The last time the Emmy for best actress in a comedy went to someone not named Julia Louis-Dreyfus, President Barack Obama was in his first term.

With the final season of “Veep” delayed because Ms. Louis-Dreyfus was being treated for cancer (good news: filming is scheduled to begin with Ms. Dreyfus next month), there will be a new winner in best actress in a comedy category for the first time since 2011.

The race is wide open. Rachel Brosnahan, who stars as a 1950s housewife-turned-comedian in Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” is an early favorite. (She won the Golden Globe in the same category in January.) Others in the running are the two-time nominee Tracee Ellis Ross from “black-ish,” the seven-time Emmy winner Allison Janney for the CBS sitcom “Mom,” Issa Rae from HBO’s “Insecure,” Lily Tomlin from Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” and Pamela Adlon from FX’s “Better Things.”

In the best actress in a drama category, last year’s winner, Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), was nominated again. Her competition includes Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”), Claire Foy (“The Crown”) and Keri Russell (“The Americans”). Ms. Oh (who was born in Canada) is believed to be the first woman of Asian descent to be nominated in the lead actress in a drama category.

[Read more: Sandra Oh on her historic nomination.]

The absence of “Veep” also means there will be a new winner in best comedy for the first time in four years. (Since 2007, there have been, remarkably, only three best comedy winners: “Veep,” “Modern Family” and “30 Rock.”) Donald Glover’s boundary-pushing comedy, “Atlanta,” will be a favorite, along with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” And for the first time since it has been on the air, the five-time best comedy winner “Modern Family” was not nominated.

Let’s look at the late-night battles.