Welp, apparently the Emmys hate Westerns.
The stunning lack of nominations for the popular and acclaimed series “Yellowstone” and “1883” were far from the only surprises in Tuesday morning’s Emmy nominations announcement, of course. Between the return of Emmy juggernaut “Succession” and the lack of previous winners like “The Crown” and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” this year’s race was already primed for some unexpected nominations — and some surprising omissions.
Two shows that weren’t overlooked, however: Season 3 of “Sex Education” and the inaugural season of “Heartstopper.” While both shows earned wide acclaim and major buzz, Netflix elected not to submit either series for Primetime Emmy consideration, given the steep competition they were respectively facing in the comedy and drama categories. Instead, “Sex Education” is being submitted for the upcoming International Emmys, and “Heartstopper” will vie for recognition in the Children’s and Family Emmys. (Meanwhile, the latest “Star Wars” series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and previous best drama nominee “The Boys” were both ineligible for this year’s Emmys.)
Here is Variety‘s assessment of the biggest surprises among the nominees for the 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awards.
“Yellowstone” and “1883” Shut Out of Major Categories
This was thought to be the year of Paramount Network’s “Yellowstone,” which would then extend to its Paramount+ prequel spinoff “1883” in the limited series category. And yet, the Taylor Sheridan-Kevin Costner Western, the most popular scripted series on television (among the networks that publicly release ratings, that is) received literally zero nominations. No Costner for actor, no Kelly Reilly for actress, no Sheridan for anything, and no nominations in below-the-line categories either. It’s honestly a shock! For “1883,” it did receive three below-the-line nominations, two for cinematography, one for music composition.
No Selena Gomez Nomination for “Only Murders in the Building”
While Hulu’s freshman comedy favorite earned a total of 17 nominations, including for leads Steve Martin and Martin Short, their partner in crime-solving Selena Gomez missed out on a nomination for lead actress. Perhaps Emmy voters thought her deadpan, straight-woman delivery was lower on laughs than Short and Martin’s antics — and it is, that’s the point! Without Gomez in their podcasting trio, “Only Murders” would be missing a limb.
Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh Nominated for “Killing Eve” Final Season
The audience and critical consensus about the final season of the once-beloved “Killing Eve” — especially its series finale — was that it was an utter catastrophe. It was thought to be so terrible that even Luke Jennings, who wrote the novellas on which the show was based, repudiated its ending in the Guardian. And yet, Television Academy voters are such habitual creatures that they nominated both Oh and Comer (a surprise winner in the category for the BBC America show’s first season).
“Black-ish” and “This Is Us” Shut Out of Major Categories in Their Final Seasons
Both top nominees in previous seasons, ABC’s “Black-ish” and NBC’s “This Is Us” finished their runs with strong finales that landed the plane with style and grace (and many tears). And yet neither show earned any top nominations at all this year — especially surprising for the career-best work by “This Is Us” star Mandy Moore. “Black-ish” earned nods for contemporary hairstyling and contemporary costumes, while “This Is Us” earned just one nomination for original music and lyrics — for a song co-written by star Moore’s husband, Taylor Goldsmith (with Siddhartha Khosla).
Genre Shows That Aren’t “Stranger Things” Shut Out of Top Categories
Last year, “WandaVision” and “The Boys” led an unprecedented wave of top tier nominations for comic book adaptations, after the back-to-back best drama nods for the first “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” and a historic Emmy win for the HBO limited series “Watchmen.”
This year? “Loki” and “The Book of Boba Fett” missed in the top drama categories, “Hawkeye” and “Peacemaker” couldn’t hit the best comedy target, and “Moon Knight” was shut out of the limited series category. Of those titles, “Loki” arguably had the best shot at a top tier nomination, but its June 2021 premiere meant it was overshadowed by the likes of eventual nominees “Squid Game,” “Yellowjackets” and “Stranger Things.”
The Marvel Studios series did pick up nominations for technical and artisan categories, but none of the shows’ acting, writing or direction earned any Emmy love, and “Peacemaker” only earned a nomination for stunt coordination for a comedy.
Some Unexpected Love for “The Great”
Elle Fanning delivered a nuanced performance this Emmys’ season as the tortured Michelle Carter in the Hulu limited series “The Girl From Plainville,” but it turns out that voters really want to see her in a comedy: She received her first Emmy nomination ever in comedy lead actress for her turn as Catherine the Great in “The Great.” Her scene partner Nicholas Hoult was nominated for lead actor in a comedy for his portrayal as Peter. (The Hulu comedy received four nominations total, for costumes and production design as well.)
No Comedy Series Love for “Cobra Kai”
For its first two seasons — which streamed on YouTube’s now shuttered premium service, YouTube Red — “Cobra Kai” received two nominations in the same category, outstanding stunt coordination in a comedy, in 2018 and 2019. But after moving to Netflix in Season 3 (and beyond), “Cobra Kai” was honored with a coveted (and glorious!) comedy series nomination last year. But even after an excellent fourth this year, “Cobra Kai” wasn’t included in the comedy series category. Perhaps fans should just assume it’s because the wondrous ongoing saga of Johnny (William Zabka) and Daniel (Ralph Macchio) is actually so dramatic that voters feel like it’s in the wrong category. (It did receive the stunt coordination nom again, though — congrats!)
More to come.