Emmy nominations revealed: Biggest snubs and surprises
This year’s Emmy nominations are out, and there are a few big snubs and surprises – especially for TV A-lister Reese Witherspoon.
Nominations for the 2020 Emmy Awards were announced overnight and, as always, there were some major snubs and delightful surprises.
While the full Emmys nominations list included favourites like Watchmen and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, it was also full of surprises.
Disney+’s The Mandalorian nabbed 15 nominations, including one for Best Drama Series, while major star Reese Witherspoon was roundly snubbed out of acting nominations for Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere, and The Morning Show. In fact, many of the acting categories seemed to honour fresh faces over stalwart awards favourites.
RELATED: 2019 Emmys – what it got right and wrong
Former Saturday Night Live star Leslie Jones hosted the nominations for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards with some socially distant help from Laverne Cox, Josh Gad, and Tatiana Maslany. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel leads the comedy categories with 20 nominations, while Succession and Ozark look poised for a showdown in the Drama categories.
Elsewhere, HBO’s Watchmen - which streams on Binge - took home 26 nods, the most nominations of any show this year.
That’s the good news, but what failed to attract the attention of Emmy voters this year? Past Emmy favourites Pose and Big Little Lies were locked out of the Best Drama category. Elisabeth Moss didn’t get a nomination for The Handmaid’s Tale – instead making room for the likes of Euphoria star Zendaya – and Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn were both denied nominations.
So what were the biggest snubs and surprises of the 2020 Emmy nominations? Here’s what you should be mad about and what’s worth celebrating.
New to Binge? Get your two week free trial. Sign up at binge.com.au
BIGGEST SNUBS OF THE 2020 EMMYS
While there’s no such thing as a 100 per cent “sure thing” when it comes to awards nominations, several omissions this year are sure to raise eyebrows – especially in the acting categories.
For years, Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk has been a favourite of Emmy voters, making his absence from the Best Drama Actor category rather stunning.
Perhaps more gutting to Saul fans, though, is the fact that the sterling Rhea Seehorn failed to make the Best Supporting Actress list. This last season was a big one for her character, Kim Wexler, and voters only have one season left of the series to throw nominations her way.
While it doesn’t come as too much of a shocker that Apple TV+’s The Morning Show roped in a number of nominations for its superstar cast, one big name was shunned by the Academy: Reese Witherspoon. Not only did Witherspoon fail to earn a nomination for The Morning Show, but she was also shut out for both Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere. (Though as an executive producer, Witherspoon should be happy. All three shows earned nominations.)
RELATED: Michelle Williams gives ‘best Emmys speech ever’
Speaking of Big Little Lies … The show was an Emmys darling when it was a limited series, but only earned five nods in its second season. Two of those were for Laura Dern and Meryl Streep in the Best Supporting Actress race. The fact that Emmy voters cooled on the hit show when it made its leap to an ongoing series might give Witherspoon and other big name producers pause next time they want to push a popular limited series further. The problem is two-fold. A near-perfect season of TV is hard to follow and it’s becoming increasingly popular for big name stars to dip into a prestige limited series … meaning it’s harder to impress with just star power alone.
Two of the biggest snubs have got to be The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elisabeth Moss and Netflix’s Unbelievable. While Unbelievable earned an honour for Best Limited Series, its stars Kaitlyn Dever and Merritt Wever were both expected to earn nominations in the Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie category. They were seemingly edged out by two other Netflix stars, Octavia Spencer and Shira Haas.
As for Elisabeth Moss? Considered one of the most talented actresses in the history of television, Moss has just about owned real estate in the Best Drama Actress category since the inception of The Handmaid’s Tale. However, her absence from the category gave room for some younger stars to shine …
BIGGEST SURPRISES OF THE 2020 EMMYS
We all loved “Baby Yoda,” but it turns out Emmy voters really loved The Mandalorian. Disney+’s first major television show racked up 15 nominations, including one for Best Drama Series. Though the majority of those were in technical categories – and deservedly so – The Mandalorian’s very appearance in the Best Drama category might have been a shock to some. (Especially Pose fans.)
Other shows that edged into major categories include What We Do In The Shadows, which has been something of a cult hit and critics darling, and the aforementioned Unorthodox. Netflix’s limited series took a spot in the Limited Series race many prognosticators thought might go to Normal People, I Know This Much Is True, Hollywood, or The Plot Against America. That, coupled with Haas’s nomination, suggest voters might be more bullish on the series than experts assumed.
RELATED: ‘No one thought’ I deserved Emmy, says Ugly Betty star
But the biggest and most welcome surprises came in the major acting categories. Euphoria star Zendaya earned her first nomination for Best Actress in a Drama while Hollywood standout Jeremy Pope and Normal People heart-throb Paul Mescal both wound up in the Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie race, against titans like Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Jackman, and Jeremy Irons.
Maybe the best surprise of the day was seeing a marked amount of diversity in the nominations. This year, BPOC performers were represented in every single acting category. As Frank Sherma, the chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, touched upon in his opening remarks, 2020 has been a year of massive cultural change. The pandemic aside, there has been an urgent call to address systemic racism on a mass scale … It’s something that looks to be reflected in the nominees for this year’s Emmys.
The 72nd Emmy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and will stream exclusively on Foxtel in Australia on Monday, September 21.
FULL LIST OF NOMINEES
Outstanding drama series:
Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
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 lead actor in a drama series:
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Billy Porter, Pose
Jeremy Strong, Succession
Brian Cox, Succession
Steve Carell, The Morning Show
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 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 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 variety/talk series:
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
Jimmy Kimmel Live
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
Outstanding reality/competition program:
RuPaul’s Drag Race
The Voice
Nailed It
Top Chef
The Masked Singer
Outstanding variety sketch series:
A Black Lady Sketch Show
Drunk History
Saturday Night Live
Outstanding limited series:
Watchmen
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Little Fires Everywhere
Unorthodox
Outstanding lead actor in a limited series or movie:
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie:
Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Regina King, Watchmen
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Octavia Spencer, Self-Made
Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series:
Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
Mark Duplass, The Morning Show
Nicholas Braun, Succession
Kieran Culkin, Succession
Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
Jeffrey Wright, Westworld
Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series:
Laura Dern, Big Little Lies
Meryl Streep, Big Little Lies
Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown
Samira Wiley, The Handmaid’s Tale
Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve
Julia Garner, Ozark
Sarah Snook, Succession
Thandie Newton, Westworld
Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series:
Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
William Jackson Harper, The Good Place
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Mahershala Ali, Ramy
Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live
Dan Levy, Schitt’s Creek
Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series:
Betty Gilpin, GLOW
D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Yvonne Orji, Insecure
Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live
Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek
Outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or movie:
Dylan McDermott, Hollywood
Jim Parsons, Hollywood
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs. The Reverend
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Watchmen
Jovan Adepo, Watchmen
Louis Gossett Jr, Watchmen
Outstanding supporting actress in a limited series or movie:
Holland Taylor, Hollywood
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America
Margo Martindale, Mrs. America
Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America
Toni Collette, Unbelievable
Jean Smart, Watchmen
This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission
Netflix hit cleans up at Emmys
Hit shows like The Crown, The Bear and Hacks were all up for major awards, but one Netflix hit was a complete standout.
TV stars stun on Emmys red carpet
There were some wild looks on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards in LA – here’s our coverage of all the best celeb outfits.
’F**k you’: Emmy winner loses it on stage
This year’s Emmys saw a big Aussie win and TV host John Oliver turning on the show’s producers during his acceptance speech.