GOT wins top drama Em Fleabag springs a surp
Game of Thrones
on stage after winning the In his acceptance speech, showrunner Dan Weiss said: “Thank you to the hardest working crew in show business — the dragons who shot for 70 nights straight in freezing Belfast rain, the wolves who shot all around the world — you are amazing, all of you.” The show ended its eight-season run with 59 Emmys, a record for a drama or comedy.
Game of Thrones took the top Emmy for best drama on Sunday but dark British comedy Fleabag was the surprise big winner of television’s glitziest night, dominating the comedy prizes at a starstudded ceremony in Los Angeles.
Thrones finished with 12 awards overall for its final season. Peter Dinklage won his fourth best supporting actor statuette for his portrayal of the dwarf Tyrion Lannister. Ten nominated cast members of Thrones received a standing ovation as they gathered on stage. Thrones ends its eight-season run with 59 Emmys, a record for a drama or comedy. Only Saturday Night Live has more.
In the night’s biggest shock, Fleabag
star Phoebe Waller-bridge bested eight-time acting winner Julia Louisdreyfus (Veep) before the show itself won for best comedy series. The BBC show also scooped awards for Best Comedy Writing and Directing on Sunday, and six overall. Billy Porter made history as the first openly gay black man to win the Best Drama Actor prize for FX show Pose.
Jason Bateman won for directing the crime thriller Ozark. Co-star Julia Garner won Best Supporting Actress.
Sandra Oh failed to become the first woman of Asian descent to win the leading actress in a drama category, beaten by co-star Jodie Comer in Killing Eve.
Chernobyl won the Emmy for best limited series. It faced off against When They See Us, the true story of five teenagers wrongly accused of rape. Young star, Jharrel Jerome, who won the prize for Best Actor in a Limited Series, paid tribute to the five men. Bill Hader won the Best Actor award for the comedy Barry. The network pulled off another victory for Succession, with Jesse Armstrong taking the prize for Drama Writing.
The 71st Emmys began at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with a comedy skit: a cartoon Homer Simpson was introduced as “host” — and quickly crushed by a falling piano. Star Bryan Cranston then appeared on stage to “rescue” the Emmys, delivering a tribute to TV’S so-called golden era. “Television has never been bigger. Television has never mattered more. And television has never been this damn good,” said Cranston.
Louis-dreyfus missed out on a ninth acting statuette — which would have been her seventh, and a clean sweep for every season, as vice-president-turned-president Selina Meyer in Veep. AFP beat Julia Louis-dreyfus for the Best Actress trophy. “It’s just really wonderful to know and reassuring that a dirty, pervy, angry, messed-up woman can make it to the Emmys,” said Waller-bridge. won the Best Comedy Series award.