Independent Spirit Awards Television Nominees: Breaking Down the Categories and Our Predictions

The Film Independent Spirit Awards primarily focus on films, but their Television categories highlight diversity and uniqueness in the industry.

They brought back their Television categories, introduced in 2021, for their 2022 awards.

We're here to break down the categories and discuss which nominees have the best chance of winning!

The Television Awards are eligible for any new series airing in the USA (Network or Streaming) within the eligibility window (January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021).

You can view the rest of the eligibility requirements at the bottom of this page.

Let's jump into the categories and nominees!

Best Ensemble:

Reservation Dogs (FX)

Best Ensemble is an award determined by the nominating committee.

The first season of Reservation Dogs provided a medium for under-represented indigenous teenagers to shine.

This show integrated comedy and drama seamlessly, with the lead cast of teenagers acting their roles.

Reservation Dogs is also nominated for the Best New Scripted Series.

Best New Scripted Series:

Blindspotting (Starz)

It's a Sin (HBO MAX) (Channel 4 BBC)

Reservation Dogs (FX.)

The Underground Railroad (Prime)

We Are Lady Parts (Peacock) (Channel 4 BBC)

It's easy to see Reservation Dogs as the front runner for the best new scripted series.

Another standout is Barry Jenkins's The Underground Railroad.

The series landed seven Emmy nominations, and the overall reception of the series was fairly positive.

It's a Sin, and We Are Lady Parts were loved in their respective runs, and both are originally British series.

We Are Lady Parts will probably snatch up the win over Reservation Dogs (and It's a Sin).

Best New Doc/Non-scripted Series:

Black and Missing (HBO)

The Chloe Show (FX.)

The Lady and the Dale (HBO)

Nuclear Family (HBO)

Philly D.A. (PBS)

The competition is pretty weak in this category, with five series nominated that haven't made waves in many other places.

Black and Missing became the most high-profile on this nomination list, with Philly D.A. being the highest rated across all aggregators.

The winner should be Black and Missing.

The show points out the real truths of missing Black people: their cases remain unresolved four times longer than others.

A show like this shouldn't be necessary, but in today's world, it absolutely is essential.

Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series

Olly Alexander – It's A Sin

Murray Bartlett – White Lotus (HBO MAX)

Michael Greyeyes – Rutherford Falls (Peacock)

Lee Jung-Jae – Squid Game (Netflix)

Ashley Thomas – Them: covenant (Prime)

The Male performance category is stacked.

High-profile series such as Squid Game and White Lotus snuck in here, and because of the significant fanfare for these shows, Lee Jung-Jae and Murray Bartlett have high chances of winning.

However, Olly Alexander (or even Ashley Thomas) could steal the show.

They both come from series that are looked upon quite favorably, and they both earned stellar reviews for their respective performances.

Right now, I put Lee Jung-Jae as the leader here, but that could change to Murray quite easily.

Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series

Deborah Ayorinde – Them: covenant

Jasmine Cephas Jones – Blindspotting

Thuso Mbedu – Underground Railroad

Jane Schmieding – Rutherford Falls

Anjana Vasan – We Are Lady Parts

This final category also happens to be stacked with powerhouses.

Anjana Vasan received some incredible praise in the UK, but I can't help but wonder if it airing on Peacock may hurt her chances.

Thuso Mbedu has a real chance of winning as well.

She's received high acclaim from critics and viewers alike, and the show deserves praise.

A surprise could come from Jasmine Cephas Jones.

While I don't think Blindspotting has a chance of capturing the best new scripted series awards, Cephas Jones has an opportunity to snatch away this award.

However, beating out Mbedu and Vasan may be difficult.

Overall, although the television categories are limited, we are excited to see these series get the recognition they deserve.

Below are our predictions!

Our Predictions:

Scripted Series: We Are Lady Parts (Spoiler: Reservation Dogs) (In the race: The Underground Railroad, It's a Sin).

Documentary Series: Black and Missing (Spoiler: A Tossup).

Best Male Performance: Lee Jung-Jae (Spoilers: Murray Bartlett, Olly Alexander) (In the race: Ashley Thomas).

Best Female Performance: Anjana Vasan (Spoiler: Thuso Mbedu) (In the race: Jasmine Cephas Jones).

Rules of eligibility taken from Film Independent's website:

The Television categories at the Film Independent Spirit Awards will celebrate independent creative visual storytellers who are working in the television space and continuing to create bold, innovative and inclusive content.

Through the lens of Film Independent’s mission, we will recognize new series and celebrate original voices and content that is expanding the boundaries of television.

Further, the specifics considered focus on diversity and uniqueness:

The Spirit Awards Nominating Committees apply the following guidelines in making their selections. Any variations of the rules or guidelines are at the sole discretion of the Nominating Committees and Film Independent:
• Innovation, uniqueness of vision

• Original, provocative subject matter

• Diversity & inclusion, on and off camera, and also in the narrative and themes of the series