“Succession” has done what only two dramas before it have done: successfully sweep the top four guilds in the same calendar year.
The road to the history books started in late February when “Succession,” which follows the messy and complicated Roy family led by patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), took home the Screen Actors Guild Award for drama ensemble on its first nomination. It quickly followed that up with the Directors Guild of America Award for dramatic series directing, which went to Mark Mylod (who is also an executive producer on the show) for helming the game-changing Season 3 finale, “All the Bells Say.” Of course, “Succession” was always going home a winner at the latter since the series swept the nominations, earning five bids in a historic first for the DGA.
This weekend, the Jesse Armstrong-created series completed its sweep of the four major guilds when it picked up victories at both the Producers Guild of America Awards and the Writers Guild of America Awards. At the former on Saturday, “Succession” beat out Netflix’s popular Korean import “Squid Game,” as well as Hulu’s dystopian drama “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Paramount’s Western “Yellowstone” and Apple TV+’s media-centric “The Morning Show” for the drama series prize. On Sunday, the show took home the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series, topping “The Morning Show” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” yet again. Also nominated in the category were Showtime’s breakout hit “Yellowjackets” and Disney+’s Marvel drama “Loki.” And if that’s not enough, it also won Best Episodic Drama for “Retired Janitors of Idaho,” written by Tony Roche & Susan Soon He Stanton, aka the imaginary dead cat episode.
“Succession” is just the third show in history to sweep the SAG, PGA, DGA and WGA Awards in the same year. AMC’s excellent period drama “Mad Men” was the first to do it, completing the feat during the 2010 ceremonies for primarily its third season (PGA used to employ a June-May eligibility cycle before switching to the calendar year five years ago). After the show won the respective SAG and PGA awards, Lesli Linka Glatter snagged the DGA Award for helming “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency.” The series then took home the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series, a category introduced in 2006. Four years later, during the 2014 ceremonies, “Mad Men’s” equally acclaimed network sibling “Breaking Bad” became the second show to sweep. After the show won its first SAG and PGA awards back to back in late January, series creator Vince Gilligan won the DGA Award for directing the series finale, titled “Felina.” The show then closed out the sweep by winning its third straight WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series.
Until “Succession,” no other series had even come close to completing the sweep, not even Netflix’s acclaimed royal drama “The Crown,” which is ineligible at DGA.
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