Game of Thrones makes a sizzling comeback; Matthew Rhys finally wins one for The Americans and Claire Foy wins ahead of Sandra Oh and Elizabeth Moss.
It’s clear people. No matter what you do, when it comes to Best Drama, winning the trophy will only happen if Game of Thrones is not nominated. But since it was, after bowing out for a season, it won Best Drama yet again and Best Supporting Actor for Peter Dinklage.
But the biggest winner of the night was Amy Sherman-Palladino, who created, wrote and directed Gilmore Girls. Her Amazon-backed series Marvelous Mrs. Maisel picked up a total of five trophies including Outstanding Comedy Series.
Another show to clean up the limited series category was Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story that won Outstanding Limited Series ahead of Patrick Melrose and a much-deserving award for Darren Criss, who won Best Actor in a Limited Series for Assassination for his dark portrayal of serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
Jeff Daniels, whose career has seen an unprecedented revival since starring in Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom won Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Television Movie for his role in Godless.
It was almost as if the Emmys wanted to please everybody and there were plenty of winners from Netflix to Amazon and Hulu.
An award season is incomplete without speeches from the winners and some controversy.
Claire Foy, who will not be a part of season three of The Crown as the cast is slated to be replaced by older actors, said onstage: “This wasn’t supposed to happen. I just felt so proud, then, of being in the company of such extraordinary performances. I know everyone’s talking at the moment about women in the industry, but if that’s anything to go by, bloody hell — that’s technically not swearing!”
She added: “Thank you, Emmys. I had the most extraordinary two and a half years of my life. I was given a role that I never thought I would ever get a chance to play, and I met people I will love forever and ever and ever, and the show goes on, which makes me so, so proud.”
First-time Emmy winner Thandie Newton, who won in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for HBO’s Westworld said: “I don’t even believe in God, but I gotta thank Her tonight. I am so blessed.”
Matthew Rhys, who won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for The Americans, a series that has now come to its conclusion and was a worthy winner, joked about why he was not proposing to fellow Americans co-star and partner Keri Russell.
Rhys began by thanking FX and said: “Thank you FX, thank you Amblin, and to the woman who truly got me this award, who stands in front of me every day and just puts up with me. I don’t have the words, I don’t have the time to do you justice.” He also said, in lively fashion, that Keri Russell had told him to not propose to her at the Emmys and said to him: “[She said,] ‘If you propose to me, I’ll punch you clean in the mouth’.”
Among the best moments, according to reports, was the banter shared between Killing Eve’s Sandra Oh and Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Andy Samberg. Oh pretended to panic onstage upon tearing the envelope containing the winner’s name before stating: “The winner is La La Land!”, earning one of the biggest laughs of the night.
Unlike last year where Donald Trump was the matter concerning artists, this year it was political issues.
For instance, Rachel Evan Wood, nominated for Westworld, wore a blue ribbon to support the “ACLU’s fight to reunite immigrant families separated at the border”. Speaking at the red carpet, she noted, “I think we’re at a crucial time in history right now, especially for women and especially for civil rights. If I have even a little bit of power right now I want to use it for good.”
Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany, meanwhile, wore a Planned Parenthood pin. “I’ve always stood by Planned Parenthood. I support a woman’s right to choose and autonomy over their bodies. I feel that’s threatened,” she told USA TODAY. When asked if she was talking about Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, she said yes. “That someone would try to take away (rights) from us is horrifying.”
Finally, the man who directed the Emmys, Glenn Weiss took home his 15th Emmy this year, chose his acceptance speech moment to propose to his girlfriend and stole the show.
