The 2022 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Female TV Character

December 30, 2022, 6:30pm

We are just days away from 2022 being history, another year of memorable trends, moments, and entertainment going into the books. And when it came to the world of entertainment, television was a major driver in 2022 with a genuine wealth of shows, both new and returning to watch across a wide range of genres from comic book inspired fare to long-awaited live-action adaptation of beloved literary works a return to a galaxy far, far away and beyond. Each of those series brought with it vibrant characters for fans to get to know, to identify with, to cheer for, and sometimes even cheer against — and sometimes all in the same character. This was particularly true for female characters. Television in 2022 gave viewers some incredible female characters, each portrayed by some incredible actors, all telling fascinating stories of strength and complexity and, above all, humanity.

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On the comic book front, Iman Vellani brought to life Kamala Khan/Ms.Marvel in Ms. Marvel in ways fans of the character had only dreamed of while Tatiana Maslany brought Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk right off the pages of comics with humor and heart in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law in what may be one of the most comic book accurate performances in the MCU yet. Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was truly incredible, while Moses Ingram’s Reva Sevander/Third Sister in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi is a compelling, complicated character whose story is, in some ways, more powerful than Obi-Wan’s while Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon is layered, complex, and richly human, and fierce. Each of the actors nominated this year gave incredible performances in these amazing roles, but there can be only one winner.

And the winner of the 2022 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Female TV Character is…

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Emma D’Arcy’s Rhaenrya Targaryen in House of the Dragon!

While D’Arcy appeared in only the latter half of House of the Dragon‘s first season — the character of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen was played as a younger character by Milly Alcock — it was clear in just those episodes how incredibly D’Arcy’s performance as the heir — or at least one of them — to the Iron Throne was. Over the course of the season, fans saw Rhaenrya deal with love, betrayal, intrigue, politics, heartbreak, and loss and it’s a range of experiences that D’Arcy brought to life with sometimes gut-wrenching authenticity. And, given where Season 1 of House of the Dragon left off for Rhaenyra and that heartbreaking moment at the end with her getting the news of the death of her son, it will be very interesting to see where things go in Season 2 — and just how much better D’Arcy’s portrayal will get from here.

Congratulations to D’Arcy on their Golden Issues win!

The full list of nominees for Best Female TV Character are…