‘The Bear,’ ‘Station Eleven’ lead Spirit Awards Television nominations; ‘Pachinko’ wins Best Ensemble

Film Independent announced this morning the television nominations for the 2023 Spirit Awards, where Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Severance and Station Eleven led the way with three nominations each for scripted series.

The 2023 Best New Scripted Series nominees are: The Bear, Pachinko, The Porter, Severance and Station Eleven.

In the Best New Non-Scripted or Documentary Series category, the nominees were made up of Children of the Underground, Mind Over Murder, Pepsi, Where’s my Jet?, The Rehearsal and We Need to Talk About Cosby. 

Film Independent President Josh Welsh introduced the prerecorded video announcement, which featured guest presenter Asia Kate Dillon (Billions, Orange is the New Black, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum).

New this year, as with the film nominees, is a switch to gender neutral acting awards, with the best actor and actress categories being replaced by a ten-nominee Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series award. In addition to this change, a Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series award has been added to honor performances outside of the leading roles.    

“As the television landscape continues to evolve, and independent artists expand the idea of how stories can be told, we’re proud to be changing with them,” said Welsh. “With our new categories and gender-neutral acting awards, we hope to better reflect the diversity of incredible work being created by these talented artists.”

The 38th Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place on Saturday, March 4, 2023. The in-person show, held on the beach in Santa Monica, will be streamed internationally across multiple online and digital platforms. The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s year-round slate of programs, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity and inclusion in the industry. 

This year the Spirit Awards Television Nominating Committees selected nominees applying the following guidelines: uniqueness of vision, original and provocative subject matter, economy of means. The Spirit Awards Nominating Committees are comprised of creators, writers, directors, producers, actors, critics, film festival programmers and other working film professionals. Of all nominated television creators, executive producers and co-executive producers, 37% are women and 26% are BIPOC. Of all nominated television performers, 47% are women and 67% are BIPOC. This year, the Spirit Awards nominating committees are 50% female, 6% Nonbinary, 3% Transgender, and 61% BIPOC; 32% identify as LGBTQ+ and 8% identify as people with disabilities (PWD).  

Here is the full list of nominees.

BEST NEW SCRIPTED SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)

The Bear (FX)

Creator/Executive Producer: Christopher Storer ; Executive Producers: Joanna Calo, Josh Senior, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson; Co-Executive Producer: Rene Gube 

Pachinko (Apple TV+)

Creator/Executive Producer: Soo Hugh ; Executive Producers: Michael Ellenberg, Lindsey Springer, Theresa Kang-Lowe, Richard Middleton, Justin Chon, Kogonada ; Co-Executive Producers: Dani Gorin, Sebastian Lee, David Kim, Ethan Kuperberg 

The Porter (CBC)

Creators/Executive Producers: Marsha Greene, Annmarie Morais, Arnold Pinnock ; Creator/Co-Executive Producer: Bruce Ramsay; Creator: Aubrey Nealon; Executive Producers: Ian Dimerman, Jennifer Kawaja, Charles Officer, R.T. Thorne, Aml Ameen, Bruno Dubé, Alfre Woodard, Rose Catherine Pinkney, Devin Griffin; Co-Executive Producers: Elise Cousineau, Andrea Glinski, Steve Cochrane, Daphne Park 

Severance (Apple TV+) 

Creator/Executive Producer: Dan Erickson; Executive Producers: Ben Stiller, Nicholas Weinstock, Jackie Cohn, Mark Friedman, Andrew Colville, Chris Black, John Cameron; Co-Executive Producers: Jill Footlick, Kari Drake 

Station Eleven (HBO Max) 

Creator/Executive Producer: Patrick Somerville; Executive Producers: Jessica Rhoades, Scott Steindorff, Dylan Russell, Scott Delman, Jeremy Podeswa, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson; Co-Executive Producers: David Nicksay, Nick Cuse 

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES 

• Aml Ameen, The Porter
• Mohammed Amer, Mo
• Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
• Bridget Everett, Somebody Somewhere
• KaMillion, Rap Sh!t
• Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets
• Himesh Patel, Station Eleven
• Sue Ann Pien, As We See It
• Adam Scott, Severance
• Ben Whishaw, This is Going to Hurt

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES 

• Danielle Deadwyler, Station Eleven
• Ayo Edibiri, The Bear
• Jeff Hiller, Somebody Somewhere
• Gbemisola Ikumelo, A League of Their Own
• Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear
• Frankie Quiñones, This Fool
• Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary
• Molly Shannon, I Love That For You
• Tramell Tillman, Severance

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST IN A NEW SCRIPTED SERIES 

Pachinko 

Ensemble Cast: Soji Arai, Jin Ha, Inji Jeong, Minha Kim, Kaho Minami, Lee Minho, Steve Sanghyun Noh, Anna Sawai, Jimmi Simpson, Yuh-jung Youn 

BEST NEW NON-SCRIPTED OR DOCUMENTARY SERIES (Award given to the Creator, Executive Producer, Co-Executive Producer)

Children of the Underground

Executive Producers: Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, Ted Gesing, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Kate Barry; Co-Executive Producer: Julie Gaither 

Mind Over Murder

Executive Producers: Marc Smerling, Nanfu Wang, Max Heckman, Chad Mumm, Mark W. Olsen, Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller, Sara Rodriguez 

Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?

Executive Producers: Nick Boak, Andrew Renzi, Andrew D. Corkin, Theo James, Andrew Fried, Jordan Wynn, Dane Lillegard, Sarina Roma; Co-Executive Producer: Jeremiah Murphy 

The Rehearsal

Creator/Executive Producer: Nathan Fielder; Executive Producers: Dave Paige, Dan McManus, Christie Smith; Co-Executive Producers: Carrie Kemper, Eric Notarnicola 

We Need to Talk About Cosby

Executive Producers: W. Kamau Bell, Andrew Fried, Katie A. King, Vinnie Malhotra, Dane Lillegard, Sarina Roma, Jordan Wynn; Co-Executive Producer: Geraldine L. Porras 

Photo: Matt Dinerstein/FX