Thrones tops Emmy nods
Canadian Oh makes history as first Asian named as dramatic lead actress
LOS ANGELES Game of Thrones roared back onto the Emmy battlefield, topping Thursday’s nominations with 22 bids but with a formidable opponent in last year’s winner The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the Margaret Atwood novel. And a streaming platform made history by earning the most bids for the first time.
Sandra Oh, the Canadian star of Killing Eve, made history of her own, becoming the first actress of Asian descent to be nominated for lead acting honours in a drama series. Oh had earned five supporting bids for Grey’s Anatomy. Killing Eve will debut in Canada on July 22 on Bravo.
Netflix’s 112 nominations took away the front-runner title HBO had held since 2001. HBO claimed 108 bids.
Game of Thrones helped boost the premium cable service’s total and became the most-nominated series, with its 129 nods topping the 124 nominations earned by ER.
Donald Glover’s Atlanta was the top comedy series nominee the with 16 bids, poised to take advantage of the absence this time around of three-time winner Veep. Atlanta will face newcomers including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Glow and Barry. Others in the category include black-ish, Silicon Valley, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
The newbie comedies aced out longtime Emmy favourite Modern Family, a five-time winner and perennial nominee since it debuted in 2009 on ABC. Its absence leaves just one network contender for best comedy, ABC’S black-ish, which also earned nods for Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson, who noted his urban California roots.
The short-lived revival of Roseanne, cancelled because of star Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet, drew only one major nomination, a supporting actress nod for Laurie
Metcalf. Another revival, Will & Grace, got Emmy love for nominees Megan Mullally and Molly Shannon, but the main stars and series itself were snubbed.
The late Anthony Bourdain’s CNN series, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, received a nomination in the category for best information series or special, which also includes shows with Leah Remini and David Letterman.
SNL, riding high with its relentless pillorying of the Trump administration, was rewarded with 21 nods.
HBO’S fantasy dragons-and-swords saga is a two-time best drama winner that sat out the last year’s awards because of its production schedule. Although it’s up for top series honours, it drew only three supporting actor bids, for cast members Lena Headey, Nikolaj Coster-waldau and Peter Dinklage.
The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian sci-fi series that claimed top drama honours last year, drew 20 bids, including one for last year’s best actress winner, Elisabeth Moss, and supporting bids for Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd, Yvonne Strahovski and Joseph Fiennes.
The Emmys ceremony will air Sept. 17 with SNL comics Colin Jost and Michael Che as hosts.