'Succession'

Source: Peter Kramer/HBO

‘Succession’

Succession and The White Lotus were the big drama winners at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, with the HBO shows being named best drama series and best limited or anthology series respectively.  

Netflix’s South Korean survival drama series Squid Game brought star Lee Jung-jae and director Hwang Dong-hyuk the first Emmys in their categories for talents from a non-English language show.  

In an awards ceremony offering no major surprises and plenty of honours for British talents, The White Lotus had the biggest Emmy haul overall, with five awards on the night to add to the five Creative Arts Emmys it won last weekend, for a total of 10.  

Squid Game’s two wins on the night left it with six awards overall, the same total as HBO’s Euphoria.  

Ted Lasso won four Emmys on the night for Apple TV+, including a repeat win as best comedy series. Succession, also named best drama when it was last eligible in 2020, added three Emmys, including the drama series writing prize for Jesse Armstrong, to its one Creative Arts award, for a total of four.   

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences did not list wins by network or platform this year, but HBO and HBO Max combined clearly dominated the night, with, by an unofficial count, 12 wins on the night to add to 26 creative awards, for a total of 38. 

Netflix, which had started with 105 nominations this year, trailing HBO/HBO Max’s 140, took three primetime awards to add to its 23 creative wins, for a total of 26.  

Along with Armstrong, British talents taking home Emmy statuettes included Matthew Macfadyen, who added his first Emmy, as drama series supporting actor for Succession, to the Bafta he won in the same category earlier this year.  

Brett Goldstein repeated his Emmy win as comedy series supporting actor for UK-set Ted Lasso, which also brought a comedy series directing award for MJ Delaney.  

Australia’s Murray Bartlett joined the two Squid Game honourees as an international winner, taking the award for supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie for The White Lotus.  

A year after all the Emmys major acting awards had gone to white performers, this year’s ceremony was notably diverse, with Saturday Night Live veteran Kenan Thompson hosting and presenters including Oprah Winfrey. 

Sheryl Lee Ralph’s rousing, partly sung acceptance speech as comedy series best supporting actress for new ABC show Abbott Elementary was the evening’s most emotional moment. Abbott writer Quinta Brunson was another popular winner, and pop star Lizzo, accepting the award for her competition series Watch Out For The Big Grrrls, also injected some welcome spontaneity into the event. 

The three-hour Emmy show itself - back in its traditional home of Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater but shifted from Sunday to Monday because of broadcast network NBC’s Sunday night American football coverage - was relatively fast-moving but short on excitement.   

Armstrong provided the nearest thing to controversy when, while accepting Succession’s best drama award, he referred to the ascension last week of the UK’s new monarch after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. “A big week for successions,” Armstrong said. ”New king in the UK, this for us. Evidently a little bit more voting involved in our winning than Prince Charles.” Armstrong quickly added: “I’m not saying that we are more legitimate in our position than he is, we’ll leave that to other people.”  

Several winners were played off stage before they finished their speeches - even though some of their thank-yous were displayed on a screen crawl in the broadcast coverage - and several commented on the strict time constraints. 

In the build-up to Monday’s ceremony, two of the many events that traditionally celebrate the Primetime Emmys were called off out of respect for the official mourning period after Queen Elizabeth II’s death. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts canceled its popular Saturday tea party for nominees and the Consulate General of Canada postponed a planned Emmy event in Los Angeles. 

 

Winners (in bold) and nominees in key categories:

 

DRAMA SERIES 

  • Better Call Saul (AMC)
  • Euphoria (HBO/HBO Max)
  • Ozark (Netflix)
  • Severance (Apple TV+)
  • Squid Game (Netflix)
  • Stranger Things (Netflix)
  • Succession (HBO/HBO Max)
  • Yellowjackets (Showtime) 

 

COMEDY SERIES 

  • Abbott Elementary (ABC)
  • Barry (HBO/HBO Max)
  • Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO/HBO Max)
  • Hacks (HBO/HBO Max)
  • The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime Video)
  • Only Murders In The Building (Hulu)
  • Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
  • What We Do In The Shadows (FX) 

 

LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES 

  • Dopesick (Hulu)
  • The Dropout (Hulu)
  • Inventing Anna (Netflix)
  • Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
  • The White Lotus (HBO/HBO Max)

 

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES 

  • Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
  • Laura Linney, Ozark
  • Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets
  • Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
  • Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show
  • Zendaya, Euphoria 

 

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES 

  • Jason Bateman, Ozark
  • Brian Cox, Succession
  • Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game
  • Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
  • Adam Scott, Severance
  • Jeremy Strong, Succession

  

LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

  • Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
  • Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
  • Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant
  • Elle Fanning, The Great
  • Issa Rae, Insecure
  • Jean Smart, Hacks

 

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

  • Donald Glover, Atlanta
  • Bill Hader, Barry
  • Nicholas Hoult, The Great
  • Steve Martin, Only Murders In The Building
  • Martin Short, Only Murders In The Building
  • Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

  

LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE

  • Toni Collette, The Staircase
  • Julia Garner, Inventing Anna
  • Lily James, Pam & Tommy
  • Sarah Paulson, Impeachment: American Crime Story
  • Margaret Qualley, MAID
  • Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout

  

LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE

  • Colin Firth, The Staircase
  • Andrew Garfield, Under The Banner Of Heaven
  • Oscar Isaac, Scenes From A Marriage
  • Michael Keaton, Dopesick
  • Himesh Patel, Station Eleven
  • Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy

  

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

  • Patricia Arquette, Severance
  • Julia Garner, Ozark
  • Jung Ho-yeon, Squid Game
  • Christina Ricci, Yellowjackets
  • Rhea Seehorn, Better Call Saul
  • J. Smith-Cameron, Succession
  • Sarah Snook, Succession
  • Sydney Sweeney, Euphoria

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

  • Nicholas Braun, Succession
  • Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
  • Kieran Culkin, Succession
  • Park Hae-soo, Squid Game
  • Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
  • John Turturro, Severance
  • Christopher Walken, Severance
  • Oh Yeong-su, Squid Game

 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

  • Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
  • Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
  • Janelle James, Abbott Elementary
  • Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live
  • Sarah Niles, Ted Lasso
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary
  • Juno Temple, Ted Lasso
  • Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

  

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

  • Anthony Carrigan, Barry
  • Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso
  • Toheeb Jimoh, Ted Lasso
  • Nick Mohammed, Ted Lasso
  • Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
  • Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary
  • Henry Winkler, Barry
  • Bowen Yang, Saturday Night Live

  

SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE

  • Connie Britton, The White Lotus
  • Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus
  • Alexandra Daddario, The White Lotus
  • Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick
  • Natasha Rothwell, The White Lotus
  • Sydney Sweeney, The White Lotus
  • Mare Winningham, Dopesick

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE

  • Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus
  • Jake Lacy, The White Lotus
  • Will Poulter, Dopesick
  • Seth Rogen, Pam & Tommy
  • Peter Sarsgaard, Dopesick
  • Michael Stuhlbarg, Dopesick
  • Steve Zahn, The White Lotus

 

DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

  • Jason Bateman, Ozark
  • Ben Stiller, Severance
  • Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game
  • Mark Mylod, Succession
  • Cathy Yan, Succession
  • Lorene Scafaria, Succession
  • Karyn Kusama, Yellowjackets

 

DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

  • Hiro Murai, Atlanta
  • Bill Hader, Barry
  • Lucia Aniello, Hacks
  • Mary Lou Belli, The Ms Pat Show
  • Cherien Dabis, Only Murders In The Building
  • Jamie Babbit, Only Murders In The Building
  • MJ Delaney, Ted Lasso

 

DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE

  • Danny Strong, Dopesick
  • Michael Showalter, The Dropout
  • Francesca Gregorini, The Dropout
  • John Wells, MAID
  • Hiro Murai, Station Eleven
  • Mike White, The White Lotus

 

WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES

  • Thomas Schnauz, Better Call Saul
  • Chris Mundy, Ozark
  • Dan Erickson, Severance
  • Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game
  • Jesse Armstrong, Succession
  • Jonathan Lisco, Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Yellowjackets
  • Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson, Yellowjackets

  

WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES

  • Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
  • Duffy Boudreau, Barry
  • Alec Berg, Bill Hader, Barry
  • Lucia Aniello, Paul W Downs, Jen Statsky, Hacks
  • Steve Martin, John Hoffman, Only Murders In The Building
  • Jane Becker, Ted Lasso
  • Sarah Naftalis, What We Do In The Shadows
  • Stefani Robinson, What We Do In The Shadows

 

WRITING FOR A LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOVIE

  • Danny Strong, Dopesick
  • Elizabeth Meriwether, The Dropout
  • Sarah Burgess, Impeachment: American Crime Story
  • Molly Smith Metzler, MAID
  • Patrick Somerville, Station Eleven
  • Mike White, The White Lotus