Welcome to the 2025 SiftPop.com Sifties!
This year, the SiftPop writers came together to nominate five actors for Best Television Performance. Unlike the Emmys and other major awards shows, we didn’t differentiate between lead and supporting performances or between actors and actresses. This is simply a countdown of the five best performances that we collectively saw!
As the lead and titular character in Andor, one of the best things Star Wars has ever done, Diego Luna’s portrayal of Cassian Andor is hard to undersell. As the stakes continue to rise, the connections of Luna’s Andor provide the heart at the center of the show. Burdened with a key role in the burgeoning Rebel Alliance, he has to play the part of a soldier and inspirational figure trying to keep the hope at the heart of the Rebellion alive as each passing year provides another challenge, another tragedy. It is human connections that propel the real themes of the show — and Cassian’s at the heart of it all. If Luna’s performance didn’t work, neither would the show. Thankfully, both don’t just work — they are pure magic.
Rhea Seehorn has been impressing audiences for years with her role of Kim Wexler on Better Call Saul. For her to transition from that stellar role to another that makes her performance as Kim look like child’s play should guarantee her induction onto the list of our generation’s greatest actors. In Pluribus, her character Carol has gone through what can only be described as the worst moment of her life. She has lost everyone and everything she knows to be normal. Her worldview has been challenged to a level that would break anyone, and Seehorn makes you not only believe it, but also question your own ideas of right and wrong, and how you would cope in this situation. Carol’s decisions sometimes seem reckless and chaotic, and Seehorn’s performance matches that raw and unhinged energy perfectly. Yet it is immediately able to flip back to calm and calculating on a dime. She is forced to present herself as intelligent and competent, while also being so naïve and incredibly lost in a sea of trauma. She is a singular force in Pluribus, and one that will have you tuning in every week without fail.
Owen Cooper’s breakout performance in Adolescence really runs the gamut of emotions and sides to a character that one performer can portray. We meet him as a scared kid, not sure of what to think about him, but by the third episode, we see why he got himself into the situation he’s in, in the first place. Jamie holds harmful beliefs, and has done unforgivable things because of them, but it’s largely because of how he’s been conditioned at his age, and the time in which he lives. It’s impressive to watch Cooper wear all of this in his demeanor and facial expressions. It’s a performance whose maturity is ironically far beyond its years, but perfect to be performed by someone of his age.
It’s easy for to overlook Noah Wyle’s performance in The Pitt because of his time on E.R. However, Wyle’s Dr. Robinavitch is far different from his previous medical roles. The events of The Pitt reflect certain hot button topics within medicine, like vaccinations, Googling symptoms to self-diagnose, holistic and natural methods for treatment, addiction, mental health, patient behavior, and the effects of mass trauma events. Perhaps the most relevant topic that The Pitt talks about is the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the medical industry. Dr. Robby has trauma, and it affects how he does his job. He’s an excellent teacher, a great mentor, and holds his interns and teams accountable for their actions, yet he can be reckless, abrasive, and his expectations are high.
Star Wars as a franchise is no stranger to giving audiences complex portrayals of iconic villains. After Season Two of Andor, Denise Gough deserves her spot among the best of them as Dedra Meero. We’ve seen Imperial characters before, and we may even have sympathized with a few, but it’s amazing how she gets the audience to do that after showing us her role in Imperial atrocities. Somehow, she both garners sympathy for the misogynistic workplace forces she finds herself arrayed against and for people rooting for her weird (but somehow charming) relationship with Syril Karn (Kyle Soller). Though she’s a character that undoubtedly deserves to suffer the consequences for her role in aiding a true galactic evil, the performance Gough delivers still manages to connect her to the audience in a way that highlights her humanity.
Make sure to check out the previous 2025 Sifties winner!
And don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the winner of Best Television Show!