72nd Emmy Award Nominations: The Biggest Surprises and Snubs

Rachel Brosnahan in
Rachel Brosnahan in "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"

On Tuesday the nominations for the 72nd annual Emmy Awards were announced and there were some surprises we didn’t expect coming. It’s worth mentioning that the event will take place virtually, which this year’s Emmy executive producers including host Jimmy Kimmel, sent in a letter to the nominees, “As you’ve probably guessed, we’re not going to be asking you to come to the Microsoft Theatre in downtown LA on September 20th. This year, it’s still going to be TV industry’s biggest night out… but we’ll come to you!”

Netflix came in hot with 160 nominations, which is the most of any streamer or network. The show’s leading the nominations are HBO’s Watchmen with 26 nominations, Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel with 20 nominations, Netflix’s Ozark with 18 nominations, and HBO’s Succession with 18 nominations. So what were the biggest surprises and snubs?

We didn’t expect for The Mandalorian to get nominations across so many categories including Drama Series, Guest Actor in a Drama Series, as well as several Creative Arts nominations.

Another surprise was that several nominees received their first-ever nod like Cate Blanchett for her work in Mrs. America, Lupita Nyong’o for Serengetti, Octavia Spencer for Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, Anna Kendrick for Dummy, and Zendaya for Euphoria. In fact, Zendaya was nominated for Lead Actress in a Drama Series beating out Nicole Kidman and Elisabeth Moss for a spot.

In regards to shows, we were surprised to see What We Do in the Shadows and Normal People received nominations.

Snubs we didn’t expect were Better Call Saul actors Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn not receiving nods. Reese Witherspoon and Aaron Paul also weren’t among those nominated and they each had three opportunities—Witherspoon for Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, and Little Fires Everywhere and Paul for El Camino, Westworld, or Truth Be Told.

In addition, the lead ladies in Unbelievable didn’t fair to well either—Kaitlyn Dever and Merrit Wever didn’t receive nominations, but Toni Collete received one for supporting actress and the show got a nod for Limited Series.

Check out the nominations below:

Drama Series:

Better Call Saul
The Crown
The Handmaid’s Tale
Killing Eve
The Mandalorian
Ozark
Stranger Things
Succession

Comedy Series:

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
The Good Place
Insecure
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Schitt’s Creek
What We Do in the Shadows

Limited Series:

Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen

Lead Actor in a Drama Series:

Jason Bateman
Sterling K. Brown
Steve Carell
Brian Cox
Billy Porter
Jeremy Strong

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

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
Ramy Youssef, Ramy

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
Issa Rae, Insecure
Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish

Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie:

Jeremy Irons, Watchmen
Hugh Jackman, Bad Education
Paul Mescal, Normal People
Jeremy Pope, Hollywood
Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True

Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie:

Cate Blanchett, Mrs. America
Shira Haas, Unorthodox
Regina King, Watchmen
Octavia Spencer, Self Made
Kerry Washington, Little Fires Everywhere

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:

Giancarlo Esposito, Better Call Saul
Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid’s Tale
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
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
Sarah Snook, Succession
Thandie Newton, Westworld

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

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

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
Jovan Adepo, Watchmen
Louis Gossett Jr., Watchmen

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie:

Holland Taylor, Hollywood
Uzo Aduba, Mrs. America
Margo Martindale, Mrs. America
Tracey Ullman, Mrs. America
Toni Collette, Unbelievable
Jean Smart, Watchmen

Reality Competition:

The Masked Singer
Nailed It
RuPaul’s Drag Race
Top Chef
The Voice