From 2012 to 2014, Daniels starred as Will McAvoy in the HBO political drama series "The Newsroom", for which he won the 2013 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He won a second Primetime Emmy Award in 2018 for his supporting performance in the Netflix miniseries "Godless" (2017) and an additional nomination that year for his leading performance as John P. O'Neill in the Hulu miniseries "The Looming Tower" (2018). In 2020 he played FBI director James Comey in "The Comey Rule" for Showtime. Daniels has also received several award nominations for his work on stage, including Tony Award nominations for Best Actor for his roles in the plays Yasmina Reza's "God of Carnage", David Harrower's "Blackbird", and Aaron Sorkin's "To Kill a Mockingbird". He is the founder and current executive director of the Chelsea, Michigan–based Purple Rose Theatre Company.