With the nominees for the 2025 Daytime Emmy Awards officially announced, the What to Watch team is counting down to the big day on October 17, looking through the soap categories and offering our take on who should walk away victorious.
I previously offered up my reasons why I think Eileen Davidson is a shoo-in for the Outstanding Lead Actress In A Daytime Drama Series category. Her portrayal of The Young and the Restless‘ Ashley dealing with dissociative identity disorder and subsequently trying to piece her life back together, even as Martin (Christopher Cousins) continued to torment her family, was brilliant. And as I look to the Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Daytime Drama Series category, I again have to look to the long-running CBS soap.
Now to be clear, this year’s list of nominees all did great jobs in their respective roles. General Hospital’s Kate Mansi had quite the transformative storyline as Kristina in 2024, first losing the surrogate child she was carrying for her sister Molly (Kristen Vaganos), then going toe-to-toe with Molly as the two women argued in grief, before they both lost their big sister Sam (Kelly Monaco).
Days of Our Lives has two actresses hoping to take home a win for supporting actress in Linsey Godfrey and Emily O’Brien. Godfrey did a heck of a job as Sarah Horton, getting run over by her mother-in-law and attempting to recuperate. O’Brien stepped into the role of Theresa Donovan at the tail end of 2023, but fully embraced the part in 2024, making for quite the joy ride as she added her own unique flavor to the dramatic soap character.
Even with such formidable competition in the category, it’s the women of The Young and the Restless who I think it all boils down to. Both Susan Walters, who portrays Diane Abbott, and Courtney Hope, who plays Sally Spectra, delivered performances that were truly standouts in 2024. And it was Hope, who I believe did just enough to edge out her competition. If we’re right about her winning this category again, it would make her a winner in back-to-back years.
I recall watching the tumultuous breakup between Sally and Adam (Mark Grossman) on The Young and the Restless, and I said then that her work on screen was gold hardware-worthy. Hope perfectly struck a balance between visibly showcasing Sally’s heartbreak and fully demonstrating the character’s rage at being betrayed and lied to. Take a look at her unleashing on Adam below (I’m still applauding).
I also have to commend Hope for how she handled Sally’s mending process. Sally realized that Adam was exactly who people warned her he was, and had to wrestle with the fact that she ended things with Nick (Joshua Morrow) for the younger Newman.
Plus, she was left trying to move on from Adam, falling into the arms of Billy (Jason Thompson). While in the present, we’re well beyond the eligibility period for the 2025 Daytime Emmys, I can’t help but desire seeing more of the fierce Sally in future episodes.
Now I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up my theory that there’s a slight possibility the supporting actress category ends in a tie. Although we think Hope will capture the trophy, she could wind up sharing it with Walters.
Walters had some stellar moments in 2024 as Diane, whether that be unleashing on Jack (Peter Bergman) for purposefully relapsing for Nikki’s (Melody Thomas Scott) benefit, pretending to fallout with with Jack for Kyle’s (Michael Mealor) sake or having the tough conversations with Kyle as he wrestled with his past trauma, Walters’ Diane scenes were must-watch.
So, who do you think will take home this year’s supporting actress Emmy? Will it be Hope or someone else?
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