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Beyond Alexis Bledel: 7 other times actors withdrew themselves from Emmy consideration
For your consideration… or not.
Earlier this month, Alexis Bledel withdrew herself from Emmy consideration due to a rule change. The actress, who won Best Drama Guest Actress in 2017 for The Handmaid's Tale, made an appearance in the show's series finale, but the new rule prohibits her from competing in guest for the same show because of her prior 2018 nomination in supporting. Instead of submitting in supporting, Bledel took herself out entirely. And she's far from the first star to do so.
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Here are seven other times actors voluntarily bowed out of the Emmy race.
Larroquette dominated Best Comedy Supporting Actor in the '80s, winning the category four years in a row from 1985 to 1988 for his turn as Dan Fielding. And then he decided four was enough, withdrawing his name in 1989, three years before Night Court ended. "As we got to that fifth season, I thought that Dan Fielding has been a great character. I didn't think that the work deserved more attention," the actor told Gold Derby in 2024. "It wasn't so that somebody else could win at all."
After winning five Best Comedy Actress Emmys in seven years — defeated only by Kirstie Alley (Cheers) in 1991 and Roseanne Barr (Roseanne) in 1993 — Bergen stepped aside after her fifth win in 1995 to give others a shot. Murphy Brown would last another three years. Ironically, Bergen's exit from the category opened the door for Helen Hunt's four-peat for Mad About You from 1996-99.
The Friends cast famously submitted in supporting as they viewed themselves as true ensemble, but someone on Perry's team effed up in 2000. He was accidentally entered in lead and was "furious" when he read about it, according to Variety. Warner Bros., which produced the sitcom, offered to pay to mail out a new ballot with Perry in supporting, but the TV Academy said no-go since the error was made by the submitter. So, Perry withdrew.
"It is very important to Matthew and to me that the correct message be sent to his costars and the Friends audience that he considers himself part of the ensemble," his publicist, Lisa Kasteler, said at the time. "We [publicists] made the mistake and we apologize to both Matthew and the Academy."
Two years later, after Friends finished the season as the No. 1 show, the cast decided to all submit in lead going forward, and Perry received his first and only lead nomination for the show.
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The most infamous withdrawal in modern times. It wasn't the fact that Heigl bowed out but how she did that that caused a stir. After winning Best Drama Supporting Actress in 2007, she announced she would not submit in 2008 because she did not feel her material was up to par (this was the season in which Izzie saved a deer).
"I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention," Heigl told Gold Derby at the time. "In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials."
The actress was seen as "difficult" and "ungrateful," coming on the heels of her calling Knocked Up "a little sexist." During a 2024 appearance on Shannen Doherty's podcast Let's Be Clear, Heigl said she regrets announcing the withdrawal.
"I should have said nothing. I should have said, 'Oh, I forgot [to submit],' because it created such a maelstrom that was so unnecessary, and it really was," she said. "I was kind of trying to make a bit of a snarky point about my material that year, but I was also just not feeling my material. I didn't think I had anything that warranted even the consideration for a nomination. I just wasn't proud of my work. I would never be so bold or so arrogant to turn down a nomination. I would take that nomination if it came my way. I'd be down. But I just knew there wasn't anything that would really warrant one that year, and I was trying to be honorable, I guess. I was trying to have some integrity. I wasn't trying to be a dick."
SEE Alexis Bledel withdraws from Emmy consideration for The Handmaid's Tale due to rule change
Like Heigl, Jones was a one-and-done reigning champ who had no interest in defending her crown. Jones won Best Drama Supporting Actress for her turn as President Allison Taylor on 24 in 2009, but she was MIA on the ballot in 2010. "So honestly it never occurred to me (or my two agents who know me well) to submit me this year," she told Gold Derby then. "One of the lessons in life is to know when to leave well enough alone and be grateful."
In October 2020, to encourage the public to vote, the cast of The West Wing, including Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford, and Janel Moloney, recreated the Season 3 episode "Hartfield's Landing," with Sterling K. Brown stepping into the late John Spencer's role of Leo McGarry. The actors were all on the 2021 Emmy ballot when it was released, but they were removed by the end of the day, likely because it would look uncouth to chase trophies when the whole point of the special was to promote a civic duty.
In 2023, Yellowjackets star Liv Hewson, who is nonbinary, decided to pull out of the Best Drama Supporting Actress race, where Showtime was submitting them, because of the gendered categories. "There's not a place for me in the acting categories," Hewson told Variety. "It would be inaccurate for me to submit myself as an actress. It neither makes sense for me to be lumped in with the boys. It's quite straightforward and not that loaded. I can't submit myself for this because there's no space for me." Hewson also did not submit this year for Season 3 of the Showtime drama.
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