After almost a quarter of a century since its inception, and a decade making original series, the mighty Netflix has finally been crowned with the most coveted awards on television. And he has done it with a doublet. The platform streaming has won this Sunday the Emmy for best drama series with The Crown, the story that tells through fiction the intimate life of the British royal family, and best miniseries with Lady’s gambit, a production that tells the epic of a young prodigy who makes her way in the competitive world of chess. Never before has a platform streaming he had won both categories at the same time. With these triumphs, the dominance of a brand that transformed the way of watching television is finished. The other big winner of the night was Ted Lasso, chosen the best comedy of the year, a production of Apple TV +, a platform that has not yet turned two years old.
See the list of all Emmy Award winners
The Crown In its fourth season, it has a battery of up to seven drama awards, including screenplay, direction, lead actress (Olivia Colman, for her role as Queen Elizabeth II), lead actor (Josh O’Connor, interpreter of Prince Charles) Supporting actress (Gillian Anderson, for her Margaret Thatcher, which earned her both applause and criticism). Something unusual also happened in this edition: two actresses won an Emmy for playing the same character. Claire Foy earned a technical Emmy for Best Guest just a week ago for her brief cameo as the young monarch. The Crown. Imelda Staunton is already filming the fifth and sixth seasons as the third last Elizabeth II.
Unexpected winners
One of the surprises of the night was the award for best supporting actor in a drama series to Tobias Menzies for his portrayal of the Duke of Edinburgh in The Crown, months after the death of the real character. The chips were placed on Michael K. Williams, who died on September 6, for his secondary in Lovecraft Territory. Williams was never nominated for an Emmy for his iconic Omar Little, the criminal with the heart of The Wire, nor for his Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire. This seemed like a moment to save that injustice. Although the real hit on the table was Lady’s Gambit at the end of the evening when he raised the award for best miniseries, above Mare of Easttown, which did win three acting awards.
Ted Lasso, which arrived as the favorite comedy of 2020, started the night strong. In a matter of minutes, he captured three of the four acting categories of his genre: Jason Sudeikis, who plays the endearing coach of a soccer team, fulfilled all the forecasts and won the award for best leading actor in comedy. The comedian writes the script, stars in and produces Apple’s star series, which has already confirmed a third season with a significant raise for everyone (Sudeikis will pocket a million per episode). The night was round with the victory of Brett Goldstein for best supporting actor; and Hannah Waddingham, who plays the owner of the club, for best supporting actress. Everything was going according to plan until it crossed Hacks in the path.
The HBO series Max, unreleased in Spain, tells the behind-the-scenes life of a comedian from stand up in the twilight of his career. He won the best screenwriter and comedy director awards. The legendary Jean Smart won her fourth Emmy, this time for best actress, with a well-deserved leading role that reached her in her 70s. She dedicated the award to her husband, who died in March. Although the series threatened to overshadow the great night of Ted Lasso, it was not enough for him overtaking and Apple’s British production won the award for best comedy of the year.
The award for best leading actress in a miniseries, one of the most competitive categories of the night, went to Kate Winslet for Mare of Easttown. The movie star who peeks into series from time to time snatched the award from other favorites like Michaela Coel, who won the best screenplay for Could destroy you, and rising star Anya Taylor-Joy. The crime drama also earned Julianne Nicholson her first nomination and her first Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress for her raw and sensitive portrayal of Mare’s best friend Lori. Evan Peters won best supporting actor, an award that may be due to one of the best performances of a drunkenness on television.
Face-to-face gala without memorable moments
The 73rd Emmy Awards were the first full-blown Hollywood awards since the pandemic. No zoom, no masks, although there was part of the cast of The Crown who met late at night to thank his pile of awards in London. Of course, host Cedric the Entertainer, a comedian who had his heyday in the ’90s, spilled a number of vaccine and quarantine jokes. The evening progressed quickly and left virtually no memorable moments. In the end, it finished with 10 Emmys for Netflix, four for Apple TV + and HBO (the cable channel), respectively, and three for HBO Max (WarnerMedia’s platform).
The ceremony was held in a covered tent on the Event Deck, an area located in downtown Los Angeles a few meters from the Microsoft Theater, which used to host the United States Television Academy party. “What are we doing here? They said this was outdoors, why is there a roof over us? ”Seth Rogen snapped as the awards that had been announced would be outdoors kicked off. Of course, all attendees had to present their vaccination certificate. In her thank you speech, Kate Winslet told a truth the size of a cathedral: “Mare of Easttown it allowed us to speak this year about something more than a global pandemic ”. That’s basically what tonight was about. To reward productions after more than a year of confinement in which half the planet had nothing better to do than watch series in a loop.