On one level, the biggest snub for this year’s Emmy nominations is the looming actors strike. The writers strike, in effect since early May, has already severely curtailed celebrating the best and brightest of the 2022-23 TV season. And now, with SAG-AFTRA almost certainly joining the WGA on the picket line in a matter of hours, there’s an air of doom over what should be a happy event.
On another, less existential level, what does Harrison Ford have to do to get an Emmy nomination?! The Emmys’ diamond anniversary brought widely expected nominations for previous Emmy favorites like “Succession,” “The White Lotus,” “Abbott Elementary” and “Ted Lasso.” A new shift in rules that capped the number of names voters could submit per category was expected to keep those shows from total domination of the acting categories — but they all still managed to overwhelm the supporting and guest actor categories, along with newly crowned Emmy favorite, “The Last of Us.”
Still, there were some welcome surprise nominations, especially for under-the-radar gems like “Jury Duty,” “Bad Sisters,” and, uh, “The Diplomat.” But even in the waning days of peak TV, there were still several shows and performances that were shockingly passed over for recognition: Elizabeth Olsen hacked up her friend in that laundry room in “Love & Death” and she gets nothing?!
Here is Variety’s assessment of the biggest surprises among the nominees for the 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
“1923” and ”Yellowstone” miss major nods — including for Harrison Ford!
During last year’s Emmy nominations, one of the day’s headlines was that “Yellowstone” and “1883,” Taylor Sheridan’s popular Westerns about the Dutton family, were almost entirely shut out. This year, “Yellowstone” is in a precarious place: It’s been announced that Season 5 will be its last — because star Kevin Costner wants out — but it’s unclear when Part 2 of that season will even be filmed. But Paramount+ drama series prequel “1923” was star-studded, with Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford leading the way on the show, which was quickly renewed for a second season. Yet, even with the continued popularity of the (albeit troubled) “Yellowstone” mothership, and the major stars of “1923,” Academy voters continue to shun Sheridan’s “Yellowstone”-a-verse (not what it’s called — until today!) It’s also worth noting that Ford was also not nominated in comedy supporting actor for “Shrinking,” where he was thought to be an early favorite to win.
Limited series goes bananas: “Love & Death” and “Black Bird” miss, while “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” “Daisy Jones & the Six” and … “Obi-Wan Kenobi” make it in
A powerhouse category over the last few years, limited series this year was a far more fluid beast, which is likely why there were some major upsets this year. HBO’s “Love & Death” — the second limited series about the real-life axe murderer Candy Montgomery, following 2022’s “Candy” with Jessica Biel — suffered the most, with only a single nomination, for Jesse Plemons for supporting actor. Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser both earned acting nods for Apple TV+’s prison drama “Black Bird,” but the show missed for series.
On the flip side, Amazon Prime Video’s folk rock series “Daisy Jones & the Six” was a major nominee with nine nominations, including for limited series and lead actress for Riley Keough. FX’s “Fleishman Is in Trouble” also cleaned up with seven nods, including for limited series, lead actress (Lizzy Caplan) and supporting actress (Claire Danes)
But the biggest shock was the inclusion of Disney+’s “Star Wars” series “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” which debuted over a year ago and was tepidly received by many fans. Along with four below-the-line nominations, the show still managed to pick up a series nod, echoing the surprise nomination for “The Mandalorian” in drama series in 2020. The Force is indeed strong with this show.
Brian Cox — and Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin! — are all nominated for lead actor for “Succession”
Three “Succession” stars all competing for actor in a drama? Sounds like an HBO show we once watched in which members of a family all tried to kill one another in order to take control of their company! Jeremy Strong has won here before, but it’s Kieran Culkin’s first time in lead (he’s been nominated twice in supporting). Brian Cox’s nomination feels symbolic of the significance of his performance over the four seasons of “Succession” in total — after all, Logan died toward the beginning of Episode 3, so this is a bit nuts (though also kind of great). We’ll see whether the multiple nominations splits the “Succession” vote, paving the way for a win for Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”) or — for his last shot in this storied role — Bob Odenkirk for “Better Call Saul.”
“Jury Duty” gets major Emmy love
Without question, the sleeper show this TV season has been “Jury Duty,” the Amazon Freevee comedy that put one unsuspecting real person — 30-year-old project manager Ronald Gladden, a masterstroke of good casting and good fortune — inside a fake trial just boring enough to seem real and just wacky enough to be hysterically funny. But its hybrid nature — not quite a reality show, not quite a scripted show — kept its Emmy prospects in limbo. So to see “Jury Duty” earn nominations for comedy series, supporting actor (for James Marsden playing a wildly self-involved version of himself) and writing is maybe one of the coolest, most delightful things to happen at the Emmys in a long time.
Keri Rusell is nominated for “The Diplomat” and other fun surprises in drama lead actress
No shade to Keri Russell — “Felicity” and “The Americans” 4eva! — and no shade to “The Diplomat,” a political drama that was popular on Netflix. But the drama actress category, which is often ultra-competitive, is very odd this year. Neither Imelda Staunton (“The Crown”) nor Helen Mirren (“1923”) received expected nominations, with previous winner Elisabeth Moss getting in for “The Handmaid’s Tale” and newbie Sharon Horgan receiving a nomination for Apple TV+’s delightful “Bad Sisters” (which she also wrote).
All of that makes “Succession’s” Sarah Snook’s decision to move from the supporting category, where she’s historically been placed, to lead actress a move something her calculating character Shiv Roy would applaud.
Kumail Nanjiani gets a nomination for “Welcome to Chippendales”
“Welcome to Chippendales” got a decent reception when it was released last year, yet Kumail Nanjiani’s nomination for limited series lead actor was a surprise on Emmys morning. It was expected that either Steve Carell (for FX’s “The Patient”) or Jesse Eisenberg (for FX’s “Fleishman Is in Trouble”) might be recognized here, but Academy voters favored Nanjiani. It’s also worth noting that both Annaleigh Ashford and Juliette Lewis were also nominated for “Welcome to Chippendales” in the limited series supporting actress category, so it seems safe to assume that voters loved the acting on this show! (Not enough for the series itself to be nominated, though.)
Melanie Lynskey nominated twice!
Who doesn’t love Melanie Lynskey? We’re all here for the Melassance! (A stretch, we know.) Academy voters obviously agree, and have nominated Lynskey twice this year, once for drama lead actress for her role as Shauna in “Yellowjackets” (her second nomination in a row) and the other for guest actress in a drama in “The Last of Us.” On “The Last of Us,” Lynskey played Kathleen, a terrifying rebel leader Joel and Ellie came across during their travels. We’re scared of both of these characters, but we root — always — for Melanie Lynskey.
More to come.
