Ever since “Full-Moon Party,” the fifth episode of the third installment of HBO’s The White Lotus, dropped last Sunday night, Hollywood and social media have been abuzz about the unexpected, tour de force turn that it features from Sam Rockwell.

Rockwell, playing Frank, a Thailand-based friend of Walton Goggins’ Rick, delivers a monologue for the ages about the events that led him to reassess his sexuality and ultimately become sober. It literally leaves Rick’s mouth agape. It’s so great, in fact, that many are already declaring Rockwell the runaway favorite to win the Emmy for best guest actor in a drama series.

But not so fast.

Rockwell, 56, who won an Oscar in 2018 for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and received producing and lead acting Emmy noms in 2019 for Fosse/Verdon, certainly gives an Emmy-worthy performance in The White Lotus. But The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively report that if Rockwell is to be nominated for and perhaps even win an Emmy for the show, it would not be in the guest acting category.

That’s because Rockwell appears not only in the fifth episode, but also — in some capacity, which we will not specify — in the sixth, seventh and eighth episodes of the show’s eight-episode season.

According to a rule that the TV Academy implemented in 2024, guest performers “are defined as appearing in less than 50 percent of all eligible series episodes.” Rockwell, however, appears in exactly 50 percent of all eligible series episodes. Therefore, he would only be eligible for recognition in the best supporting actor in a drama series category, in which every other male performer from The White Lotus is also competing — among them, Walton Goggins, Jon Gries, Jason Isaacs, Sam Nivola, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Tayme Thapthimthong.

Regardless of the amount of screen time that Rockwell has in the remaining episodes (Leslie Bibb, Rockwell’s partner since 2007 and another member of the show’s ensemble, has said he was only on set for eight days), there is no reason to think that he can’t hold his own and land a nom in the supporting category. Indeed, the first installment of The White Lotus garnered three supporting actor noms and five supporting actress noms, while the second installment garnered four and five, respectively.

But you can be sure that a lot of other guest acting Emmy hopefuls from dramas will be breathing a sigh of relief upon hearing this news!