'Yellowstone,' Harrison Ford, 'The Last of Us' and Scandoval: 2023 Emmy nominations snubs and surprises
While the last season of "Succession" dominated as expected, there were plenty of shockers — for better (Christina Applegate) or worse ("The Mandalorian") — as Emmy nominations were announced.
The biggest surprise about this year's 75th Emmy Awards will be whether the industry's annual celebration of the best in television will happen as scheduled. Amid the ongoing Writer's Guild of America strike and a potential Screen Actors Guild strike, the Television Academy is reportedly in discussions with Fox — which will air the Emmys this year — about delaying the ceremony until November or even January, just as the Oscars race is ramping up. That'll make life busy for celebrities who don't want to be accused of snubbing one awards show in favor of another. "We hope the ongoing guild negotiations come to an equitable conclusion," says Television Academy Chair Frank Scherma.
But whenever the Emmys happen, you can bet that the cast of Succession will be out in full force. The beloved HBO series is already the big winner before the statues have even been handed out, dominating the nominations with 27 nods, including Outstanding Drama Series and multiple acting categories. The freshman season of HBO's breakout hit The Last of Us is close behind with 24 nominations, in many of those same groups, while Season 2 of The White Lotus was cited in 23 categories. One notable series sitting this cycle out is Euphoria, which won't be returning for its third season until 2025 at the earliest.
On the Outstanding Comedy side, the third and final season of Ted Lasso is poised to push Apple TV+ into the winner's circle once again, scoring 21 nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series as well as Outstanding Lead Actor for star Jason Sudeikis. AFC Richmond's closest competition was the final season of Prime Video's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel at 14 nominations, while the first season of FX on Hulu's breakout series The Bear picked up 13. (Expect to see some of Season 2's celebrated guest star turns — including Jamie Lee Curtis and Will Poulter — in contention next year.)
Sticking with the food theme, Netflix's Beef was the big player in the Limited Series categories, chomping up 13 nominations. Ryan Murphy's divisive Dahmer series scored the same number of nods. And you can bet that the streaming service is doing the Wednesday dance courtesy of the 12 nominations that Jenna Ortega's series scored across the Comedy categories.
Here's our round-up of this year's snubs and surprises, from Kevin Costner and Harrison Ford being overlooked to Vanderpump Rules landing its first-ever nod on the back of "Scandoval."
SNUB: Yellowstone is once again alone on the range
It may be one of the most-discussed shows on television — on and off the screen — but Emmy voters continue to give Taylor Sheridan's modern-day Western the cold shoulder. The first half of Yellowstone's fifth and final season was completely shut out of all categories amid reports of a fractured relationship between the creator and his star, Kevin Costner. Paramount still hopes to complete the remaining episodes and air them before the end of 2023, which means Yellowstone has one more shot at riding into the Emmys ceremony next year. But they might just have to content themselves with millions of viewers instead of dozens of Emmys.
SURPRISE: The Last of Us breaks the video game barrier
Fantasy never excelled at the Emmys until Game of Thrones came along, and now HBO has broken another genre barrier with its blockbuster adaptation of the PlayStation video game,The Last of Us. Stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey received nominations in Drama acting categories and the show itself picked up an Outstanding Drama Series nod — the first ever video game-based series to do so. Kudos to The Last of Us creator Craig Mazin for breaking the Emmys version of the Konami Code.
SNUB: Prime Video's most expensive series ever couldn't find Emmy gold
Looks like House Lannister can claim another victory over House Hobbit. Max's House of the Dragon, defeated Prime Video's Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series in the ratings and now again at the Emmys. The Game of Thrones prequel picked up eight nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, while the Lord of the Rings prequel only scored six in below the line categories. That's a disappointing result for a series that reportedly cost the streamer nearly a billion dollars. On the upside, Rings of Power performed better than Prime Video's other pricey series, Citadel. That reportedly $300 million production was completely shut out of all categories.
SURPRISE: "Scandoval" rules on Vanderpump Rules
Getting a table at SUR is gonna be harder than ever. Bravo's long-running reality series Vanderpump Rules had its highest-rated season yet courtesy of the "Scandoval" du jour that's been generating headlines. And Emmy voters were clearly watching along with the rest of America: Vanderpump scored its first-ever nomination for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program alongside acclaimed series like Deadliest Catch and Welcome to Wrexham. Maybe Ryan Reynolds will drop by Pump next season.
SNUB: Harrison Ford's Emmy crusade comes up short
Throw us the idol and we'll throw Harrison Ford an Emmy! On the heels of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's middling box office performance, the Hollywood icon and celebrated Nazi puncher was dealt a blow by Emmy voters as his acclaimed performances in the Paramount+ drama 1923 and the Apple TV+ comedy Shrinking both went overlooked. Here's hoping this disappointing news doesn't cause Ford to "Red Hulk" out.
SURPRISE: The Force is with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor... but not The Mandalorian
Tony Gilroy's Rogue One prequel series, Andor, has widely been hailed as "Star Wars for grown-ups," so its eight nominations in the Drama categories — including Outstanding Drama Series — isn't exactly a shock. But it is surprising that voters appreciated the more traditional Star Wars charms of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which featured Ewan MacGregor's long-awaited return to the role he played in George Lucas's prequel trilogy. That limited series picked up five nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series. Alas, the Star Wars love didn't extend to The Mandalorian. After receiving Outstanding Drama nominations for its first two seasons, the show's third year was exiled to the Great Pit of Carkoon in the major races, although it did receive nine nods in below the line categories.
SNUB: James Corden must be carpool karaoke-ing the blues
Looks like James Corden's victory lap as the Late Late Show's outgoing host ended without an Emmy waiting for him at the finish line. The British actor's farewell season as a late-night host was notably absent among the nominees for Outstanding Talk Series. But voters did give Trevor Noah a parting gift — his final season anchoring The Daily Show was recognized alongside his predecessor Jon Stewart's Apple TV+ series as well as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and Late Night With Seth Myers.
SURPRISE: Christina Applegate picked up a well-deserved retirement gift
Christina Applegate has at least one more awards show in her future. Earlier this year, the Dead to Me star revealed that she's likely retiring from acting due to her ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis, and indicated that the February's SAG Awards might be her final awards show. But Applegate is officially an Emmys contender with an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy nod for the final season of her Netflix series. Voters also remembered to posthumously acknowledge Ray Liotta's performance in the Apple TV+ drama series Black Bird after the actor's death in May 2022.
SNUB: Harry & Meghan won't be Emmy royalty
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's adventures in Hollywood have been under the microscope of late, and the ex-royals can't count on Emmy voters to get the critics off their backs. The duo's much-streamed Netflix series Harry & Meghan didn't pick up any nominations in the documentary or non-fiction categories. While the couple has indicated that they're not giving up on their creative ambitions, they've got to figure out a new way to appeal to their Hollywood subjects.
SURPRISE: Jury Duty is guilty... of being an Emmys favorite
A billion dollars couldn't power Prime Video's Rings of Power into contention for major Emmy statues. But the reportedly $2 million-an-episode Jury Duty was more than worth its weight in gold. The Truman Show-esque series — which streams on Amazon's ad-supported service, Freevee — came out of nowhere to score four big nods, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the eternally underappreciated James Marsden. Our verdict? That's awesome.
The 75th Emmy Awards are currently slated to air live on Monday, Sept. 18 on Fox.
