Emmys 2021 live updates: Winners, speeches and highlights

A handful of big shows have dominated today’s Emmys - but one acclaimed series just broke all the records. Here’s how it all unfolded.

The Crown, Mare of Easttown, Hacks and Ted Lasso are the big winners at this year’s 73rd Emmy Awards, with The Crown winning every single award in the drama category - the first time that’s ever been done.

Before that came the red carpet: Check out our coverage of all the best and worst celeb looks. And we’re also keeping track of every single winner as they’re announced today.

Here are all the highlights from the ceremony itself:

The Crown sweeps the Emmys

Gillian Anderson scores an Emmy for The Crown.

It’s a record-breaking clean sweep of wins for The Crown, the first drama series to win in every category it was nominated in (Schitt’s Creek achieved the feat last year for comedy, and Angels in America did it back in 2004 for limited series).

Olivia Colman wins the award for Best Actress in a Drama for her work as Queen Elizabeth, and she’s immediately teary during her brief speech: “I wish my dad was here for this. I lost my dad during Covid,” she reveals. Josh O’Connor wins Lead Actor in a Drama for playing Prince Charles, and calls the show “the most rewarding two years of my life.”

Olivia Colman wins Best Actress, Drama.

The Crown also wins the night’s two first behind-the-scenes gongs, for Writing and Directing.

Gillian Anderson – looking absolutely gorgeous – also wins Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for playing UK PM Margaret Thatcher in the series. Tobias Menzies wins Best Support Actor for his portrayal of Prince Philip in the show – meaning Michael K. Williams, who died on September 6, loses out on a posthumous Emmy in the same category for his role in Lovecraft Country.

The other big show awards go to Ted Lasso for Outstanding Comedy Series, and The Queen’s Gambit for Best Limited Series.

Kate Winslet wins for Mare

Kate Winslet wins Best Actress in a Limited Series.

She faced stiff competition in her category, but of course Kate Winslet wins Lead Actress in a Limited Series for Mare of Easttown - it’s perhaps the most talked-about performance of the past year. “It was a cultural moment - it gave people something to talk about other than the pandemic,” she notes. She thanks “my husband, Ned, who I get to hold hands with for the rest of my life. Yes! I am the winner!”

Julianne Nicholson wins Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for her incredible work as Lori in the series. Evan Peters wins the male equivalent award, also for Mare of Easttown – he played Detective Zabel. His biggest shout out: “Thanks to Kate Winslet for being KATE WINSLET!” You can’t argue with that.

But after all those acting wins, Mare of Easttown surprisingly doesn’t win Best Limited Series - that goes to The Queen’s Gambit, which also wins for Best Director (more on that controversial speech below).

Emmy winner’s moving speech

One of the night’s biggest cheers was reserved for a surprise reunion from last year’s big winners, the cast of the beloved comedy Schitt’s Creek, which wrapped in April last year after six seasons. Check ‘em out, looking like superheroes in their block-coloured outfits:

The cast of Schitt’s Creek.

After a very funny (and believable) bit from the cast pretending the teleprompter’s not working, they present the award for best writing in a comedy – to Hacks, and best directing in a comedy – also to Hacks!

The wonderful Jean Smart wins Best Lead Actress in a Comedy for her starring role in Hacks.

She basks in a standing ovation, then delivers an emotional tribute to her late husband, actor Richard Gilliland, who died suddenly earlier this year at the age of 71. She reveals on-stage that yesterday marks six months since his death: “I would not be here if it wasn’t for him putting his career on the backburner,” she says. Of Hacks, she says “I read it and said ‘I have to do this.’”

Jean Smart wins Best Lead Actress in a Comedy.

Lead actor in a Comedy Series is presented by Jennifer Coolidge, who’s had a hell of year thanks to her scene-stealing role in White Lotus. “This is such an honour,” she says, which earns a giant laugh – because she’s Jennifer Coolidge and everything she says is funny. She congratulates the nominees for “overcoming the incredible handicap in this business of being men,” before giving the award to Jason Sudeikis for Ted Lasso.

One notable omission in Sudeikis’ speech: ex-partner of almost a decade Olivia Wilde, who he split with in November last year. He did thank her at the Critics Choice Awards in March, a few months after they’d split.

Legend tells the Emmys who’s boss

Debbie Allen: "Turn that clock off."

They’ve been very trigger-happy with the wind-up music at this Emmys, with several award winners noting that they’re being asked to stop their speeches mere seconds after they’d started.

Not so Hollywood legend Debbie Allen, the first black female recipient of the Governors Award for her contributions to television – thirty seconds into her speech, she dismissively waves at the cameras, telling them to “turn that clock off; I ain’t paying it no mind.”

One award later, Queen’s Gambit director Scott Frank wages a one-man war against the wind-up music, repeatedly demanding it be turned off as he reads a two-page long speech. Three times the music swells again, the producers trying to drown him out as he tells them to quit it: “Seriously, turn it off.”

It’s... uncomfortable.

you really need to have a requisite level of charisma to pull off cutting off the cutoff music

— Paul McCallion (@OrangePaulp) September 20, 2021

still reeling from that man reading a college application supplemental essay

— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) September 20, 2021

The incredible Michaela Coel wins Best Writing in a Limited Series next for her jaw-dropping series I May Destroy You and shows how you do a powerful, succinct speech, dedicating her award to “every single survivor of sexual assault.”

Seth roasts the show

Seth wondered how Covid-safe the whole thing was.

The night’s first presenter Seth Rogen has a few questions about the Covid safety plan. Rogen first points out that “there’s way too many of us in this room right now! They said this was outside – they lied! We’re hermetically sealed in here – why is there a roof? I would not have come to this!”

Rogen jokes they have to worry about “keeping Eugene Levy alive” and notes that he’s “gone from wiping down my groceries to having Paul Bettany sneeze in my salad.”

Elsewhere, host Cedric the Entertainer said, “We had to vaxxed to come here. I got vaxxed. I did not have a reaction like Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend. I got Pfizer because I’m bougie. Pfizer, that’s the Neiman Marcus of vaccines, Moderna, that’s Macy’s. Johnson & Johnson, that’s TJ Maxx.”

Ted Lasso stars’ hilarious speeches

Hannah Waddingham couldn’t believe her luck.

Rogen presents the award for Best Supporting Comedy Actress to Hannah Waddingham for Ted Lasso. The British actress lets out a massive scream before her first words: “Jesus Christ on a bike!” It’s a hilarious, high-energy speech punctuated by screams of disbelief and joy. Can we give her a gong at the top of every award show?

Brett Goldstein wins Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, also for Ted Lasso. “I was specifically told I’m not allowed to swear, so this speech is going to be f**king short,” he quips.

Originally published as Emmys 2021 live updates: Winners, speeches and highlights