‘THRONES’ GOING OUT ON TOP
HBO saga claims record 32 Emmy nods for final season, and a 4th best drama series victory would put show in select company
HBO’s “Game of Thrones” slashed its way to a recordsetting 32 Emmy nominations Tuesday for its eighth and final season, leading HBO back to dominance over Netflix, the streaming service that bumped it last year from atop the increasingly crowded television heap.
The bloodthirsty saga’s total eclipsed the all-time series record of 27 nods earned by “NYPD Blue” in 1994. It will compete for best drama series against “Better Call Saul,” “Bodyguard,” “Killing Eve,” “Ozark,” “Pose,” “Succession” and “This Is Us.”
If “Game of Thrones” claims a fourth trophy in the category, it will join the quartet of most-honored dramas that includes “Hill Street Blues,” ‘‘L.A. Law,” ‘’The West Wing” and “Mad Men.”
Series star Emilia Clarke’s decision to seek a best actress nomination after a series of supporting actress bids paid off. She’s competing in a category that’s notable for its diversity, including past winner Viola Davis for “How to Get Away with Murder” and repeat nominee Sandra Oh for “Killing Eve,”
who has a second chance to become the first actress of Asian descent to win the trophy.
Last year’s best comedy series, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” led the comedy pack with 20 bids, including for its star and defending champion Rachel Brosnahan, a Highland Park High grad.
The show is up against “Barry,” “Fleabag,” “The Good Place,” “Russian Doll,” “Schitt’s Creek” and “Veep.”
Brosnahan will vie with Emmy record-holder Julia Louis-Dreyfus of “Veep,” who didn’t compete in last year’s awards because her breast cancer treatment delayed production of the political satire.
Louis-Dreyfus, who with fellow Northwestern alum Cloris Leachman shares the record for most Emmys won by a performer, eight, has a shot at solo glory if she wins again.
Other top nominees include the nuclear disaster miniseries “Chernobyl” with 19 nominations and “Saturday Night Live,” which regularly employed Robert De Niro to play Robert Mueller last season, with 18. “When They See Us,” the miniseries that dramatized the Central Park Five case and its aftermath, received 16 bids.
The 71st Emmy Awards will air Sept. 22 on Fox, with the host yet to be announced.
◆ Best actor in a drama series: Jason Bateman, “Ozark”; Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”; Kit Harington, “Game of Thrones”; Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”; Billy Porter, “Pose” and Milo Ventimiglia, “This Is Us.”
◆ Best actress in a drama series: Emilia Clarke, “Game of Thrones”; Robin Wright, “House of Cards”; Jodie Comer, “Killing Eve”; Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”; Laura Linney, “Ozark”; Viola Davis, “How To Get Away With Murder” and Mandy Moore, “This Is Us.”
◆ Best actress in a comedy series: Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”; Natasha Lyonne, “Russian Doll”; Phoebe Waller-Bridge, “Fleabag”; Christina Applegate, “Dead to Me”; Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek.”
◆ Best 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.”
◆ Limited series: “Chernobyl,” “Escape at Dannemora,” “Fosse/ Verdon,” “When They See Us,” “Sharp Objects.”
◆ Best actor in a limited series or movie: Mahershala Ali, “True Detective”; Benicio Del Toro, “Escape at Dannemora”; Jared Harris, “Chernobyl”; Jharrel Jerome, “When They See Us”; Sam Rockwell, “Fosse/Verdon.”
◆ Best actress in a limited series or movie: Amy Adams, “Sharp Objects”; Patricia Arquette, “Escape at Dannemora”; Aunjanue Ellis, “When They See Us”; Joey King, “The Act”; Niecy Nash, “When They See Us”; Michelle Williams, “Fosse/Verdon.”
◆ Television movie: “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” “Brexit,” “Deadwood,” “King Lear,” “My Dinner with Herve.”
◆ Variety talk series: “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah,” “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
◆ Variety sketch series: “At Home with Amy Sedaris,” “Documentary Now!,” “Drunk History,” “I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Who Is America?”