Well, well, well. With the nominations for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards being announced earlier today, AWARDS SZN is officially upon us. On the surface, the nominations seemed like any other year: shows like The Handmaid's Tale and This Is Us snagged their usual rounds of awards. That said, there are a number of notable instances that will make this year's Emmys broadcast (which airs on Monday, Sept. 17 on NBC) an interesting watch.
With TV Twitter in a tizzy over the highs and lows coming out of this year's nominations—which will no doubt turn into hot takes—we decided to round up some of the most intriguing takeaways coming out of this year's field. With a number of firsts on the slate, it looks like this year's Emmys is indicative of the strides Peak TV has been working towards over the past few years.
Well, well, well. With the nominations for the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards being announced earlier today, AWARDS SZN is officially upon us. On the surface, the nominations seemed like any other year: shows like The Handmaid's Tale and This Is Us snagged their usual rounds of awards. That said, there are a number of notable instances that will make this year's Emmys broadcast (which airs on Monday, Sept. 17 on NBC) an interesting watch.
With TV Twitter in a tizzy over the highs and lows coming out of this year's nominations—which will no doubt turn into hot takes—we decided to round up some of the most intriguing takeaways coming out of this year's field. With a number of firsts on the slate, it looks like this year's Emmys is indicative of the strides Peak TV has been working towards over the past few years.
Donald Glover and 'Atlanta' Could Win Big (Again)
After earning two Emmys last year for Atlanta, it looks like Donald Glover and the Atlanta Robbin' Season crew have upped the ante when it comes to Emmy nominations for their acclaimed second season. In 2017, they were looking at five nominations; 2018 has the FX series netting 16 nominations. Those include: Comedy Series, Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Glover), Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series (Brian Tyree Henry and Zazie Beetz, respectively), and, surprisingly, Katt Williams for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. They even have four Outstanding Directing and Writing noms (two for each category).
That's not all, though; Donald Glover was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his appearance as a host on Saturday Night Live earlier this year.
Chance the Rapper's Song About Barack Obama Was Nominated
While not his first Emmy nomination (Chance and a consortium of people were nominated in 2017 for their "Jingle Barack" song), Chance is back with a nomination for "Come Back Barack," which was taken from his November 2017 episode. If anything, this highlights Chance's continued push into the mainstream, seemingly on his terms.
Sanda Oh Becomes First Asian Actress Nominated for Lead in a Drama Series
One of the biggest parts of the amazing first season of BBC America's Killing Eve was Sandra Oh's commanding role of Eve. This wouldn't be Oh's first Emmy nomination; she grabbed five nominations during her tenure on Grey's Anatomy, but this is not only her first nomination for Lead Actress in a Drama Series, but the first nomination for any actress of Asian descent in that category.
Sadly, her Killing Eve co-star Jodie Comer (who masterfully portrayed the insane assassin Villanelle) was snubbed this year. Hopefully, when Season 2 drops, the Emmys can rectify that.
Netflix Beat All Competitions in Total Nominations
For the first time in 17 years, HBO has been knocked out of the top spot of holding the most Emmy nominations by the mighty Netflix with a tally of 112 to 108. While HBO is only down three nominations from their 2017 count (111), Netflix glo'd up from 91 nominations the year prior.
What exactly does this mean, though? Well, it helps that Netflix has multiple series (The Crown, GLOW, Stranger Things, and Godless) that have double-digit nominations. HBO's series aren't slouches; Game of Thrones had the most nominations out of any series (22), with Westworld grabbing 21 nominations itself. That said, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Silicon Valley netted smaller numbers of nominations.
Maybe things would've been different if Big Little Lies was back... or maybe HBO needs to add some AWARDS SZN bait to edge out the competition.
Peter Dinklage Is the Most-Nominated Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
With his seventh Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nomination for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, Peter Dinklage has put himself in an elite space, becoming the most-nominated actor in that category. He's beat out Jimmy Smits, Ed Begley, Jr., and other actors you might not know of on shows you probably haven't seen before.
Dinklage has won the category twice before (in 2011 and 2015), but he's up against the likes of Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid's Tale), David Harbour (Stranger Things) and his own GoT castmate, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
'Modern Family' Got ZERO Nominations
In the most surprising piece of news coming from these nominations, Modern Family did NOT receive an Outstanding Comedy Series nomination for their ninth season. It's a shock because all eight of their previous seasons were at least nominated (they are tied for the most wins in that category, with five). This is in conjunction with 2017 being the first year that the series was nominated but didn't take home a single statuette.
Series co-creator Steve Levitan told Deadline that "[i]t was a hell of a run – especially in this day and age when there are so many great shows on so many platforms." Levitan's got that right; the Comedy Series category is stacked, with shows like Atlanta, Barry, GLOW, Curb Your Enthusiasm, black-ish, and critical darling The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel making it hard for Modern Family to breathe out here.
We'll find out what all of these notable nominations (or lack thereof) mean for the industry on Sept. 17, when the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards hits NBC.
