“Succession” cleared the first hurdle Wednesday in its quest to go out on top — capturing the most nominations for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards with 27, followed by “The Last of Us” with 24, “The White Lotus” with 23 and “Ted Lasso” with 21.
“Succession,” the HBO series about a well-to-do family that owns a global media company, which ended its four-season run May 28, was nominated for outstanding drama series for a fourth time, having won twice before.
In the major categories, it also received three nominations for lead actor in a drama series — for Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong — along with a nod for lead actress in a drama series for Sarah Snook.
Other series nominated in the drama series category were “Stars Wars: Andor”; “Better Call Saul”; “The Crown”; “Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon”; “The Last of Us”; “The White Lotus” and “Yellowjackets.”
In the lead actor/drama series category, besides the three “Succession” nods, nominations went to Jeff Bridges for “The Old Man”; Bob Odenkirk for “Better Call Saul”; and Pedro Pascal for “The Last Of Us.”
Joining Snook in the competition for lead actress in a drama were Sharon Horgan for “Bad Sisters”; Melanie Lynskey for “Yellowjackets”; Elisabeth Moss for “The Handmaid’s Tale”; Bella Ramsey for “The Last Of Us”; and Keri Russell for “The Diplomat.”
Nominated for outstanding comedy series were “Abbott Elementary”; “Barry”; “The Bear”; “Jury Duty”; “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; “Only Murders in the Building”; “Ted Lasso” and “Wednesday.”
Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” the outstanding comedy series winner each of the past two years, is now in position for three in a row for its third and likely final season.
In addition, “Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis pulled in another nomination for lead actor in a comedy, joining Bill Hader for “Barry”; Jason Segel for “Shrinking”; Martin Short for “Only Murders In The Building” and Jeremy Allen White for “The Bear.”
Lead actress nods for a comedy series went to Christina Applegate for “Dead To Me”; Rachel Brosnahan for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”; Quinta Brunson for “Abbott Elementary”; Natasha Lyonne for “Poker Face” and Jenna Ortega for “Wednesday.”
Among surprise snubs, Steve Martin came up empty in the lead actor/comedy category for “Only Murders,” as did co-star Selena Gomez for lead actress/comedy.
Other notable snubs included Harrison Ford (twice) — for the Apple TV+ comedy “Shrinking” and the Paramount+ drama “1923” — and Kevin Costner for lead actor/drama for “Yellowstone.” In fact, “Yellowstone,” one of TV’s most-watched programs, though not an Emmy magnet, failed to capture a single nomination this year.
In the category of best limited or anthology series, nominations went to “Beef” and “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, both on Netflix; Prime Video’s “Daisy Jones & The Six”; FX’s “Fleishman Is In Trouble” and Disney+’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
Of last year’s nominees in the drama series category, two others were eligible to be nominated again this year — the AMC legal crime drama “Better Call Saul,” which ended its run Aug. 15, and “Yellowjackets,” the Showtime series about a New Jersey high school soccer team whose flight bound for a national tournament in 1996 in Seattle crashes in the Canadian wilderness.
The 2021 winner, “The Crown,” was again eligible for a nomination after not releasing any new episodes during last year’s eligibility period. The Netflix drama about the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II was nominated in each of its first four seasons.
“The White Lotus,” took its nomination in the drama series category after winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series and the Producers Guild Award for outstanding producer of episodic television, drama — those ceremonies’ versions of the outstanding drama series award.
The shift of the outstanding game show category to the Primetime Emmys has promoted the renaming of the outstanding competition series category to outstanding reality competition program in an attempt to avoid confusion.
This year’s nominees in that new category were CBS’ “The Amazing Race”; MTV’s “Ru Paul’s Drag Race”; CBS’ “Survivor”; Bravo’s “Top Chef” and NBC’s “The Voice.”
Emmy-nominated actress Yvette Nicole Brown and Television Academy Chair Frank Scherma announced the nominations at a virtual ceremony Tuesday morning.
Brown received an outstanding guest actress in a comedy series nomination in 2021 for her portrayal of Judge Harper on HBO’s “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” a role which was again submitted for consideration for a nomination this season.
The 75th annual Primetime Emmy Awards are scheduled to be presented Sept. 18. The bulk of the awards will be presented at the Creative Arts Emmys planned for Sept 9-10. Those awards are mainly in technical categories, such as picture editing, costuming, hairstyling, makeup and sound, but also include awards for guest acting.
All three ceremonies are in danger of being postponed because of the Writers Guild of America strike, and would also be threatened if the SAG-AFTRA actors union goes on strike.
The Daytime Emmy Awards ceremonies, which were scheduled for June in downtown Los Angeles, were postponed in May because of the writers strike. New dates have not been announced.