The Crown and The Mandalorian led nominations on Tuesday for the Emmy Awards in a field packed with newcomers and feel-good TV shows that reflected the surge in streaming during the coronavirus pandemic.
HBO and its new HBO Max streaming platform led all networks with 130 nominations, followed by Netflix with 129. The Apple TV+ streaming service scored 35 nods – its best-ever showing – mostly for the heartwarming comedy Ted Lasso.
Best drama series contenders include Netflix’s British royal series The Crown for a season that focused on the early years of the disastrous marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
The Crown nabbed a leading 24 nods, including nine for actors such as Josh O’Connor and newcomer Emma Corrin as the royal newlyweds and Olivia Colman as a middle-aged Queen Elizabeth.
“We are all pinching ourselves that after four series, The Crown is still being embraced and enjoyed in this way,” creator Peter Morgan said in a statement.
The Emmy Awards will be handed out at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Sept. 19, hosted by actor Cedric the Entertainer. While they are awarded by the Los Angeles-based Television Academy, they are considered the highest TV honours in the world.
Star Wars spinoff drama The Mandalorian, a Disney+ series that features the beloved Baby Yoda character, tied The Crown with 24 nominations, including best drama series and others for writing and special effects.
Bridgerton, Netflix’s modern twist on 19th-century British romance, won a best drama series nod as well as an acting nomination for breakout British star Regé-Jean Page.
Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen said the show offered a respite during the grim days of COVID-19 lockdowns and sickness.
“At the end of the day, Bridgerton is a beautiful, escapist world that you get to enter in. It’s a show about romance and love and joy,” Van Dusen said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
NEW SHOWS ON NEW PLATFORMS
TV viewing exploded during the pandemic, sending viewers to the vast libraries of programming on streaming platforms. The health crisis also disrupted production, leaving previous winners like Succession and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel out of the Emmy running this year.
The production lull opened the way for new shows and stars.
In the comedy field, 75 per cent of the nominees were new to the field, led by Ted Lasso, about an underdog English soccer team coached by an American, which scored 20 nods, including for its star and co-writer Jason Sudeikis, and six other actors.
Its competitors for best comedy series include the HBO Max streaming shows The Flight Attendant, with Kaley Cuoco, and Hacks, about a veteran female comic played by Jean Smart.
Other notable nods went to a documentary about Britney Spears and to Oprah Winfrey’s explosive interview in March with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan in their first major TV sit-down since quitting the royal family in early 2020.
The much-anticipated Friends reunion show in May also got a nomination.
Pose star Mj Rodriguez became the first transgender performer to pick up a lead Emmy acting nomination, for her role in the drama series about the LGBTQ underground ballroom scene. Laverne Cox was the first transgender actress to be nominated for an acting Emmy for her guest role in Orange Is the New Black.
LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD called the Rodriguez nomination “a breakthrough for transgender women in Hollywood”.
Crime story Mare of Easttown, starring Kate Winslet, and British rape drama I May Destroy You, starring and created by Michaela Coel, will face off in a strong field for best limited series that includes chess drama The Queen’s Gambit and harrowing slavery tale The Underground Railroad.
Walt Disney Co led all media companies with 146 nominations combined across all of its platforms, including the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services and traditional networks including ABC.
Innovative Disney+ superhero dramedy WandaVision scored 23 nominations, including for stars Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen. Creator Jac Schaeffer called the show a love letter to television that explores a woman’s grief.
“I think people had spent the previous year retreating into their content because we were all trapped at home and we were all afraid and angry and grieving, and the sort of balm to those wounds was oftentimes TV,” she said by phone on Tuesday.
Read the full list of nominations below:
Outstanding Drama Series
The Boys
Bridgerton
The Crown
The Mandalorian
Lovecraft Country
Pose
The Handmaid’s Tale
This Is Us
Outstanding Comedy Series
Black-ish
Cobra Kai
Pen15
Emily in Paris
Hacks
Ted Lasso
The Flight Attendant
The Kominsky Method
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Regé-Jean Page, Bridgerton
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Billy Porter, Pose
Jonathan Majors, Lovecraft Country
Matthew Rhys, Perry Mason
Josh O’Connor, The Crown
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Emma Corrin, The Crown
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Uzo Aduba, In Treatment
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Jurnee Smollett, Lovecraft Country
Mj Rodriguez, Pose
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Michael K. Williams, Lovecraft Country
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Max Minghella, The Handmaid’s Tale
O-T Fagbenle, The Handmaid’s Tale
John Lithgow, Perry Mason
Tobias Menzies, The Crown
Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian
Chris Sullivan, This Is Us
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Gillian Anderson, The Crown
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Emerald Fennell, The Crown
Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale
Yvonne Strahovski, The Handmaid’s Tale
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Madeline Brewer, The Handmaid’s Tale
Aunjanue Ellis, Lovecraft Country
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
William H. Macy, Shameless
Kenan Thompson, Kenan
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Aidy Bryant, Shrill
Jean Smart, Hacks
Allison Janney, Mom
Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso
Brendan Hunt, Ted Lasso
Nick Mohammed, Ted Lasso
Jeremy Swift, Ted Lasso
Paul Reiser, The Kominsky Method
Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Hacks
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live
Aidy Bryant, Saturday Night Live
Rosie Perez, The Flight Attendant
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso
Juno Temple, Ted Lasso
Outstanding Limited Series
Mare of Easttown
I May Destroy You
WandaVision
The Queen’s Gambit
The Underground Railroad
Outstanding Television Movie
Uncle Frank
Sylvie’s Love
Oslo
Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia
Dolly Parton’s Christmas on The Square
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Paul Bettany, WandaVision
Hugh Grant, The Undoing
Ewan McGregor, Halston
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown
Michaela Coel, I May Destroy You
Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit
Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision
Cynthia Erivo, Genius: Aretha
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Jean Smart, Mare of Easttown
Julianne Nicholson, Mare of Easttown
Kathryn Hahn, WandaVision
Phillipa Soo, Hamilton
Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Moses Ingram, The Queen’s Gambit
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Daveed Diggs, Hamilton
Jonathan Groff, Hamilton
Anthony Ramos, Hamilton
Thomas Brodie-Sangster, The Queen’s Gambit
Evan Peters, Mare of Easttown
Paapa Essiedu, I May Destroy You
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Courtney B. Vance, Lovecraft Country
Charles Dance, The Crown
Don Cheadle, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Timothy Olyphant, The Mandalorian
Carl Weathers, The Mandalorian
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Alexis Bledel, The Handmaid’s Tale
Mckenna Grace, The Handmaid’s Tale
Claire Foy, The Crown
Phylicia Rashad, This Is Us
Sophie Okonedo, Ratched
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Chris Rock, Saturday Night Live
Dave Chappelle, Saturday Night Live
Daniel Kaluuya, Saturday Night Live
Dan Levy, Saturday Night Live
Morgan Freeman, The Kominsky Method
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live
Issa Rae, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Jane Adams, Hacks
Bernadette Peters, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist
Yvette Nicole Brown, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Variety Talk Series
Conan
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Outstanding Competition Program
The Amazing Race
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice
Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
RuPaul, RuPaul’s Drag Race
Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness, Queer Eye
Nicole Byer, Nailed It!
Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons, Top Chef
Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, and Kevin O’Leary, Shark Tank