Severance, The Studio, The Penguin and The White Lotus sweep Emmy nominations

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Television has a new graduating class: Severance, The Penguin, The Studio and The White Lotus have swept this year’s Emmy nominations, with almost 100 nominations between them.

But the list nominees for the 77th annual Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards was not without its surprises. The movie Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy has been nominated as a television movie. More on that in a moment.

Severance, The Studio, The Penguin and The White Lotus have swept this year’s Emmy nominations.

And in a real eyebrow-raiser, Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese, two of Hollywood’s heavyweight directors, have been nominated for acting Emmys, for playing themselves in episodes of Apple TV+’s The Studio.

Flying the flag for Australia is Cate Blanchett, who was nominated in the outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie category, for her performance as Catherine Ravenscroft in Disclaimer. Blanchett is the only Australian nominated in the six top acting categories.

But she is not the only Australian nominated for an Emmy. Two Australian cinematographers have been nominated for a Daytime Emmy, in the outstanding technical direction, camerawork, video category.

Tony Gardiner and Heath Kerr were nominated for their work on Neighbours in the category, against camera teams from The View, The Young and the Restless, The Drew Barrymore Show and Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade.

In some respects, this year’s Emmy nominations were entirely predictable: comedy and drama category stalwarts like Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, Only Murders in the Building and The White Lotus are well represented.

But there was also a strong infusion of new blood, including the critically acclaimed Hollywood satire The Studio, the much-beloved vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows, the Star Wars series Andor, Netflix’s much-loved political thriller The Diplomat and the gory new medical drama The Pitt.

Harrison Ford has scored his first Emmy nomination, supporting actor in a comedy series category, for his role as therapist Dr Paul Rhoades in Shrinking.

And two of The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast currently touring Australia to promote that film, Pedro Pascal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, have also been nominated: Pascal in lead actor in a drama for The Last of Us and Moss-Bachrach in supporting actor in a comedy for The Bear.

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal in The Last of Us.

Some programs, with large ensemble casts, have submitted mainly in the supporting actor categories. So while it might seem at first glance like The White Lotus, Severance and others are missing from the lead actor categories, they have instead swept through the supporting actor categories.

Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Sam Rockwell, Natasha Rothwell and Aimee Lou Wood from The White Lotus scored nominations there, as did Ike Barinholz, Kathryn Hahn and Catherine O’Hara from The Studio. (Seth Rogen, who starred in The Studio, was nominated in the lead actor category.)

In one of the more curious trends, actors Dave Franco, Zoë Kravitz and Anthony Mackie, and directors Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese, were nominated in the guest actor in a comedy category for playing themselves in episodes of The Studio.

That’s fine, but you have to wonder how many actual guest actors, in comedic or dramatic roles, missed out on nominations as a result. Plus, it’s not like they’re going short: between them, they already have three Oscars, four BAFTAs, ten Emmys, two Grammys and five Golden Globes on their shelves.

And in another curious twist, the film Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy was nominated in the outstanding television movie category because, despite a cinema release in the UK and Australia, it was released first in the US on the streaming platform Peacock. That means it’s up against other made-for-television movies, including HBO’s Mountainhead, directed by Jesse Armstrong (Succession).

The announcement of the nominations kicks off “FYC” season - a contraction of “For Your Consideration” - in which the casts and creatives from nominated programs will appear at screenings in Los Angeles aimed at Emmy voters. The voting window for Emmy voters to cast their final ballots is August 18-27.

The Apple TV+ series Severance led the field with 27 nominations, across all the categories in both the Primetime and Creative Arts Emmys. It was followed by HBO’s The Penguin (24 nominations), The Studio and The White Lotus (23), The Last of Us (16), Andor and Hacks (14) and Adolescence, The Bear and The Pitt (13).

The winners of the 77th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be announced on September 6 and 7. The winners of the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced on September 14. The winners of the 52nd Daytime Emmys will be announced on October 17.

Andor, nominated in the outstanding drama series category.

List of Primetime Emmy nominees in key categories:

Drama series: Andor, The Diplomat, The Last of Us, Paradise, The Pitt, Severance, Slow Horses, The White Lotus
Actor in a drama series: Sterling K. Brown (Paradise), Gary Oldman (Slow Horses), Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), Adam Scott (Severance), Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
Actress in a drama series: Kathy Bates (Matlock), Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters), Britt Lower (Severance), Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), Keri Russell (The Diplomat)
Comedy series: Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking, The Studio, What We Do in the Shadows
Lead actress in a comedy series: Uzo Aduba (The Residence), Kristen Bell (Nobody Wants This), Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), Jean Smart (Hacks)
Lead actor in a comedy series: Adam Brody (Nobody Wants This), Seth Rogen (The Studio), Jason Segel (Shrinking), Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building), Jeremy Allen White (The Bear)
Limited or anthology series: Adolescence, Black Mirror, Dying For Sex, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Mendendez Story, The Penguin
Television movie: Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, The Gorge, Mountainhead, Nonnas, Rebel Ridge
Lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie: Colin Farrell (The Penguin), Stephen Graham (Adolescence), Jake Gyllenhaal (Presumed Innocent), Brian Tyree Henry (Dope Thief), Cooper Koch (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Mendendez Story)
Lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie: Cate Blanchett (Disclaimer), Meagan Fahy (Sirens), Rashida Jones (Black Mirror), Cristin Milioti (The Penguin), Michelle Williams (Dying for Sex)
Musical composition for a series: Brandon Roberts (Andor), Sherri Chung (Based on a True Story), Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson (Cobra Kai), Theodore Shapiro (Severance), Antonio Sanches (The Studio), Cristobal Tapia de Veer (The White Lotus)
Narrator: Sir David Attenborough (Planet Earth: Asia), Idris Elba (Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color), Tom Hanks (The Americas), Barack Obama (Our Oceans), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Octopus!)
Outstanding reality competition program: The Traitors, RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Amazing Race, Survivor, Top Chef
Outstanding talk series: Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Daily Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert