Nominations for the 71st annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced Tuesday morning, with HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and “Veep” getting their final opportunity to add to their totals.
“Game of Thrones,” which debuted in 2011 and ended its 73-episode run on May 19, has won for outstanding drama series each of the last three years it was eligible. It wasn’t eligible for the 2017 award because its only new episodes airing during the eligibility period were part of the body of work considered for its 2016 victory.
“Veep,” which ended its seven-season run on May 12, won for outstanding comedy series each year from 2015 through 2017. Its final season was delayed to allow star Julia Louis-Dreyfus enough time to recuperate after undergoing chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.
“Game of Thrones” and NBC’s “This Is Us” are the only 2018 outstanding drama series nominees eligible for nominations Tuesday.
“This Is Us” has been nominated each of the past two seasons. The most recent drama from one of the four major broadcast networks to be nominated for at least three consecutive years was the ABC mystery “Lost,” from 2008 to 2010.
A series from the major broadcast networks has not won outstanding drama series honors since Fox’s “24” in 2006.
HBO’s “Succession” and FX’s “Pose” were both among the Writers Guild Awards nominees for outstanding new series and are among the contenders for outstanding drama series nominations, as is AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” a nominee from 2015-17 but not eligible in 2018 because its season began after the eligibility period.
Another contender is the CBS All Access legal drama “The Good Fight,” which could benefit from having a higher profile among Television Academy members after its 2017 season episodes aired on CBS in June and July, including two one day before the deadline to submit ballots for the nominations for the 2019 Primetime Emmys.
The second season of the BBC America spy thriller “Killing Eve” is another contender. It won for best drama series at the British Academy Television Awards in May. Its star, Sandra Oh, won the outstanding lead actress in a drama series Emmy in 2018.
Netflix’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” was last year’s outstanding comedy series Emmy winner and is likely to be among the seven nominees in the category this time around.
Since receiving the outstanding comedy series Emmy, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series at the SAG Awards, was among the 10 winners (and four comedies) selected as the television program of the year by the American Film Institute, won the Writers Guild Award for comedy series, and its producers won for outstanding producer of episodic television, comedy.
Last year’s other nominees who are also contenders for this season are HBO’s “Barry,” ABC’s “black-ish” and two other Netflix series, “GLOW” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Of the five eligible 2017 nominees, four also received nominations in 2018. The exception was “Modern Family,” which saw its eight-season nomination streak end in 2018.
Other contenders for nominations include Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method,” NBC’s “The Good Place” and Amazon Video’s “Fleabag.”
CBS’ “The Amazing Race” is expected to again be among the nominees for outstanding reality-competition program. It has been nominated each of the preceding 17 years the category has been in existence. It won each of the first seven years, and again in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
The nominees have been identical the past two years — NBC’s “American Ninja Warrior” and “The Voice”; `The Amazing Race”, Lifetime’s “Project Runway”; VH1’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race”; and Bravo’s “Top Chef.”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” won in 2018 and “The Voice” in 2017.
The biggest rule changes this year are the addition of a new category, outstanding music composition for a documentary series or special, restructuring the outstanding choreography category to two categories and setting a minimum running time of 75 minutes for a made-for-television movie seeking Emmy consideration.
There will be two choreography categories — outstanding choreography for variety and reality programming and outstanding choreography for scripted programming.
The changes increase the number of Emmy categories to 124.
More than 9,100 submissions were made for consideration for a nomination, a record, according to the Television Academy.
Ken Jeong, a panelist on Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” and D’Arcy Carden, who portrays Janet, a programmed guide on “The Good Place,” will join Television Academy Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma and President and COO Maury McIntyre in announcing the nominees in the top categories at the Television Academy’s North Hollywood headquarters.
Both Jeong and Carden are candidates for Emmy nominations — Jeong for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series for an appearance on the canceled ABC series “The Kids Are Alright” and Carden for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series.
The 71st annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which honor programming initially airing between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m. between June 1, 2018, andMay 31, 2019, will be presented Sept. 22 at the Microsoft Theater and air on Fox.
The bulk of the awards from the Primetime Emmys will be presented at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards Sept. 14-15, also at the Microsoft Theater.