‘Game of Thrones’ leads Emmys field with 22 nominations

LOS ANGELES, USA –  HBO’s fantasy epic Game of Thrones led the field for television’s prestigious Primetime Emmy awards on Thursday, July 12 with a whopping 22 nominations, including one for best drama series.

The show about noble families vying for the Iron Throne faces tough competition from perennial favorite comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live and HBO stablemate Westworld with 21 nominations each.

Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale – which won the award for best drama series last year – earned 20 nods.

The Assassination of Gianni Versace, one of the few serious contenders this year that can claim to be entirely new, picked up an impressive 18 nominations.

Part of FX’s American Crime Story strand from the mind of Emmys mainstay Ryan Murphy, it is the follow-up to the acclaimed The People v. O. J. Simpson (2016).

The series had been expected to dominate the acting races among the limited series and TV movies – and indeed it did, with Darren Criss, Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin all nominated.

HBO awards darling Veep was ineligible this year and its crown passed to Atlanta, the FX comedy created by and starring Donald Glover, which amassed 16 nods.

Samira Wiley, nominated for guest actress in The Handmaid’s Tale, and Ryan Eggold New Amsterdam presented the nominations from the Television Academy in Los Angeles.

Leading the nominations in totals by platform were Netflix (112), leapfrogging last year’s leader HBO, which scored 108. Adrift in third was NBC with 78 nods.

The awards will be broadcast on  September 17 in the US. 

Here’s the list: 

Outstanding Drama Series

• Game of Thrones
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• This Is Us
• Westworld
• The Americans
• The Crown
• Stranger Things

Outstanding Comedy

• Atlanta
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Black-ish
• Silicon Valley
• Curb Your Enthusiasm
• Glow
• Barry
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Outstanding Comedy Actress

• Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish
• Rachel Brosnahan,  The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Allison Janney, Mom
• Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
• Pamela Adlon, Better Things
• Issa Rae, Insecure

Outstanding Comedy Actor

• Donald Glover, Atlanta
• Bill Hader, Barry
• Anthony Anderson, Black-ish
• Ted Danson, The Good Place
• William H. Macy, Shameless
• Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm

Outstanding Drama Actress

• Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
• Keri Russell, The Americans
• Evan Rachel Wood, Westworld
• Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
• Claire Foy, The Crown
• Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black

Outstanding Drama Actor

• Sterling K. Brown, This is Us
• Justin Bateman, Ozark
• Ed Harris, Westworld
• Matthew Rhys, The Americans
• Jeffrey Wright, Westworld
• Milo Ventimiglia, This is Us

Best Reality Program

• Project Runway
• RuPaul’s Drag Race
• The Amazing Race
• Top Chef
• The Voice
• American Ninja Warrior

Outstanding Actor, Limited Series

• Antonio Banderas, Genius: Picasso
• Darren Criss, Assassination of Gianni Versace
• Benedict Cumberbatch, Patrick Melrose
• Jeff Daniels, The Looming Tower
• John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar
• Jesse Plemons, Black Mirror

Outstanding Actress, Limited Series

• Jessica Biel,The Sinner
• Laura Dern, The Tale
• Michelle Dockery, Godless
• Edie Falco,The Menendez Murders
• Regina King, Seven Seconds 
• Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Cult

Outstanding Variety Sketch Series

At Home with Amy Sedaris

Drunk History

I Love You America with Sarah Silverman

Portlandia

Saturday Night Live

The Tracey Ullman Show

Outstanding 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 Croden
• The Late Show with Stephen Colber

 Outstanding Limited Series

• The Alienest
• The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
• Genius: PIcasso
• Godless
• Patrick Melrose

– Rappler.com