More Emmys: TV academy reverses awards plan as more miniseries hit screens

A TV miniseries and movie comeback will mean more Emmy Awards than expected this year.

Top of the Lake David Wenham Elisabeth Moss

A TV miniseries and movie comeback will mean more Emmy Awards than expected this year.

The TV academy's board of governors said it's reversing its 2012 decision to combine lead and supporting acting honors for such projects.

In a statement, the board said that because of the "unanticipated resurgence" of TV miniseries and movies, it had voted to reinstate the separate acting categories.

The board was swayed by a rich field of potential contenders, including Elisabeth Moss, David Wenham, Holly Hunter in Sundance Channel's Top of the Lake and Ben Whishaw and Dominic West in BBC America's The Hour. The decision overturned the consolidation that was to go into effect at this year's 65th annual Emmy Awards ceremony.

That means instead of the two planned longform acting awards there will be four: best actress and actor and best supporting actress and actor for a miniseries or movie.

At last year's Emmys, both Kevin Costner and Tom Berenger collected trophies for Hatfields & McCoys, with lead acting honors for Costner and a supporting award for Berenger.

Such an outcome for this year's contenders would have been impossible if the TV academy hadn't reversed course. The result would have been the same for Julianne Moore, who claimed the best actress award for Game Change, and Jessica Lange, the supporting actress winner for American Horror Story.

The awards will be held Sept. 22.