HBO’s Succession garnered the most Emmy Award nominations for the second year in a row on a list that offered relatively few surprises.
Amid reports of a potential postponement of the scheduled September 18 Emmy Awards ceremony due to the writer’s strike and a potential actor’s strike, TV Academy CEO Frank Scherma and actress Yvette Nicole Brown Wednesday morning announced the nominations in several top categories. Overall, Succession drew 27 nominations to lead all shows, followed by fellow HBO series The Last of Us with 24 and The White Lotus with 23.
Also: Emmy Nominations Revealed, ‘Succession’ Leads Pack
Succession will look to win its second consecutive best drama series Emmy against competition from HBO shows The Last Of Us, House of Dragon and The White Lotus, as well as Disney Plus’ Andor, Netflix’s The Crown, and Showtime’s YellowJackets.
On the comedy front, Apple TV Plus’s Ted Lasso will look to repeat against ABC’s Abbott Elementary, HBO’s Barry, Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Hulu’s Only Murders in The Building, as well as three freshman series – Netflix’s Wednesday, FX’s The Bear and Prime Video’s Jury Duty.
Here are four takeaways from Wednesday morning’s Emmy nominations:
• The Academy recognized several shows going off the air in a big way, beginning with Succession’s 27 nominations, as well as 21 nods for Apple TV Plus’s Ted Lasso. Other departing shows garnering double-digit nominations included Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (14) and HBO’s Barry (11).
• Fantasy and science-fiction shows garnered numerous Emmy nominations, led by HBO’s The Last of Us (24 nominations) and Star Wars-themed series The Mandalorian (nine nominations), Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi (five each), along with HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of Dragon, which drew eight nominations, and Prime Video’s The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, which garnered six nods. The Last of Us, House of the Dragon and Andor will all vie for the Emmy for best drama series, while Obi-Wan Kenobi will battle for outstanding limited or anthology series honors.
• Traditional basic cable networks didn’t fare too well. No basic cable series — scripted or reality — drew double-digit nominations, with AMC’s Better Call Saul (seven nominations), VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race (seven) and Bravo’s Top Chef (five) topping the list.
• Actors of color made inroads. Wednesday’s Jenny Ortega became the third Latina actress to be nominated for lead actress in a comedy, behind America Ferrera and Rita Moreno. The Last of Us’s Pedro Pascal became the first Latino actor nominated in the lead actor in a drama series category since Jimmy Smits (for ABC’s NYPD Blue) in 1999. Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph will look to secure her second-straight Emmy in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category, while Swarm star Dominique Fishback was a surprise nominee in the lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie category. Netflix’s Beef, created by Lee Sung Jin, drew 13 nominations, including nominations for the show’s stars, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, in the outstanding lead actress and actor in a limited anthology series or movie categories, respectively.
