When the 2023 Emmy Awards nominations were announced on Wednesday morning, Succession, Ted Lasso and The Last of Us were among the TV shows breaking notable records.
This year, Succession has 14 acting nominations, tying its record from last year for the most Emmy acting noms for a drama series in a single year.
The HBO series scored three lead actor in a drama series nominations (Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong), one lead actress in a drama series nod (Sarah Snook), four nods for best supporting actor, one supporting actress nom, two guest actor nods and three nominations in the guest actress in a drama series category.
For its third season, Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso bested itself and joined a small circle of shows that can claim all its series regulars have been nominated. The Jason Sudeikis-fronted show is the most nominated comedy for the third consecutive year, with more than 20 nods. Ted Lasso also scored nine acting nominations this year.
With a total of 24 nominations, HBO’s The Last of Us became the first live-action video game adaptation to earn major awards recognition, securing nominations for outstanding drama series, acting nods for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey and guest acting nominations for Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Keivonn Montreal Woodard, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid and Anna Torv.
Among other history-making nods, Wednesday star Jenna Ortega is now the second youngest lead comedy actress nominee at 20 years old. Meanwhile, should Ramsey, who identifies as nonbinary, win in their category, they could become both the youngest drama actress winner and the youngest to take home the lead acting Emmy for a continuing series. Ramsey is also the second nonbinary actor to be nominated in the best leading actress category and the third nonbinary actor to ever be nominated for an Emmy.
The 75th annual Emmys are currently set to air live from the Peacock Theater (formerly the Microsoft Theater) on Monday, Sept. 18, from 5-8 p.m. PT/ 8-11 p.m. ET on Fox. It’s possible that the awards ceremony could get delayed if there isn’t a resolution to the writers and actors strikes before the show.
Read on for more about this year’s noteworthy nominations.
Jenna Ortega’s Age Makes History
With her best comedy actress nomination Wednesday star Jenna Ortega, 20, is now recognized as the second youngest lead actress to be nominated for a comedy series. Patty Duke was just 17 when she was nominated for The Patty Duke Show in 1964, became the first actress on a series to contend for an Emmy before turning 18. Should Ortega win the Emmy, she’ll replace America Ferrera as the youngest victor in the category’s history after Ferrera won for Ugly Betty in 2007 at the age of 23. At the time, Ferrera also became the first Latin actress to win the comedy actress prize. Ortega is also of Latin descent.
Succession Sets New Record
Not only has the media dynasty drama broken its previous total nominations record of 25 with 27 nods for 2023 — and matched its 14 acting nominations record from last year — it has also made history with its three nominations in the best drama actor category, an all-time high for a single series. With Kieran Culkin, moving from supporting to lead, Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox, the men of Succession are the first three actors from the same show to be nominated in the drama actor category in either its eight-nominee or five-nominee history.
And with Culkin’s lead nod this year after supporting nods in the past, he joins just a handful of TV actors that have been nominated in the best supporting and lead actor in a drama categories. He is only the third male performer to be nominated in both categories on the same drama as the same character, alongside Jeffrey Wright (Westworld) and Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue).
Co-star Sarah Snook also moved from supporting to lead this year, joining the narrow ranks of actresses nominated for best supporting and lead drama actress for their roles the same show. (Previous nominees include Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos) and the dual-winner Allison Janney (The West Wing)). Snook’s nom is the first time a prior supporting actress contender has been nominated in the lead category for the same role since Emilia Clarke shifted to lead actress in 2019 for the final season of Game of Thrones. With no previous wins for Snook in the best supporting actress category, the Succession star could become the first non-supporting winner to take home the Emmy for lead actress in a drama series.
Abbott Elementary Reps Network Broadcasters Again
While history-maker Quinta Brunson only matched the record she set last year with three nominations for a Black woman in a single year (this time with leading actress in a comedy and outstanding comedy series noms for Abbott, alongside an outstanding guest actress nod for her SNL hosting gig), the writer-actress-creator kept broadcasters in the scripted narrative awards race once again. Brunson is the only actress from a broadcast series nominated in the leading comedy actress category, as are co-stars Tyler James Williams, Janelle James and Sheryl Lee Ralph in their respective supporting acting categories. And in the best comedy category, where broadcasters once reigned supreme, Abbott Elementary remains the only scripted series from a broadcast network.
Jon Stewart Makes Late-Night Return
With a nomination for best talk series for The Problem With Jon Stewart, Stewart makes a return to the late-night talk category ahead of this year’s ceremony. In 2022, Stewart was nominated in the nonfiction series or special and best writing for a nonfiction program categories. However, last year, the TV Academy changed the variety category rules, with the variety talk and variety sketch awards being replaced with two new categories: outstanding talk series and outstanding scripted variety series. As a result, Stewart’s The Problem became eligible in the talk category.
Ted Lasso Bests Itself
While the soccer comedy may be saying goodbye, in its third season the Apple TV+ series bested itself and joined a small circle of shows that can claim all of its series regulars have been nominated for Emmys. It’s the fifth comedy in history to receive Emmy nominations for all of its original series regulars, joining All in the Family, Golden Girls, Schitt’s Creek and Will & Grace. Ted Lasso is also the most nominated comedy for the third consecutive year with more than 20 nods, including nine acting nominations, with Phil Dunster scoring his first Emmy nod.
Martin Short Is The Last Only Murders in the Building Castmember Standing
This year, Martin Short is the only castmember from Only Murders in the Building to receive a nomination in the best comedy actor category. Despite Steve Martin becoming the oldest nominee in best lead actor in a comedy series history last year for the first season of the Hulu show, he and fellow star Selena Gomez were left out this year. While Short had been the sixth oldest actor in the history of the category, with his recent nod at the age of 73, he ascends to the no. 5 spot, overtaking Ted Danson, who was 72 when he was nominated for his lead role in The Good Place in 2020. Short’s nod this year marks his 15th Emmy nomination over the course of his career with his previous nods coming for roles in Merlin, Primetime Glick, Damages and The Morning Show, among others.
The Last of Us’ Debut Season Achieves Many Firsts
With a total of 24 nominations, HBO’s The Last of Us became the first live-action video game adaptation to earn major awards recognition, securing nominations for outstanding drama series, drama series acting noms for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey and guest acting nominations for Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Keivonn Montreal Woodard, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid and Anna Torv. Its nominations come on the heels of 2022’s best animated series winner Arcane, which took home the historic honor of being the first video game adaptation to win an Emmy. (Netflix’s The Witcher received three nominations but no wins in 2022.)
More specifically, at 19, Ramsey is one of the youngest actors nominated in Emmys history, with The Cosby Show star Keisha Knight Pulliam holding onto the title as the youngest for her nom at the age of six. If Ramsey wins, they could become both the youngest winner in the category’s history and the youngest to take home the lead acting Emmy for a continuing series. Previously, Zendaya became the youngest lead actress in a drama series winner at the age of 24 for Euphoria. Ramsey’s nomination is also noteworthy given they are only the second nonbinary actor to be nominated in the best leading actress category (the first was The Crown’s Emma Corrin) and the third nonbinary actor ever to be nominated for an Emmy after Corrin and Hacks’ star Carl Clemons-Hopkins. (The TV Academy has no gender requirement for eligibility, according to Vanity Fair, and if Ramsey wins, they have the option of having their trophy engraved with the term “best performer.”)
Making history alongside Ramsey is The Last of Us guest star Keivonn Montreal Woodard, 10, who became the youngest guest actor in a drama series nominee in Emmy history. But Woodard’s history-making performance doesn’t stop there, with the young star becoming the first actor who is deaf to be nominated in his category and potentially the first Black deaf actor to be nominated in the history of the Emmys. Past deaf Emmy nominees include James Caverly (Only Murders in the Building) and Marlee Matlin (Picket Fences, Seinfeld, The Practice and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).
Jury Duty Gives Amazon Freevee Recognition
Jury Duty became the first show from Amazon’s ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service, Freevee, to score an Emmy nomination. The satire was nominated for comedy series, supporting actor in a comedy series (James Marsden) and best writing and casting. The show centers on Ronald Gladden, who believes he’s a subject in a documentary examining the ins and outs of the court system in the United States. Unbeknownst to him, however, is that the case for which he was selected as a juror is completely fake — and all of the people involved are actually actors.
HBO Reigns Supreme in the Drama Series Category
Coupled with its streamer platform Max, premium cabler HBO walked away with the highest number of nominations — a total of 127. That includes the aforementioned 24 nominations for The Last of Us and 27 for Succession. One category those two series helped HBO set a notable record in is best drama series, where both were nominated alongside The White Lotus and House of the Dragon. That means HBO has taken four of this year’s eight drama series noms, something that has only happened three times before, with the last time taking place 31 years ago.
That was in 1992, when NBC’s I’ll Fly Away, L.A. Law, Law & Order and Quantum Leap were all nominated, but lost out to CBS’ Northern Exposure. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, HBO and Max chair and CEO Casey Bloys credited the series’ currently striking writers with helping the network and platform collect this year’s top honors. “The recognition of these Emmy nominations is a reminder for everybody in the industry that we are nothing without the talents of writers and actors. This field of nominations confirms that,” he said.
