Emmy nominations are coming! It’s that time of year again, where the best talent in television is (hopefully) rewarded for all that hard work and excellence. Come Tuesday, the verdict will be in as the noms for the 77th Primetime Emmys are announced. But some of television’s best and brightest will definitely not be on the docket. Read on to find out why.
Of course, not everyone gets to take home the gold, and indeed, not everyone gets as far as a nomination, but some are left out of contention for reasons that have nothing to do with audience or critical appreciation or Television Academy voter preferences.
For example, last year, due to strike-affected delays and production timing, popular shows like The Bear Season 3, both parts of Bridgerton Season 3, House of the Dragon and The Boys were not eligible for nominations.
The Television Academy’s eligibility rules state that shows in contention for the 2025 Emmys must have aired between June 1, 2024-May 31, 2025. So among those that didn’t make the timing cut this year are HBO’s The Gilded Age Season 3, Apple TV+’s Taron Egerton-led crime drama Smoke, Disney+’s Ironheart, Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia Season 3 and The Sandman Season 2.
Then, lest we forget, there are also shows that simply came to an end last Emmy season, or were only ever going to be a limited series. 2024’s big Emmy sweeper, Baby Reindeer, is in the latter camp, as is Ripley, Lessons in Chemistry, Under the Bridge and Griselda.
Other Emmy-recognized series that have come to an end and won’t be seen at the Emmy ceremony this year include Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Crown and Reservation Dogs.
As for another big 2024 Emmy winner, FX’s Shōgun, that’s out this year too. Although it began its awards-contender life as a limited series, when it was granted a Season 2 and Season 3 it pivoted to drama series, and the second season not set to begin production until early next year.
Then there’s the fact that some shows have seasons that you saw seemingly forever ago but are only now eligible. You may see some nominations for The Bear and Squid Game this time — but those aren’t for the seasons you just watched (Season 4 of The Bear or Season 3 of Squid Game). What you just watched of those two examples are actually outside this year’s eligibility window. So, when you’re looking at Emmy nominations, think about what you saw last year, not this year. Confusing? Yes. But there is some logic to it.
Consider this: premiering a new season of a show during the voting window is an effective way of keeping a show fresh in everyone’s mind. And this happened last year with The Bear too, when it premiered its Season 3 right when Season 2 was in Emmy contention. So when voting was happening, viewers had just seen a deeply emotional Season 3 episode centered around Liza Colón-Zayas’s character, Tina. Colón-Zayas won Outstanding Supporting Actress, even though it was the previous season that was in contention — an example of a new season helping to highlight talent and remind voters.
This year, guest stars are facing a new Academy rule preventing a category double-dip. To explain: If they’ve been Emmy-nominated for their character in a lead or supporting category before, they can’t be nominated in the guest star category at a later stage. Here’s the official language: “If a performer has been nominated or has won in a lead or supporting performer category, the performer will not be eligible to submit in a guest performer category in a subsequent Emmy year for playing the same character role in the same series. They may, however, continue to enter in a lead or supporting category.”
Of course there’s also the existing rule that guest stars must appear for a minimum stand-alone appearance of 5% of an episode’s runtime, but for less than 50% of the series’ eligible episodes. To use another Bear example, Joel McHale is eligible for his role as scary chef David Fields, and you might see him on the list of nominations, although he self-submitted. FX is already stuffed with guest star options for the show, and it submitted with Jamie Lee Curtis and Jon Bernthal — both won the guest star title for the series in the past — alongside Olivia Colman, Gillian Jacobs, Josh Hartnett, John Cena, John Mulaney, Will Poulter, Chris Witaske and David Zayas.
In The Last of Us guest actor nominations, you likely won’t see Josh Peck for his appearance in the opening scene of Episode 4 as a FEDRA soldier — not for lack of audience appreciation though. Like The Bear, HBO’s plate is full of starry guest options, and the studio submitted Kaitlyn Dever, Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Wright, Tony Dalton and Joe Pantoliano.
The 77th Primetime Emmy Award nominations announcement, which will be read out by Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) and Brenda Song (Running Point), is Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. PT/11:30 a.m. ET.
The Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony hosted by Nate Bargatze is September 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and will air live on CBS and Paramount+.
Source link
