Succession Dominates, but Bigger Questions Loom

In the fictional world created on “Succession,” Logan Roy may be dead and Waystar RoyCo may have been sold off to a Nordic streaming company. But in the real world, or at least the world according to Emmy voters, the Roy family still wields immense power.

And while the AFC Richmond soccer team (sorry, football team) coached by Ted Lasso on the comedy series named after him may have fallen short in its quest to finish in first place, the show itself remains the champion of its league, aka the Emmy comedy categories.  

In nominations that were announced on Wednesday morning, the reigning drama and comedy series winners topped their respective categories, with “Succession” landing a personal-best 27 nominations to lead all drama series and “Ted Lasso” picking up 21 to handily beat all comedies.

Their dominance was not unexpected, but it was impressive nonetheless – and even with new rules at least partially designed to curb the kind of category-hogging we’ve seen in recent years, both shows managed to put multiple nominees in the same category: three lead actor, four supporting actor, two guest actor and three guest actress nominations for “Succession” and two supporting actor, two supporting actress and three guest actress noms for “Ted Lasso.”

In fact, we should probably acknowledge that the new rules that prohibit voters from casting ballots for an unlimited number of acting nominees (a presumed advantage for widely-watched shows with big casts) didn’t really do much in the face of juggernauts like “Succession,” which tied its Emmy-record 14 nominations, and “The White Lotus,” which dominated the supporting drama categories with four actor and five actress nominees.

Even under a new system that limits voters to a number of choices equal to the number of nominees in each category, it seems that Emmy voters were more concerned with rewarding their favorites than with spreading the love.

Of the new shows, “The Last of Us” was the clear winner, with 24 nominations that pushed it past “The White Lotus” as the second-most-nominated program. Those two series are probably the closest rivals to “Succession” for the Outstanding Drama Series crown, despite the presence of past winner “The Crown,” “Game of Thrones” spinoff “House of the Dragon,” the final season of “Better Call Saul,” the second of “Yellowjackets” and the first of “Andor,” the best-received “Star Wars” series to date.

In comedy, six of the eight 2022 nominees were eligible to return, and “Ted Lasso,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Barry,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Only Murders in the Building” did, with “What We Do in the Shadows” the only 2022 nominee that failed to repeat. Of the new entries in the category, “The Bear” is likely a stronger contender to win than “Wednesday” or the surprise nominee “Jury Duty,” which beat out “Poker Face,” “Shrinking” and the final season of “Atlanta” for a nomination.

But comedy overall took a hit from Emmy math, with fewer eligible shows meaning that six of the eight acting categories were smaller than last year. The biggest casualty of the downsizing was “Only Murders in the Building” star Steve Martin, who seemingly lost his spot to “Shrinking” star Jason Segel as the category, well, shrank from six to five nominees. In the supporting actor and actress categories, meanwhile, past winner Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) was pushed out, as were former nominees Nick Mohammed (“Ted Lasso”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta”), Sarah Goldberg (“Barry”) and Cecily Strong, Bowen Yang and Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”).

“SNL,” in fact, didn’t place a single nominee in the supporting comedy categories for only the second time in the last 16 years, with its only performer noms going to hosts Pedro Pascal and Quinta Brunson. That’s the worst above-the-line performance by the Emmys’ all-time nominations and awards champ in years, and not a good way for it to go into its showdown in the Outstanding Scripted Variety Series category with “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” which was moved into the category on the heels of a seven-year winning streak in the variety-talk category.

Of course, the biggest suspense around this year’s Emmys isn’t whether “SNL” can beat “Last Week Tonight” or Succession” will top “The White Lotus” or “Ted Lasso” can hold off “The Bear.” It’s when the show will happen and what it’ll look like when it does. The nominations announcement on Wednesday morning fudged on that point by saying the Primetime Emmy Awards were “currently” scheduled to take place on Sept. 18, a tacit acknowledgment that the show could well move if the Screen Actors Guild goes on strike, though the ceremony’s final destination remains a mystery.

In other words, the real burning Emmy questions this year can’t be answered by a list of nominations. They’re dependent on stuff that happens in the real world, where Logan Roy and company don’t have any more power than what’s given to them by writers and actors.