Emmy nominations 2021: Australian actor Yvonne Strahovski, Oprah and Friends among nominees

The stars of Friends received a string of surprise Emmy nods, as The Crown and Meghan Markle and Prince Harry tell-all were nominated.

The Handmaid’s Tale star Yvonne Strahovski is only Australian actor to be nominated for an Emmy this year, with Nicole Kidman and Joel Edgerton missing out.

Strahovski will compete against her The Handmaid’s Tale co-stars Samira Wiley and Ann Dowd, and The Crown’s Gillian Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter and Emerald Fennell, in the Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.

Kidman – who had been tipped for a Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie nomination for her critically-acclaimed role in The Undoing – was a shock omission.

Sydney-based actor Edgerton, who starred in The Underground Railroad, also missed out.

Royal drama The Crown and Disney+’s Star Wars series The Mandalorian tied for the most Emmy nominations – they are up for 24 awards each – announced in Los Angeles.

Australian actor Yvonne Strahovski is nominated for an Emmy for her role in The Handmaid’s Tale. Picture: Getty Images

Sharing the screen with Elisabeth Moss in a scene from the chilling series, The Handmaid's Tale.

Oprah Winfrey’s tell-all with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, which made headlines worldwide and caused a major scandal for the Royal Family, is nominated for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series Or Special.

Winfrey will compete against My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy, United Shades Of America With W. Kamau Bell and Vice in the category.

Meantime, The Crown’s stars Emma Corrin as Princess Diana, Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles, and Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher are nominated in the performance categories.

Disney’s new streaming service topped the prestigious limited series category, where Marvel superhero spin-off WandaVision earned 23 nominations.

Netflix’s The Crown, starring Emma Corrin as Princess Diana, tied for the most Emmy nominations this year, up for 24 awards. Picture: Netflix

Emmy nominee Emma Corrin as Princess Diana with Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles in a scene from Netflix’s The Crown. Picture: Netflix

I May Destroy You, the groundbreaking HBO and BBC series about sexual assault, received nine Emmy nominations including Lead Actress, Limited Series, Movie or Anthology, for creator and star Michaela Coel.

This is the British actor and writer’s first Emmy nomination, in a year that she was also recognised in the categories of best director and writer for a limited series.

Apple TV+ leads the comedy categories with Ted Lasso on 20, while NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live has 21 nods.

Emmy nominee Michaela Coel of I May Destroy You. Picture: Getty Images

Michaela Coel in a scene from the Emmy nominated miniseries, I May Destroy You.

Courteney Cox, left, was famously the one Friends star never nominated for an Emmy during the wildly popular sitcom's original run. Picture: AFP

Friends: The Reunion scored four nominations inlcluding Outstanding Variety Special, with the sit-com’s stars including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Matthew Perry serving as executive producers. It means Cox has finally received an Emmy nod, being the only cast member in the show’s history to have been snubbed previously.

In other notable nominations, Framing Britney Spears – a bombshell documentary about the pop singer’s conservatorship case – is up for Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Special.

The 73rd Emmy Awards will be handed out at an in-real-life ceremony in Los Angeles on September 19.

The awards show – set to feature a “limited audience of nominees and their guests” – will mark a welcome return to some normality for Hollywood, after last year’s was broadcast from an empty theatre, with winners beaming in via Zoom.