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Netflix continued to move toward world TV domination by scoring the most Emmy nominations of any service on Thursday with 112, up significantly from last year’s 91. That edged out typical leader HBO, which received 108 nods, down from last year’s Emmy-leading 111.
HBO still had the most-nominated series, however, with Game of Thrones landing 22. The fantasy epic and worldwide ratings smash managed that feat even though the series ran a shortened seven-episode seventh season that aired nearly a year ago. This year, Game of Thrones took another year off—much to the chagrin of fans—before airing the series’ final six episodes in 2019.
The next most-nominated series were NBC’s Saturday Night Live, off of another great season of political satire, and another HBO drama, Westworld, each with 21. Last year’s Emmy winner for outstanding drama, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, came in third with 20 nominations.
FX had both the most-nominated limited series, with American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace grabbing 18, and the most-nominated comedy with Donald Glover’s Atlanta stealing 16, including a best actor nod for Glover and a best-supporting actor vote for Brian Tyree Henry as reluctant rapper Paper Boi.
Following Netflix and HBO was NBC, leading all broadcast networks with 78, and FX, leading all basic cable networks with 50. After that, CBS scored 34 noms, followed by ABC with 31, Hulu with 27, Amazon with 22, Showtime with 21, National Geographic with 17, Fox with 16, VH1 with 12 and CNN with 10.
Netflix had two series in the outstanding drama category — The Crown and Stranger Things. The series that started it all for Netflix, House of Cards, was not eligible this year as it regrouped after star Kevin Spacey was forced out of the show after allegations of sexual misconduct.
HBO also has two series in this category — the aforementioned Game of Thrones and Westworld. Game of Thrones was not in the mix last year when The Handmaid’s Tale pulled off the victory.
Other dramas nominated as this year’s best dramas are FX’s The Americans; The Handmaid’s Tale; and NBC’s This Is Us.
Netflix also had two series in the outstanding comedy category — GLOW and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — but HBO, even without longstanding winner Veep, had three: newcomer Barry, veteran Silicon Valley and returning Emmy fave Curb Your Enthusiasm with its long-awaited season 10.
Other nominated comedies are FX’s Atlanta, ABC’s Black-ish and Amazon’s Golden Globe winner The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, bringing that category’s total to eight.
Missing from comedy was ABC’s Modern Family, which missed a nomination for the first time since it premiered in 2010.
As expected, the acting nominations were largely drawn from the series nominations, although there were some surprises.
Nominations for lead actor in a drama were The Americans’ Matthew Rhys, Ozark‘s Jason Bateman, This Is Us’ Sterling K. Brown and Milo Ventomiglia, and Westworld‘s Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright, with Brown winning this category last year.
Lead actress in a drama nods went to The Americans’ Keri Russell, Killing Eve‘s Sandra Oh, Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany, The Crown‘s Claire Foy, The Handmaid‘s Tale Elisabeth Moss and Westworld‘s Evan Rachel Wood, with Moss winning this category last year.
Scoring nominations as lead supporting actor in a drama were Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage, who won this category in 2011 and 2015, as well as Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The two play Lannister siblings Tyrion and Jamie. Lena Headey, who plays eldest Lannister sibling and twin to Jamie, Cersei, also was nominated as best supporting actress and was the only female cast member from Game of Thrones to be nominated, with typical nominee, Emilia Clarke, who plays Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen, left off the list.
Joining Coster-Waldau and Dinklage were Homeland‘s Mandy Patinkin, The Handmaid’s Tale’s Joseph Fiennes, The Crown‘s Matt Smith and Stranger Things’ David Harbour. Last year’s winner in this category was John Lithgow for portraying Winston Churchill in season one of The Crown.
The cast of The Handmaid’s Tale was well-represented in the best supporting actress category, with last year’s winner Ann Dowd, Alexis Bledel and Yvonne Strahovski all joining Headey. Also nominated was The Crown‘s Vanessa Kirby, Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown and Westworld‘s Thandie Newton.
On the comedy side, best actor nominations went to Atlanta‘s Donald Glover, Barry‘s Bill Hader, Black-ish‘s Anthony Anderson, Curb‘s Larry David, The Good Place‘s Ted Danson, and Shameless’ perennial nominee William H. Macy.
Nods for leading comedic ladies went to Better Things’ Pamela Adlon, Black-ish‘s Tracee Ellis Ross, Grace & Frankie‘s Lily Tomlin, Insecure‘s Issa Rae, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan and Mom‘s Allison Janney.
Best supporting actor in a comedy nods were given to Atlanta‘s Brian Tyree Henry, Barry‘s Henry Winkler, Baskets’ Louie Anderson, Saturday Night Live‘s Alec Baldwin and Kenan Thompson and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s Tony Shalhoub.
Supporting comedy actress nominations went to Atlanta‘s Zazie Beets, GLOW‘s Betty Gilpin, Roseanne‘s Laurie Metcalfe, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel‘s Alex Bornstein, Will & Grace‘s Megan Mullally and Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Aidy Bryant from Saturday Night Live.
The 70th annual primetime Emmys will be handed out on NBC on Monday, Sept. 17.
Tags: emmys 2018 fx game of thrones hbo nbc netflix