There’s never been an Emmy season quite like this one and it’s safe to say there’s never been a program quite like “Watchmen,” which garnered more Emmy nominations than any other program when the nods were announced for the 72nd annual edition of the awards show scheduled for September 20 on ABC.
In its opening scenes, “Watchmen” brought to light a sordid chapter of American history that was not previously well-known, the 1921 massacre of 26 Black people by white residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The nominations also made history on a number of fronts. Netflix scored a record 160 nominations compared to HBO’s 107 which included 26 for “Watchmen.” For 17 years, until 2018, HBO always held the record for the most number of nods.
With the final season of “Game of Thrones” last year, the premium cabler again topped the nominations list. But this year Netflix topped the numbers with shows including “The Crown.” “Ozark,” “Hollywood,” and “Unorthodox.” Its buzzy docu-series “Tiger King,” which dominated pop-culture conversations during the first part of the coronavirus pandemic, even scored a few.
This was also the first year that new streaming players entered the Emmy fray. Breakout Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian,” adored for its Baby Yoda character– although he is ineligible for an acting award—snagged an impressive 15 nominations including one for drama series.
Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” also scored for the new platform in its first-ever Emmy eligibility, contributing eight nominations to a total of 18.
New entrant Quibi, which stands for “quick bites,” also made its Emmy race debut with 10 nods for its short-form programming.
Amazon Prime’s acclaimed comedy “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” garnered 20 nominations, second only to those heaped on “Watchmen.” Nearly all of the key cast and guest stars were nominated including Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Bornstein, Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, Sterling K. Brown and Wanda Sykes.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” represented 10 of Hulu’s 26 nominations and the streamer’s limited series “Little Fires Everywhere” also contributed five. “Little Fires Everywhere” vies in the ultra-competitive limited series category against “Watchmen,” “Unorthodox,” “Unbelievable” and FX’s “Mrs. America.”
Pundits are already parsing for diversity, and this year’s crop of nominations represents an improvement, with Black actors earning 33% of the nominations. Yet representation is still slim for Latinx, Asian and Native American thesps.
Here are the nominees in the top categories:
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, black-ish
Don Cheadle, Black Monday
Ted Danson, The Good Place
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Ramy Youssef, Ramy
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Christina Applegate, Dead to Me
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me
Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This is Us
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
Brian Cox, Succession
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
Olivia Colman, The Crown
Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Laura Linney, Ozark
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Zendaya, Euphoria
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Laura Dern, Big Little Lies
Julia Garner, Ozark
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Sarah Snook, Succession
Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Nicholas Braun, Succession
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Jeffery Wright, Westworld
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek
Yvonne Orji, Insecure
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Mahershala Ali, Ramy
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
William Jackson Harper, The Good Place
Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much is True
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America
Toni Collette, Unbelievable
Margo Martindale, Mrs. America
Jean Smart, Watchmen
Holland Taylor, Hollywood
Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen
Jovan Adepo, Watchmen
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs. the Reverend
Louis Gossett Jr., Watchmen
Dylan McDermott, Hollywood
Jim Parsons, Hollywood
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman, The Outsider
Ron Cephas Jones, This is Us
James Cromwell, Succession
Giancarlo Esposito, The Mandalorian
Andrew Scott, Black Mirror
Martin Short, The Morning Show
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
Alexis Biedel, The Handmaid’s Tale
Laverne Cox, Orange is the New Black
Cherry Jones, Succession
Phylicia Rashad, This is Us
Cicely Tyson, How to Get Away With Murder
Harriet Walter, Succession
Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Angela Bassett, A Black Lady Sketch Show
Bette Midler, The Politician
Maya Rudolph, The Good Place
Maya Rudolph, Saturday Night Live
Wanda Sykes, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
Adam Driver, Saturday Night Live
Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Eddie Murphy, Saturday Night Live
Dev Patel, Modern Love
Brad Pitt, Saturday Night Live
Fred Willard, Modern Family
Outstanding Limited Series
Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen
Outstanding Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek
What We Do in the Shadows
Outstanding Drama Series
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession
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 Show with Stephen Colbert
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Drunk History
Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Competition Program
The Masked Singer
Nailed It!
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice
PROGRAMS WITH 10+ NOMINATIONS
| Watchmen | 26 |
| The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | 20 |
| Ozark | 18 |
| Succession | 18 |
| The Mandalorian | 15 |
| Saturday Night Live | 15 |
| Schitt’s Creek | 15 |
| The Crown | 13 |
| Hollywood | 12 |
| Westworld | 11 |
| The Handmaid’s Tale | 10 |
| Mrs. America | 10 |
| RuPaul’s Drag Race | 10 |
PLATFORM NOMINATIONS 2019 & 2020
| Netflix | 118 | 160 |
| HBO | 137 | 107 |
| NBC | 58 | 47 |
| ABC | 26 | 36 |
| FX | 32 | 33 |
| Prime Video | 47 | 30 |
| Hulu | 20 | 26 |
| CBS | 43 | 23 |
| Disney+ | N/A | 19 |
| Apple TV+ | N/A | 18 |
| Pop TV | 4 | 16 |
| Fox | 18 | 15 |
| VH1 | 14 | 13 |
| BBC America | 9 | 10 |
| Comedy Central | 8 | 10 |
| Quibi | N/A | 10 |
