2022 Primetime Emmy Awards: ‘The White Lotus,’ ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘Succession’ take home top prizes, ‘Squid Game’ makes history

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The 74th Primetime Emmy Awards were handed out tonight, where The White Lotus, Ted Lasso, and Succession were the top series winners. The ceremony was held live on NBC and hosted by Kenan Thompson, recognizing artists and shows in 25 categories.

Going into the ceremony, Succession led nominations with a whopping 25 nominations, with 14 of those noms being for performances. Succession ended up winning three Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Matthew Macfadyen, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and the aforementioned Outstanding Drama Series. Julia Garner’s took home her third Emmy in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama category for her work in the final season of Ozark. Zendaya became the youngest person ever to win in the leading acting categories two times and the first Black woman to win twice after taking home the win in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama category once again. Director Hwang Dong-hyuk became the first Asian director to win in the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series category for his direction of the episode “Red Light, Green Light” from Netflix’s Squid Game, also marking the first time a non-English program has won in this category. Another history making win is Lee Jung-jae winning the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work in Squid Game, becoming the first actor of Asian descent ever to win in the category.

In the comedy categories, Sheryl Lee Ralph became only the second Black woman ever to win the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category (after Jackée Harry in 1987), taking the award for her performance in Abbott Elementary. Ralph brought the house down by opening her speech with a rendition of Dianne Reeves’ “Endangered Spieces,” before thanking the support around her from Quinta Brunson, her husband, her children and “all the people that voted for me.” Brett Goldstein went on to repeat his win from last year in the category for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, making sure to throw in some swears to be bleeped out during the live ceremony. Goldstein is the first back-to-back winner in this category since Jeremy Piven for Entourage in 2007. His co-star, Jason Sudeikis, also repeated a win from last year by winning for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Another repeat win from last year is Jean Smart, who took home the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Hacks. Quinta Brunson won for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the pilot episode of her show, Abbott Elementary, only the second Black woman ever to win here. As with last year, we have another woman winning in the Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series as M.J. Delaney wins for her direction of “No Weddings and a Funeral” out of Ted Lasso‘s second season.

The White Lotus won both awards in the supporting category for Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie, Murray Bartlett and Jennifer Coolidge both taking home awards for their work on the HBO series. Mike White, showrunner, director, writer and creator of The White Lotus, took home the awards for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series and Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series. In the leading actor category, Michael Keaton repeated his win at the SAG Awards earlier this year for his performance in Dopesick. Amanda Seyfried won the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie for her work in Hulu’s The Dropout. The White Lotus had the most wins out of any limited series with five Primetime Emmy wins.

Outstanding Competition Program provided a surprise as RuPaul’s Drag Race‘s reign over the category came to an end, as voters opted for Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls! Outstanding Variety Sketch Series once again went to Saturday Night Live (which stretches its record to six consecutive wins in the category), while Variety Talk Series went to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver for the seventh time in a row. Jerrod Carmichael won for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for his HBO special Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel.

Also during the ceremony, Geena Davis received the Governors Award for her work with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Kumail Nanjiani popped in for a quick sketch where he was deemed the honorary bartender of the night, which ended in a wonderful joke about Kenan Thompson’s past work in Good Burger that brought back his co-star, Kel Mitchell. After being introduced by Anthony Anderson, John Legend played piano and sang for the In Memoriam segment of the show.

Last weekend, the Creative Arts Emmys were held, where winners were awarded across categories from reality to non-fiction/documentary to drama, handing out awards for cinematography, sound mixing, sound editing, casting, music composition and main title music, guest acting categories and more. You can find AwardsWatch coverage of both nights of the Creative Arts Emmys here and here.

Here are the winners of the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards:

OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES: Succession (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES: Lee Jung-jae – Squid Game (Netflix)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES: Zendaya – Euphoria (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES: Julia Garner – Ozark (Netflix)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES: Matthew Macfadyen – Succession (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES: Hwang Dong-hyuk – Squid Game, “Red Light, Green Light” (Netflix)

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES: Jesse Armstrong – Succession, “All The Bells Say” (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES: Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES: Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES: Jean Smart – Hacks (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES: Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES: Sheryl Lee Ralph – Abbott Elementary (ABC)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES: M. J. Delaney – Ted Lasso, “No Weddings and a Funeral”

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES: Quinta Brunson – Abbott Elementary, “Pilot” (ABC)

OUTSTANDING LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE: The White Lotus (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE: Michael Keaton – Dopesick (Hulu)

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE: Amanda Seyfried – The Dropout (Hulu)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE: Murray Bartlett – The White Lotus (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE: Jennifer Coolidge – The White Lotus (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE: Mike White – The White Lotus (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE: Mike White – The White Lotus (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING COMPETITION PROGRAM: Lizzo’s Watch Out For the Big Grrrls! (Prime Video)

OUTSTANDING VARIETY SKETCH SERIES: Saturday Night Live (NBC)

OUTSTANDING VARIETY TALK SERIES: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO/HBO Max)

OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL: Jerrod Carmichael, Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel (HBO/HBO Max)

Total Emmy Wins by Program

The White Lotus — 10

Euphoria — 6

Squid Game — 6

Adele: One Night Only — 5

The Beatles: Get Back — 5

Stranger Things — 5

Arcane — 4

Succession — 4

Ted Lasso — 4

Abbott Elementary — 3

Barry — 3

Hacks — 3

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver — 3

Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls — 3

Love on the Spectrum U.S — 3

Only Murders in the Building — 3

The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show — 3

A Black Lady Sketch Show — 2

Dopesick — 2

How I Met Your Father — 2

Love Death and Robots — 2

Lucy and Desi — 2

RuPaul’s Drag Race — 2

Severance — 2

We’re Here — 2

100 Foot Wave — 1

Annie Live! — 1

Atlanta — 1

The Book of Boba Fett — 1

The Boys Presents: Diabolical — 1

Bridgerton — 1

Carpool Karaoke: The Series — 1

Chip ’N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers — 1

The Dropout — 1

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Presents: Once Upon a Time in Late Night — 1

George Carlin’s American Dream — 1