Darren Criss barely looks like he’s aged a day since “Glee,” but the “Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” star is 31 years old — definitely not old, but not a whippersnapper either. But if he takes home the Emmy for Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actor, he’d be the second youngest to prevail in the category.

Criss wouldn’t come close to dethroning the youngest winner, Anthony Murphy, who was 17 when he won for “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” in 1973. It was Murphy’s first and only acting role; he’s now a painter. No one has won the category in their 20s. Eleven people have won in their 30s, including reigning champ Riz Ahmed(“The Night Of”), who was 34. Criss would bump down Peter Strauss (“The Jericho Mile”) and Powers Boothe (“Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones”), who were both 32 when they won in 1979 and 1980, respectively.

Not unlike the Oscars, the Emmys favor older actors, and one-off programs like miniseries and TV movies tend to attract or are written for veterans or established stars. Most limited series/TV movie actor champs are middle-aged or older.

Criss has been sitting pretty atop our predictions for his turn as Andrew Cunanan, who was 27 when he went on his cross-country murder spree, culminating with the killing of Gianni Versace. It’s a haunting, unnerving performance that’s a complete 180 from Blaine Anderson, but could age bias — not to mention the “Slap the Stud” syndrome — hurt him? In 2014, his fellow Ryan Murphy player Matt Bomer, then 36, was favored to win for his supporting turn in “The Normal Heart,” but was upset by Martin Freeman, then 42, for “Sherlock: His Last Vow.”

That same year, Freeman’s co-star Benedict Cumberbatch, then 38, won in lead. Cumberbatch is back in the hunt this year for “Patrick Melrose” and has risen to fourth in our predictions, with multiple Experts, Editors and Top 24 Users picking his performance as the title character, a suicidal drug addict, to triumph.

But maybe Ahmed’s victory last year — over the likes of Cumberbatch, Robert De Niro, Geoffrey Rush, Ewan McGregor and John Turturro — will usher in a new era of younger actors claiming Emmy gold. They’re no less deserving than older and/or bold-named stars. In fact, if all goes as predicted, Criss wouldn’t even be the youngest nominee in the category: Michael B. Jordan (“Fahrenheit 451”), currently in fifth place, is four days younger than him.

Darren Criss (‘Versace’) would be second youngest Best Movie/Mini Actor Emmy winner

Darren Criss has been the Emmy front-runner for Best Movie/Mini Actor since we opened our predictions center in March. He has a showy starring role as real-life serial killer Andrew Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” the second installment of Ryan Murphy‘s “American Crime Story” franchise. But later in the spring a challenger emerged who might be Criss’s biggest threat: Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose“).

As we approach the announcement of the Emmy nominations on July 12 Criss has leading odds of 10/3 based on the combined predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users. Among those users are 19 Expert journalists from top media outlets, 12 of whom agree with the consensus that Criss will win: Debra Birnbaum (Variety), Debbie Day (Rotten Tomatoes), Lynn Elber (Associated Press), Chris Harnick (E!), Matthew Jacobs (Huffington Post), Tom O’Neil(Gold Derby), Lynette Rice (Entertainment Weekly), Robert Rorke (New York Post), Matt Roush (TV Guide Magazine), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Ken Tucker (Yahoo).

Criss has no previous Emmy nominations for acting (he picked up a songwriting bid in 2015 for “Glee”), but that didn’t stop Riz Ahmed (“The Night Of”) from taking down a couple of Oscar winners in this category last year. And the last season of “American Crime Story,” “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” won this award just two years ago for its star Courtney B. Vance.

Based on our combined odds, Criss’s closest competition is Al Pacino(“Paterno”), who ranks second with 9/2 odds. But the Experts think the real dark horse is Cumberbatch for playing the title character in Showtime’s literary adaptation “Patrick Melrose.” It’s a meaty showcase for Cumberbatch, who gets to play a former child abuse victim struggling with addiction, and five Experts say it will be the ticket to an Emmy win: Eric Deggans (NPR), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Anne Thompson (IndieWire) and Ben Travers (IndieWire).

Cumberbatch is already an Emmy darling, with five nominations in this category over the last six years. One of those was for the miniseries “Parade’s End” (2013), and the other four were for playing the title role in “Sherlock” (2012, 2014, 2016, 2017). He won in 2014 for the episode “His Last Vow.”

In fact, if Cumberbatch earns a nom this year as we expect him to, he’ll tie the legendary Laurence Olivier as the second most nominated actor in this category’s history with six bids (Hal Holbrook is the all-time leader with seven). And if he wins he’ll be the 10th to claim this award more than once, joining other esteemed thespians including Anthony Hopkins, Peter Falk, and his possible 2018 rival Pacino.

So who do you think is really out front? Will Criss slay the competition, or will Cumberbatch get his fix?

Watch out, Darren Criss (‘Versace’)! The Emmy front-runner could be upset by Benedict Cumberbatch (‘Patrick Melrose’)