‘The Crown,’ ‘Mandalorian’ lead Emmy field; Whitford earns 8th nomination
Madison native Bradley Whitford collected his eighth Emmy nomination, one of a couple contenders with Wisconsin connections announced Tuesday morning for this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards.
Whitford was nominated for supporting actor in a drama for “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It’s the third time he’s been nominated for playing Commander Joseph Lawrence on the Hulu series, including last year. He won in 2019 for outstanding guest actor for playing the character; that was his third Emmy win, after collecting the guest actor award for “Transparent” in 2015 and for playing White House aide Josh Lyman on “The West Wing” in 2001.
In this year’s Emmys, his competition in the category includes Michael K. Williams, for “Lovecraft Country” (HBO); John Lithgow, for “Perry Mason” (HBO); Tobias Menzies, for “The Crown” (Netflix); O-T Fagbenle and Max Minghella, both also for “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Giancarlo Esposito, for “The Mandalorian” (Disney+); and Chris Sullivan, for “This Is Us” (NBC).
Whitford’s was one of 21 nominations for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” tying the show with NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” for third-most nominees.
“The Crown” and “The Mandalorian” each had 24 nominations.
Other Primetime Emmy nominees with Wisconsin connections included:
“All In: The Fight for Democracy,” the Amazon voting-rights documentary that focuses in part on Wisconsin’s problematic primary election during the pandemic in April 2020, was nominated for outstanding writing for a nonfiction program.
The fantasy-horror series “Lovecraft Country” collected 18 nominations. The series was inspired in part by the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, whose imaginative and influential horror stories were first championed and published by Sauk City publisher Arkham House.
Netflix vs. HBO (and HBO Max)
In another year of what’ll be depicted as a battle of the streaming services, HBO and HBO Max combined for 130 nominations, to Netflix’s 129. Disney, which owns Disney+, ABC, Hulu, National Geographic, FX and Freeform, had a combined 146 nominations.
But there were plenty of nominations to go around. Even YouTube collected five nominations.
In addition to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the series nominated for best drama include: “The Boys” (Amazon), “Bridgerton” (Netflix), “The Crown,” “Lovecraft Country,” “The Mandalorian,” “Pose” (FX) and “This Is Us” (NBC).
Nominees for best comedy series were: “black-ish” (ABC), “Cobra Kai” (Netflix), “Emily in Paris” (Netflix), “Hacks” (HBO Max), “The Flight Attendant” (HBO Max), “The Kominsky Method” (Netflix), “PEN15” (Hulu) and “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+).
Best limited-series nominations — a category with some of the buzziest shows on television over the past year — went to “I May Destroy You” (HBO),
“Mare of Easttown” (HBO), “The Queen’s Gambit” (Netflix), “The Underground Railroad” (Amazon) and “WandaVision” (Disney+).
Top acting nominations at Emmys
The other major acting category nominees:
Lead actress in a drama series: Uzo Aduba, “In Treatment” (HBO); Olivia Colman, “The Crown”; Emma Corrin, “The Crown”; Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Mj Rodriguez, “Pose” (FX); Jurnee Smollett, “Lovecraft Country.”
Lead actor in a drama series: Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”; Jonathan Majors, “Lovecraft Country”; Josh O’Connor, “The Crown”; Regé-Jean Page, “Bridgerton”; Billy Porter, “Pose”; Matthew Rhys, “Perry Mason.”
Supporting actress in a drama series: Gillian Anderson, “The Crown”; Helena Bonham Carter, “The Crown”; Madeline Brewer, “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Aunjanue Ellis, “Lovecraft Country”; Emerald Fennell, “The Crown”; Yvonne Strahovski, “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Lead actress in a comedy series: Aidy
Bryant, “Shrill” (Hulu); Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant”; Allison Janney, “Mom” (CBS); Tracee Ellis Ross, “black-ish”; Jean Smart, “Hacks.”
Lead actor in a comedy series: Anthony Anderson, “black-ish”; Michael Douglas, “The Kominsky Method”; William H. Macy, “Shameless” (Showtime); Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso”; Kenan Thompson, “Kenan” (NBC).
Supporting actress in a comedy series: Aidy Bryant, “Saturday Night Live”; Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”; Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”; Rosie Perez, “The Flight Attendant”; Cecily Strong, “Saturday Night Live”; Juno Temple, “Ted Lasso”; Hannah Waddingham, “Ted Lasso.”
Supporting actor in a comedy series: Carl Clemons-Hopkins, “Hacks”; Brett Goldstein, “Ted Lasso”; Brendan Hunt, “Ted Lasso”; Nick Mohammed, “Ted Lasso”; Paul Reiser, “The Kominsky Method”; Jeremy Swift, “Ted Lasso”; Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”; Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live.”
The 73rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards will air live — with plans for nominees attending in person — on CBS Sept. 19.