The nominations for the 69th Annual Emmy Awards are officially here. Veep actress Anna Chlumsky, S.W.A.T. star Shemar Moore (whose name was briefly mispronounced during the awkward introductions) and Television Academy CEO Hayma Washington announced the nominations today via livestream from Television Academy’s Wolf Theatre at the Saban Media Center in North Hollywood. Let’s dig in a little to what was allowed in and left out.
In part thanks to the hole left by Game of Thrones’ and Downton Abbey’s absence, several newcomer series like This Is Us, The Crown and The Handmaid’s Tale got some much-deserved attention. The most pleasant surprise has to be Netflix’s Stranger Things, which came out of nowhere last year. Westworld is something of a disappointing addition to the noms, but not entirely unexpected, given the show’s popularity.
As far as dramatic acting, both the lead actor and actress categories are stacked this year. From reliable heavyweight performances from the likes of Kevin Spacey and Anthony Hopkins to show-stealing turns from first-timer Sterling K. Brown, the lead actor race seems reliably tight. We all wish Justin Theroux’s performance from The Leftovers was nominated, but, alas, there is no justice in this world.
For actresses, there aren’t any major surprises, other than House of Cards’ Robin Wright sneaking in over Carrie Coon’s excellent turn in The Leftovers. Can you guess which show we think is getting unjustly snubbed there?
On the comedic side, the nominations—as expected—were dominated by long-time stalwart series like Veep and Silicon Valley. Modern Family refuses to die, but there’s a chance that Donald Glover’s fantastic Atlanta could make a real push for the win.
For actor nominations, it was something of a surprise to see Zach Galifianakis creep his way back into a nomination for his role in Baskets. Otherwise, Anthony Anderson, Aziz Ansari, William H. Macy, Glover and two-time defending champion Jeffrey Tambor were pretty much shoo-ins.
For comedic actresses, it’s really all about whether anybody could conceivably defeat Julia Louis-Dreyfus. While Allison Janey’s promotion from supporting to lead actress for her work in Mom is encouraging, it hardly signals a worthy contender to the Veep star’s five consecutive Emmy wins. But who knows—this wasn’t Veep’s strongest season, after all.
Saturday Night Live and Westworld led the tally for the most nominations (22) in all categories, followed by Stranger Things and Feud: Bette and Joan (18), and Veep (17). Leading the nominations in totals by platform were HBO (110), Netflix (91) and NBC (60).
Stephen Colbert will host the Emmy Awards live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. EDT on CBS. Check out the nominations for a few of the major categories below, and see how they stack up with our predictions and wish list.