Last night, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, which might as well be renamed the HBO awards with the streamer taking home 30 prizes in total, more than any other platform or network. HBO’s new series Watchmen snagged 11 awards overall, including Best Limited Series and TV’s most prestigious prize for Best Drama.
Some of HBO’s other victories include Succession, which beat out Netflix’s Stranger Things and Ozark and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Killing Eve for Outstanding Drama Series. Additionally, Zendaya won Outstanding Lead Actress in the drama category for her role as Rue in Euphoria, beating out Jodie Comer, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Oh, Laura Linney, and Olivia Colman.
“Obviously there was a lot of questions about, ‘what will HBO do after Game of Thrones?’ This is a very nice way to answer that,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys told Variety. “Netflix, of course, is a huge and formidable competitor. You want to be aware of your competition but not distracted by them. At some points, the volume game will probably win because that’s mathematics. But we’ll just continue to do the kinds of shows that we believe it with people we believe in.”
Schitt’s Creek was the other big winner of the night, completely sweeping the Comedy Category. The Canadian series brought to the US by small network Pop achieved Best Comedy Series award, and Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara won awards for Lead Actor and Actress. The duo’s on-screen children David Levy and Annie Murphy took home the Best Supporting Actor and Actress awards for their roles as David and Alexis. This category sweep had Eugene Levy apologizing for so many wins, as a polite Canadian does.
Netflix came in second with 21 wins, which was a bit underwhelming after having received a whopping 160 nominations. The OG streamer’s miniseries Unorthodox took home the prize for Best Directing, Limited Series, while Julia Garner of Ozark won Best Supporting Actress, Drama. Unfortunately, although Schitt’s Creek is currently on Netflix, the streamer couldn’t claim any of the show’s prowess despite being credited for its widespread popularity and success.
Meanwhile, some of the brand new streaming services got in on the action for their first awards season. Apple TV+ got its first Emmy for Billy Crudup’s supporting role in “The Morning Show,” and Quibi picked up two awards for its police drama #FreeRayshawn. Apparently, we know at least critics are watching Quibi.
Here’s a list of key wins from the night:
Outstanding lead actor in a limited series or TV movie
- Jeremy Irons (“Watchmen”)
- Hugh Jackman (“Bad Education”)
- Paul Mescal (“Normal People”)
- Jeremy Pope (“Hollywood”)
- Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”) *WINNER
Outstanding lead actress in a limited series or TV movie
- Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”)
- Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”)
- Regina King (“Watchmen”) *WINNER
- Octavia Spencer (“Self Made”)
- Kerry Washington (“Little Fires Everywhere”)
Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
- Dylan McDermott (“Hollywood”)
- Jim Parsons (“Hollywood”)
- Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend”)
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen”) *WINNER
- Jovan Adepo (“Watchmen”)
- Louis Gossett Jr. (“Watchmen”)
Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie
- Holland Taylor (“Hollywood”)
- Uzo Aduba (“Mrs. America”) *WINNER
- Margo Martindale (“Mrs. America”)
- Tracey Ullman (“Mrs. America”)
- Toni Collette (“Unbelievable”)
- Jean Smart (“Watchmen”)
Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series
- Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish”)
- Don Cheadle (“Black Monday”)
- Ted Danson (“The Good Place”)
- Michael Douglas (“The Kominsky Method”)
- Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”) *WINNER
- Ramy Youssef (“Ramy”)
Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series
- Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”)
- Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
- )Linda Cardellini (“Dead to Me”)
- Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”) *WINNER
- Issa Rae (“Insecure”)
- Tracee Ellis Ross (“Black-ish”)
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
- Andre Braugher (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”)
- William Jackson Harper (“The Good Place”)
- Alan Arkin (“The Kominsky Method”)
- Sterling K. Brown (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
- Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
- Mahershala Ali (“Ramy”)
- Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”)
- Dan Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”) *WINNER
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
- Betty Gilpin (“GLOW”)
- D’Arcy Carden (“The Good Place”)
- Yvonne Orji (“Insecure”)
- Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
- Marin Hinkle (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
- Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”)
- Cecily Strong (“Saturday Night Live”)
- Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”) *WINNER
Outstanding lead actor in a drama series
- Jason Bateman (“Ozark”)
- Sterling K. Brown (“This Is Us”)
- Steve Carell (“The Morning Show”)
- Brian Cox (“Succession”)
- Billy Porter (“Pose”)
- Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) *WINNER
Outstanding lead actress in a drama series
- Jennifer Aniston (“The Morning Show”)
- Olivia Colman (“The Crown”)
- Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”)
- Laura Linney (“Ozark”)
- Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”)
- Zendaya (“Euphoria”) *WINNER
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
- Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”)
- Bradley Whitford (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
- Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show”) *WINNER
- Mark Duplass (“The Morning Show”)
- Nicholas Braun (“Succession”)
- Kieran Culkin (“Succession”)
- Matthew Macfadyen (“Succession”)
- Jeffrey Wright (“Westworld”)
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
- Laura Dern (“Big Little Lies”)
- Meryl Streep (“Big Little Lies”)
- Helena Bonham Carter (“The Crown”)
- Samira Wiley (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
- Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”)
- Julia Garner (“Ozark”) *WINNER
- Sarah Snook (“Succession”)
- Thandie Newton (“Westworld”)
Outstanding reality/competition series
- “The Masked Singer”
- “Nailed It”
- “RuPaul’s Drag Race” *WINNER
- “Top Chef”
- “The Voice”
Outstanding variety talk series
- “Daily Show with Trevor Noah”
- “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee”
- “Jimmy Kimmel Live”
- “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” *WINNER
- “Late Show with Stephen Colbert”
Outstanding limited series
- “Little Fires Everywhere”
- “Mrs. America”
- “Unbelievable”
- “Unorthodox”
- “Watchmen” *WINNER
Outstanding comedy series
- “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
- “Dead to Me”
- “The Good Place”
- “Insecure”
- “The Kominsky Method”
- “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
- “Schitt’s Creek” *WINNER
- “What We Do in the Shadows”
Outstanding drama series
- “Better Call Saul”
- “The Crown”
- “The Handmaid’s Tale”
- “Killing Eve”
- “The Mandalorian”
- “Ozark”
- “Stranger Things”
- “Succession” *WINNER