The 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations have been announced, and as always when it comes to this notoriously finnicky organization, it’s a mixed bag. The big news is that, as expected, the final season of Game of Thrones was recognized across the board. In fact, Thrones landed a whopping 32 nominations, breaking a long standing record set by NYPD Blue for the most nominations for a single season. Emmy voters really threw it around this final go-around, giving Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke Best Actor and Actress nominations and filling out the supporting categories with the likes of Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Gwendoline Christie, and even Lena Headey despite the fact that Cersei just sat in a castle the whole season and had maybe 20 minutes of screentime.
Offscreen, Thrones was also nominated for Best Directing in a Drama Series for the Battle of Winterfell episode “The Long Night”, the aftermath episode “The Last of the Starks”, and the series finale “The Iron Throne.” The series finale—which was written and directed by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss—was also nominated for Best Writing
HBO—which, it should be noted, has the most voters in the TV Academy which in turn feeds into their dominance—shined bright even beyond Thrones. After losing out on total noms to Netflix last year, HBO was back on top with 137 total nominations this year. The excellent, critically acclaimed Barry collected 17 total Emmy nominations. Bill Hader won Best Actor in a Comedy and Henry Winkler won Best Supporting Actor last year, but in addition to nominations for the two this year, actors Sarah Goldberg, Anthony Carrigan, and Stephen Root were all nominated in the Supporting category. Hader is also nominated this year for writing and directing the tour-de-force episode “ronny/lily”.
Outside of the Home Box Office, the acclaimed PopTV series Schitt’s Creek finally picked up deserving nominations for Best Comedy Series and Actor and Actress for Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy, while The Good Place also picked up its first-ever Best Comedy Series nomination. And Fleabag Season 2—one of the best pieces of storytelling in 2019, across all mediums—scored a number of nominations including Best Actress in a Comedy for Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But I have to say, the total snubbing of Andrew Scott as The (Hot) Priest is completely uncalled for and I will be writing several strongly worded letters.
On the limited series/TV movie side of things, two of the most critically acclaimed pieces of television scored big: HBO’s Chernobyl and Netflix’s When They See Us. The latter fared particularly well in the acting categories, with Jharrel Jerome picking up a Lead Actor nominations alongside Chernobyl‘s Jared Harris.
The biggest snubs in my book? The Haunting of Hill House for Limited Series and acting and Late Night with Seth Meyers for Outstanding Variety Talk Series—although I was heartened by the writing noms for both Late Night and Documentary Now!
Check out the major Emmy nominations highlights below. The 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards will air live on FOX on September 22nd.
Comedy Series
Barry (HBO)
Fleabag (Amazon)
The Good Place (NBC)
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)
Russian Doll (Netflix)
Schitt’s Creek (Pop)
Veep (HBO)
Drama Series
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Bodyguard (Netflix)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Killing Eve (BBC America)
Ozark (Netflix)
Pose (FX)
Succession (HBO)
This Is Us (NBC)
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: The Uncivil War (HBO)
Deadwood: The Movie (HBO)
My Dinner With Herve (HBO)
King Lear (Amazon)
Lead Actor in a Limited Series or TV 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 TV Movie
Amy Adams (Sharp Objects)
Patricia Arquette (Escape at Dannemora)
Joey King (The Act)
Niecy Nash (When They See Us)
Michelle Williams (Fosse/Verdon)
Aunjanue Ellis (When They See Us)
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)
via Collider
