Indiana Jones. Han Solo. Rick Deckard. Based on these three names alone, Harrison Ford is arguably one of the most accomplished film actors of all time. He’s embodied characters that have shaped pop culture today, drawing praise and admiration from the most cynical film critics to your frat-bro cousin who calls himself a movie buff but only sees three Marvel movies a year. So it’s with this legacy in mind that I proudly, and somewhat nervously, declare: at 83 years old, Harrison Ford’s best work of his career is playing a therapist on TV, and it’s time to give him an Emmy for it.
With such an expansive body of work in film, Ford’s awards shelf is surprisingly bare. He has received just one Oscar nomination in his entire career – Best Actor for “Witness” in 1986 – a race he lost to William Hurt in “Kiss Of The Spider Woman.” Beyond that, his formal recognition consists of four Golden Globe nominations and a single BAFTA nomination. The industry has somewhat made up for it with lifetime achievement honors: Ford received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes in 2002, and more recently, a well-deserved standing ovation in the form of the Actor Awards (formerly SAG) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026. Beyond an episode or two guest appearance, Ford hadn’t jumped to the television side of the business until his 2022 portrayal of Jacob Dutton in “1923,” one of Taylor Sheridan’s sequels to “Yellowstone,” followed by “Shrinking” in 2023. While Ford clearly isn’t seeking accolades, he’s chosen projects that showcase his rugged competence and range as an actor. Sustaining such an exceptional level of excellence into one’s 80s is as remarkable as it is admirable.
History aside, awards should never be given just because someone is “overdue.” To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best. In “Shrinking’s” first season, Ebon Moss-Bachrach took home the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series trophy at the Emmys for “The Bear,” competing against two actors each from “Ted Lasso” and “Barry,” James Marsden for “Jury Duty,” and Tyler James Williams for “Abbott Elementary.” At the time, “Ted Lasso” and “Barry” were a force for Apple TV and HBO, respectively, and “The Bear” held onto critical and audience acclaim across its first two seasons, leaving Ford without an individual nod. By “Shrinking” season two, however, he leaped into the early season lead as not only a nomination contender, but a potential winner for the category. The writing for the second season sought to empower the supporting cast and moved beyond their relationship with Jason Segel’s Jimmy, with Ford’s Paul Rhodes evolving from the dry, emotionally guarded mentor figure of season one into one of the show’s most layered and quietly vulnerable characters. His arc was less about big plot twists and more about reckoning – with his health, his relationships, and his identity as a therapist who can no longer control everything. It was this deepening of characterization in a meatier supporting role amplified by Ford’s nuance and emotional precision that landed him his first-ever Emmy nomination, and first-ever shocking loss.
Competing once again against Ebon Moss-Bachrach in a much weaker season of “The Bear,” many saw Ford’s biggest competitor for season two in Emmy darling “The Studio’s” Ike Barinholtz. That show went on to win 13 Emmys last year, but not in the Supporting Actor category. In perhaps one of the most shocking wins of the night, “Somebody Somewhere” actor Jeff Hiller experienced his first-ever Emmy nomination and win for his performance of Joel, the kind, socially anxious, but deeply self-aware gay man in conservative small-town Kansas. The show was critically adored, but relatively low-profile: it didn’t have the mainstream reach of bigger Emmy contenders, and lacked the aggressive campaigning of larger productions. Typically, Emmy winners come from shows with larger cultural footprints or buzz, sometimes (rightfully) garnering the criticism that Emmy voters are “lazy.” Hiller’s portrayal of Joel can be seen as the opposite of what often wins awards, and what Ford and Barinholtz excelled in each of their respective performances: Hiller had no big monologues and no dramatic transformations or showy breakdown scenes. So with a name like Harrison Ford in the mix and a powerhouse show like “The Studio“ stealing all the buzz, it was truly the shock of the night when Hiller’s name was called for such an under-the-radar show.
But what does that all mean for this year? While there will most certainly be continued worthy competitors, notably Nick Offerman of the freshman season of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,“ Paul W. Downs for the final season of “Hacks,“ and his “Shrinking“ compadres Michael Urie and Ted McGinley (that last one might be more of a hope-diction, but McGinley deserves the nod), none have stood out in impact as much as Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Paul. All the aforementioned impressive performance notes of season two were intentionally augmented for season three. It’s like the writers and Ford saw his season-two Emmy loss and said, “Challenge accepted.“ We saw Paul confront his accelerating decline with anticipatory grief, separate his professional identity from his personal one, and ultimately surrender a role so central to his core self, and finally accept his role as a surrogate father to Jimmy. Watching a gruff, impatient man finally say “I love you“ to a man so desperately in need of hearing it with devastating earnestness both broke my cold, dead heart open and put it back together again. And while the scenes and words written on the page are worthy of awards themselves, none would have the impact without the singular Harrison Ford at the center. Ford balances the tough exterior in an intimidatingly believable way, with dry, understated humor layered over morality and heart; one would have no trouble believing he’s been doing this for 50 years.
So yes, there has been and will be worthy competition for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy. But there’s one performance that stands above them all, and it’s one of the best by one of the most legendary actors alive today. After 50+ years of incredible characters, performances, and cultural impact, Harrison Ford’s most poignant and inspirational role has become a gruff old surrogate dad for all of us. Television Academy, I beg of you: give the man his flowers; he more than deserves it.
Have you seen the latest season of “Shrinking” yet? If so, what did you think of Ford’s performance? Do you think he will win the Emmy this year? Who do you think will be nominated? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account.
