SHOWMAX is the only place in Africa to stream the three most-nominated shows overall at the 75th Emmy Awards: the family business drama Succession S4 (27 nominations), the post-apocalyptic The Last Of Us S1 (24) and the Sicily-set, sex-themed The White Lotus S2(23).
All three shows are from HBO, which received 127 Emmy nominations – the 21st time in history it received the most Primetime Emmy nominations of any network or platform in a single year.
The White Lotus S1 won Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series in 2022, when Succession S3 was named Outstanding Drama. This year, both are competing for Best Drama, where Showmax has five of the eight nominees, including The Last of Us, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon (eight nominations), and Showtime’s survival horror Yellowjackets (three nominations).
Alan Ruck picked up his first-ever Emmy nomination as Connor in the fourth and final season of Succession, which made Emmy history with three nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. After fighting over Waystar Royco for four seasons on-screen, Brian Cox (Logan), Kieran Culkin (Roman) and previous winner Jeremy Strong (Kendall) will now compete over the Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy instead.
Sarah Snook (Shiv) is up for Lead Actress, with previous winner Matthew Macfadyen (Tom), Nicholas Braun (Greg), and Alexander Skarsgård (Matsson) up against Ruck for Supporting Actor, and J Smith-Cameron (Gerri) nominated for Supporting Actress.
There are also guest cast nominations for previous winners James Cromwell (Ewan) and Cherry Jones (Nan Pierce), as well as Arian Moyed (Stewy), Hiam Abbas (Marcia), and Harriet Walter (Lady Caroline).
As Joel and Ellie, The Last Of Us leads Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey (above) both received their first Emmy nominations, with Melanie Lynskey nominated as Guest Actress for The Last of Us as Kathleen, as well as Lead Actress for Yellowjackets as Shauna. The hit Playstation adaptation also earned Guest cast nominations for Anna Torv as Tess, Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman as Frank and Bill, Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Montreal Woodard as Henry and Sam Burrell, and Storm Reid as Riley.
The White Lotus swept the Supporting Actor/Actress categories with a record nine nominations, including previous winners Michael Imperioli as Dominic and Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya, F Murray Abraham (his fourth nomination), and first-time nominees Theo James and Meghann Fahy as Cameron and Daphne, Will Sharpe and Aubrey Plaza as Ethan and Harper Spiller, and Sabrina Impacciatore and Simona Tabasco as Valentina and Lucia.
Showmax’s positioning as a carefully curated aggregator of international content for African audiences is paying off, with the African streamer home to 16 Emmy-nominated shows from six networks and platforms, up for a combined 113 awards. These include:
- HBO’s hitman comedy Barry S4 (11 nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series, as well as Lead Actor, Directing and Writing nominations for co-creator Bill Hader and Supporting Actor nominations for Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank and previous winner Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau.)
- HBO’s big wave surfing documentary series 100 Foot Wave (six nominations, including Outstanding Documentary or Non-Fiction Series)
- CBS’ Survivor (three nominations, including Reality Competition Program)
- MGM’s dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale, which earned Elisabeth Moss her fourth Best Actress nomination as June/Offred – a role she won the Emmy for in 2017
- HBO Max’s true-crime drama Love & Death (Supporting Actor for Jesse Plemons)
- HBO Max’s music documentary Love, Lizzo (Sound Editing) and Lizzo: Live In Concert (Variety Special)
- Peacock’s nun-vs-AI drama Mrs. Davis (Sound Editing)
- Lionsgate’s dramas Blindspotting (Choreography) and P-Valley (Contemporary Hairstyling)
- Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q (Original Music)
Editor’s note: Blindspotting slid in under my radar and I watched it by accident. Even in the absence of expectations, it still took me by surprise. At first it was, “what the actual?” but soon settled into brilliance. It has a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, read more here. There is a second season so beware of spoilers.
A Black Lady Sketch Show (three nominations, including Outstanding Scripted Variety Series) premieres on Showmax on 9 August 2023, with more 2023 Emmy nominees expected to follow.
There are more than 20 000 voting members of the Academy and this year’s nominations marked the highest voter participation in Emmy history.
The complete list of Emmy nominations is available here at Emmys.com
The 2023 Creative Arts Emmy Awards will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles over two consecutive nights on Saturday, September 9, and Sunday, September 10, with the 75th Emmy Awards held on 18 September 2023.
