past seven-plus years—but that’s what would make a prestige moment for her all the more thrilling.
Whoopi Goldberg
The longtime View cohost, who’s recurred on Blue Bloods and The Stand over the last few years (news, admittedly, to this writer before an IMDB scan), also happens to be an EGOT winner, and it’s long felt like time she scored a part worthy of her talent and profile. Put her on a haunting, crime-solving trail, and let her activate those dramatic chops again.
— A First Look at Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon
— 15 Summer Movies Worth Returning to Theaters For
— Why Evan Peters Needed a Hug After His Big Mare of Easttown Scene
— Shadow and Bone Creators Break Down Those Big Book Changes
— The Particular Bravery of Elliot Page’s Oprah Interview
— Inside the Collapse of the Golden Globes
— Watch Justin Theroux Break Down His Career
— For the Love of Real Housewives: An Obsession That Never Quits
— From the Archive: The Sky’s the Limit for Leonardo DiCaprio
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.