Emmy voters embraced all things new this year in the nominations for the 74th annual Emmy Awards. While established series like “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” lead the pack in terms of total nominations, the new crop of contenders certainly held their own, with many comedy and drama series like Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” Apple TV+’s “Severance,” and Netflix’s “Squid Game” racking up double digit bid tallies.
SEE 2022 Emmy nominations report: ‘Succession,’ ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘The White Lotus’ come out on top
“Only Murders in the Building” earned a whopping 17 nominations, which tied it with sophomore series “Hacks” for the second most number of bids for a comedy; “Ted Lasso” leads the pack with 20. The spoof of true crime podcasts netted anticipated noms for Comedy Series, its two lead actors Steve Martin and Martin Short, and guests Jane Lynch and Nathan Lane, all of whom were predicted by our official odds. It over-performed below the line, with two directing nominations, a writing nomination, and key bids for casting, picture editing, and in other categories.
“Abbott Elementary” also outpaced our expectations with seven nominations. It landed in Comedy Series, Lead Actress for Quinta Brunson, and Supporting Actress for Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph just as we suspected, but very few thought Tyler James Williams would (deservedly) sneak into Supporting Actor. The series secured key bids for casting and writing for the pilot script penned by Brunson.
The drama series race has some staggeringly strong new contenders, too. Both freshman series “Severance” and “Squid Game” landed 14 nominations apiece, tying each other for third most behind “Succession” and “Euphoria.”
“Severance” did not air early enough to compete at the winter awards, so it went into the nominations with no precursors to go by, but it certainly hit with voters. It nabbed bids for Drama Series, Lead Actor (Adam Scott), Supporting Actor (John Turturro, Christopher Walken), and Supporting Actress (Patricia Arquette). Our users thought Turturro and Arquette would get in, but underestimated Scott and Walken. Below the line, the show grabbed essential noms for casting, directing, picture editing, and writing, plus other design categories.
SEE 2022 Emmy nominations: 45 most unforgivable snubs include ‘Maid,’ ‘Yellowstone,’ Jennifer Aniston
After a strong showing at the Screen Actors Guild Awards earlier this year, it is no surprise that “Squid Game” did well. We correctly predicted it would get nominated for Drama Series, Actor (Lee Jung-jae), Supporting Actress (Jung Ho-yeon), Supporting Actor (Oh Young-soo), and Guest Actress (Lee Yoo-mi), but it got a surprise bid for Park Hae-soo for supporting actor, too. It also counts cinematography, directing, and writing amongst its most pivotal nominations.
Drama series “Yellowjackets” had a strong showing this morning, too, with seven bids. In addition to its two performer nominations for Melanie Lynskey and Christina Ricci, it landed noms for casting, directing, and two for writing.
Not ever new series received such a warm welcome, though. High profile shows like “The Gilded Age” and “Pachinko” only netted one nomination apiece, the former for production design and the latter for main title design. “Ghosts,” “Our Flag Means Death,” “Reservation Dogs,” the delicious “Julia” were all snubbed entirely.
