Jessica Walter has been nominated for a posthumous Emmy Award.
The actress, who passed away in March, is up for her voice-over work in FX/FXX’s animated comedy series Archer. Walter voiced the toxic matriarch Malory Archer, the abrasive mother of H. Jon Benjamin’s Sterling Archer.
She’s being recognized for her work in the sixth episode of the 11th season, “The Double Date.” The nod brings Walter’s total Emmy nominations count to five. She won once for her portrayal as San Francisco’s first female chief of detectives in the NBC limited series Amy Prentiss.
Walter is, of course, best known for playing Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development, a role she started in 2003. She was nominated in the supporting actress category for the part in 2005.
Making her mark as Lucille Bluth helped Walter land the part in Archer. In fact, Archer creator Adam Reed told her that she was the first one cast on the show and that they used Lucille as a sort of inspiration for Malory.
Walter told The Daily Beast in 2017 that when the creators initially wrote a description out for auditions for the part, they said, “Think of the type as Jessica Walter from Arrested Development.” Her agent passed it along to her and she bit.
There’s a chance that this isn’t Walter’s last Emmy nomination either. Archer showrunner Casey Willis has said that Walter had already recorded her lines for much of the next season of the show. Those episodes will likely be eligible for the 2022 Emmys and she could easily be on the ballot again.
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