Here are five things to look for in Tuesday morning’s nominations.
Emmy voters will love the final season of “Game of Thrones” more than you probably did.
“Game of Thrones” has earned a record 128 Emmy nominations over its first seven seasons, winning 47, also the high mark for a prime-time series. The departing HBO drama figures to add to those numbers, even for an anticlimactic final season that could be described, charitably, as a disappointment. (If you’re feeling less generous, you might call it an outright disaster for the way it did Daenerys wrong, among many, many other transgressions. Bran? Really?)
That the rushed storytelling in the last batch of supersized episodes stumbled won’t matter to Emmy voters, who will again bend the knee because, for six weeks, “Game of Thrones” ruled pop culture in a way that will be difficult for any TV series to duplicate. Each episode was an event to be debated, dissected and quickly turned into glorious memes, which often were more entertaining than the show itself.
The “Thrones” acting ensemble will look to best its record for nominations — five — and they’re banking on voters considering Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke in the lead categories, a gambit that didn’t work out last year. Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau did earn supporting nominations in 2018, with Dinklage winning. Maisie Williams earned a nomination for the show’s sixth season; Sophie Turner is aiming to join the club for this final go-around.
And while it’s hard to make a case that Headey deserves a nomination for a short season spent mostly on a balcony, gazing into the distance, Emmy voters are creatures of habit and probably will give her a fifth and farewell nod. It seems likely, in fact, that the whole gang will be celebrating Tuesday morning. Except for Isaac Hempstead Wright, because, c’mon, a creepy, faraway stare might earn you This image released by HBO shows Kristofer Hivju, from left, Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke in a scene from “Game of Thrones.” “Game of Thrones,” “Veep” and “The Big Bang Theory,” three major series that wrapped last season, will find out with Tuesday’s nominations if they have one more chance at Emmy gold. the throne, but it shouldn’t snag you an Emmy nomination too.
Nearly everyone who watched the second season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s brilliant British comedy came away enthralled. It sits atop review aggregator Metacritic’s best-of-theyear list. It was a huge hit in its native England. And the stylish black jumpsuit Waller-Bridge wore in the season’s first episode became a fashion and social media sensation.
The BBC series, available in the U.S. on Amazon Prime, should earn WallerBridge a clutch of Emmy nominations, both for her pitch-perfect comic acting and her genius writing, which deconstructed the show’s fourth-wall-breaking conceit in ways both thrilling and crushing. (She could also pick up noms as a producer here and for “Killing Eve,” a likely drama series nominee.)
But here’s the thing: “Fleabag’s” first season was pretty great as well, and it received exactly zero Emmy nominations. You’d imagine more voters know about it now, but as “Green Book’s” best picture win at this year’s Oscars again reminded us, critics don’t vote for awards. Any television academy member who ignores “Fleabag” should be required to go to confession and divulge their sins. And, no, they would absolutely not deserve a hot priest as an audience. asked not to be identified. “‘Don’t “Green Book” this?’ You got it. I’ll vote for Bill Maher.”
Last year, “The Daily Show” earned its first series nomination since Jon Stewart left the show in 2015. The variety talk category is always competitive, and voters have been known to banish contenders for missteps. (“The Tonight Show” hasn’t been nominated since host Jimmy Fallon tousled Donald Trump’s hair weeks before the 2016 election.) Since many television academy members are the same voters who rewarded “Green Book” at the Oscars, Noah might regret that “Don’t ‘Green Book’ this one, guys” line. I mean, Seth Meyers deserves to be nominated one of these years, and could easily take his place. “The Sopranos” and “Breaking Bad” — have won series Emmys for their farewell seasons. “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” could both join that select list, and it’s pretty much a lock that Julia Louis-Dreyfus will have to make a bit more room in her trophy cabinet for her brutally brilliant turn as Selina Meyer on “Veep.”
But other past Emmy favorites are saying goodbye too. Once upon a time, Jim Parsons won two Emmys for “The Big Bang Theory,” and the series itself was nominated four times, most recently in 2014. “House of Cards” isn’t a popular pick anymore, but Robin Wright and Michael Kelly aren’t to blame for that. “Broad City,” “Jane the Virgin,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Catastrophe” have all been woefully overlooked over the years. It’s never too late to make amends.
And Waller-Bridge swears (in every sense of the word) that “Fleabag’s” second season will be its last. There won’t be any shortage of pleading for her to change her mind, but hopefully voters will take Waller-Bridge at her word and honor the show while they have the chance.