Long may he reign! Peter Dinklage just became the biggest all-time Best Drama Supporting Actor champ at the Emmys thanks to his fourth win for playing the charismatic and witty Tyrion Lannister on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” Before tonight he had won for the show’s first season in 2011, its fifth in 2015, and its seventh in 2018. After his third win last year he was tied with three-time champ Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad,” 2010, 2012, 2014) as the most awarded individual in this category, but now Dinklage has that title all to himself. Check out the complete list of Emmy winners here.
In his race, Dinklage beat two of his co-stars — Alfie Allen and his TV brother Nikolaj Coster-Waldau — plus Jonathan Banks and Giancarlo Esposito for the fourth season of “Better Call Saul,” Michael Kelly for the sixth and final season of “House of Cards” and Chris Sullivan for the third season of “This Is Us.” But we saw this win coming from a mile away: Dinklage was the runaway favorite in our combined Emmy predictions all season long and had impressive 9/2 odds leading into Emmy night.
With three wins already under his belt, it seemed like a safe bet that he’d be able to pull off a fourth since voters have consistently shown their support for him — even when we weren’t expecting it, like in 2015 or even last year. In addition, this was the last chance to crown him for playing a character that hit the zeitgeist in such a profound way.
And of all the actors in the final season, Dinklage received some of the most screen time and juiciest material, specifically in the series closer “The Iron Throne,” which he submitted for consideration to Emmy voters. In it, Tyrion resigned as Daenerys’s (Emilia Clarke) Hand following her obliteration of King’s Landing, and was therefore confined to a cell by the merciless queen. After she was then killed by Jon (Kit Harington), Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) was appointed the new King of the Six Kingdoms and asked Tyrion to serve as his Hand. We last see Tyrion with Bran’s small council, forging plans for the reconstruction of Westeros.
This is just one of many records that Dinklage set for this role. He’s also the most nominated performer in the Best Drama Supporting Actor category with eight bids for all of “Thrones’s” eight seasons. That also makes him the only “Thrones” cast member to have been nominated for every season of the show. And since he was yet again the show’s only acting win this year, he remains the lone cast member to have ever taken home an Emmy statuette.
