Emmy Noms: ‘Game of Thrones’ breaks record; ‘Schitt’s Creek’ breaks in

The nominations for the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards were announced this morning and the big news should come as no surprise; the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones broke the all-time record for most nominations for a Drama Series in a single season with a village-scorching 32. The previous record holder was NYPD with 27 over 20 year ago. The show managed to get all three of its directing submissions in and all four of its supporting actresses – Gwendoline Christie, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams – plus three in supporting actor (3-time winner Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Alfie Allen) and Carice van Houten in Guest Actress to help get it to that record-breaking number. HBO also took back the crown from Netflix as the most-nominated network with 137 to the streamer’s 117.

Two other high-profile Emmy winners in their final seasons didn’t fare quite as well. HBO’s Veep, the comedy champ before taking a season off last year, came in with just nine nominations and missed out on a directing nod and pulled in just four acting nominations, all for previous winners or nominees. CBS’s The Big Bang Theory went out with a whimper with just three mentions, including the forced nomination for directing imposed by the television academy two years ago that required one multi-camera comedy be included.

Freshman shows had a stellar morning with Netflix’s Russian Doll blowing up in Comedy Series plus two nominations for its writing for a field-best 13 for a new comedy. FX’s Pose came in with six including Drama Series and Lead Actor for Billy Porter and HBO’s Succession with 5, including Drama Series, directing and writing. Netflix’s Bodyguard just managed two nominations but one of them was the big one, Drama Series.

Not to be outdone by the new class, sophomore seasons saw a huge bump from their first, most of all to last year’s winner The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It earned a whopping 20 nominations this year (the second most of all time after 30 Rock‘s 22 in 2009), adding Marin Hinkle in supporting actress and two guest actors – Rufus Sewell and Luke Kirby to its list. Another big winner from last year, Barry, was just behind with 17 nominations including a major infusion of acting nominations including Stephen Root and Anthony Carrigan joining Henry Winkler in supporting actor and Sarah Goldberg in supporting actress. Amazon’s Fleabag and BBC America’s Killing Eve, both by creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge enjoyed big second season bumps as well, with Fiona Shaw earning acting nominations for both shows and Jodie Comer joining Sandra Oh (another double acting nominee this year) in lead actress for a drama series.

Three episodes from the second season of Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale aired outside of the 70th Emmys eligibility period and while it was not eligible for dramatic series consideration in the 71st Emmys competition, those three extra episodes from 2018 grabbed a massive 11 nominations, including writing and directing and guest acting.

The big shock of the morning was the embracing of PopTV’s Schitt’s Creek. The show, in its 5th season, grabbed nominations for Comedy Series, Lead Actor (Eugene Levy), lead actress (Catherine O’Hara) and Contemporary Costumes. Many thought the show would break through last year after landing on Netflix but it was a huge push this year by the netlet, as well as Emmy events, that brought the cult series to the main stage.

Limited Series’ really had a stellar morning with hits like HBO’s Chernobyl (19 noms), FX’s Fosse/Verdon (17), Netflix’s When They See Us (16) and Showtime’s Escape at Dannemora all grabbing top mentions in writing and directing and numerous acting nods. When They See Us alone found places for seven of its actors to earn nominations.

The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards will be held on September 22nd on FOX with the Creative Arts Emmys taking place the weekend before in a two-night ceremony.

Here are the nominations:

Drama Series

• Better Call Saul (AMC)
• Bodyguard (Netflix)
• Game of Thrones (HBO)
• Killing Eve (AMC/BBC America)
• Ozark (Netflix)
• Pose (FX)
• Succession (HBO)
• This Is Us (NBC)

Comedy Series

• Barry (HBO)
• Fleabag (Amazon Prime)
• The Good Place (NBC)
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime)
• Russian Doll (Netflix)
• Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
• Veep (HBO)

Limited Series

• Chernobyl (HBO)
• Escape at Dannemora (Showtime)
• Fosse/Verdon (FX)
• Sharp Objects (HBO)
• When They See Us (Netflix)

Television Movie

• Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (Netflix)
• Brexit (HBO)
• Deadwood: The Movie (HBO)
• King Lear (Amazon Prime)
• My Dinner with Herve (HBO)

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

• Jason Bateman, Ozark
• Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
• Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
• Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
• Billy Porter, Pose
• Milo Ventimiglia, This Is Us

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

• Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones
• Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
• Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
• Laura Linney, Ozark
• Mandy Moore, This Is Us
• Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
• Robin Wright, House of Cards

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

• Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones
• Julia Garner, Ozark
• Lena Headey, Game of Thrones
• Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
• Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones
• Maisie Williams, Game of Thrones

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

• Alfie Allen, Game of Thrones
• Jonathan Banks, Better Call Saul
• Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Game of Thrones
• Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
• Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
• Michael Kelly, House of Cards
• Chris Sullivan, This Is Us

Guest Actor in a Drama Series

• Michael Angarano, This Is Us
• Michael McKean, Better Call Saul
• Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us
• Kumail Nanjiani, The Twilight Zone
• Glynn Turman, How to Get Away with Murder
• Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale

Guest Actress in a Drama Series

• Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black
• Cherry Jones, The Handmaid’s Tale
• Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Apocalypse
• Phylicia Rashad, This Is Us
• Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away with Murder
• Carice van Houten, Game of Thrones

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

• Anthony Anderson, black-ish
• Don Cheadle, Black Monday
• Ted Danson, The Good Place
• Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
• Bill Hader, Barry
• Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

• Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
• Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
• Natasha Lyonne, Russian Doll
• Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
• Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag 

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

• Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Anna Chlumsky, Veep
• Sian Clifford, Fleabag
• Olivia Colman, Fleabag
• Betty Gilpin, GLOW
• Sarah Goldberg, Barry
• Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

• Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
• Anthony Carrigan, Barry
• Tony Hale, Veep
• Stephen Root, Barry
• Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Henry Winkler, Barry

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

• Matt Damon, Saturday Night Live
• Robert De Niro, Saturday Night Live
• Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Peter MacNicol, Veep
• John Mulaney, Saturday Night Live
• Adam Sandler, Saturday Night Live
• Rufus Sewell, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

• Jane Lynch, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Sandra Oh, Saturday Night Live
• Maya Rudolph, The Good Place
• Fiona Shaw, Fleabag
• Kristin Scott Thomas, Fleabag
• Emma Thompson, Saturday Night Live

Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

• Mahershala Ali, True Detective
• Benicio Del Toro, Escape at Dannemora
• Hugh Grant, A Very English Scandal
• Jared Harris, Chernobyl
• Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us
• Sam Rockwell, Fosse/Verdon

Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

• Amy Adams, Sharp Objects
• Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora
• Aunjanue Ellis, When They See Us
• Joey King, The Act
• Niecy Nash, When They See Us
• Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

• Asante Blackk, When They See Us
• Paul Dano, Escape at Dannemora
• John Leguizamo, When They See Us
• Stellan Skarsgard, Chernobyl
• Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal
• Michael Kenneth Williams, When They See Us

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

• Patricia Arquette, The Act
• Marsha Stephanie Blake, When They See Us
• Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects
• Vera Farmiga, When They See Us
• Margaret Qualley, Fosse/Verdon
• Emily Watson, Chernobyl

Reality Competition

• The Amazing Race (CBS)
• American Ninja Warrior (NBC)
• Nailed It (Netflix)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
• Top Chef (Bravo)
• The Voice (NBC)

Reality/Competition Host

• Ellen DeGeneres, Ellen’s Game of Games (NBC)
• RuPaul Charles, RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
• James Corden, The World’s Best (CBS)
• Marie Kondo, Tidying Up with Marie Condo (Netflix)
• Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman, Making It (NBC)

Variety Sketch Series

• At Home with Amy Sedaris (TruTV)
• Documentary Now! (IFC)
• Drunk History (Comedy Central)
• I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman (Hulu)
• Saturday Night Live (NBC)
• Who Is America? (Showtime)

Variety Talk Show

• The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
• Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
• Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS)
• Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
  

Programs with more than 10 nominations:

32 Nominations
Game Of Thrones

20 Nominations
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

19 Nominations
Chernobyl

18 Nominations
Saturday Night Live

17 Nominations
Barry
Fosse/Verdon

16 Nominations
When They See Us

13 Nominations
Russian Doll

12 Nominations
Escape At Dannemora

11 Nominations
Fleabag
The Handmaid’s Tale

10 Nominations
Our Planet

For the entire list, head over to emmys.com.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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