Emmys 2021: The snubs and surprises

Favourites like The Handmaid’s Tale ignored, actors of colour win none of the acting awards; here’s all that transpired at the weekend gala

The 2021 Emmy Awards kicked off on Sunday night to a rollicking start, leaving last year’s COVID-shellshocked ceremony safely in its rearview mirror. This year’s awards were distributed at LA Live in Downtown, California. The evening’s biggest winners were The Crown, Ted Lasso, and Mare of Easttown, which took home a whopping 10 of the 12 acting awards. While the wins were celebrated, the show had its share of snubs and surprises.

Deserving nominees were overlooked by the Television Academy, while others scored unexpected wins in categories where they faced strong competition. While the Disney Plus series, WandaVision, from Marvel Studios, took home three awards — for production, costume design and music — at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend, it was completely shut out of the Primetime Emmys. Fans and critics alike had loved the inventive show, in which Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) eventually faced her grief from losing Vision (Paul Bettany). The show received 23 nominations.

Also Read: Emmy Awards 2021: Here's the complete list of winners

(L-R) Michelle Visage, RuPaul, Gottmik, and Symone, winners of the Outstanding Competition Program award for RuPaul’s Drag Race

For most of the Emmys season, the frontrunner in the competitive leading Actress in a Limited Series category was Anya Taylor-Joy for The Queen’s Gambit. She portrayed an orphan chess prodigy who is also a pill-addict and alcoholic. Cut to this spring, along came Kate Winslet as Mare in HBO’s spring limited series obsession Mare of Easttown. This was Winslet’s second Emmy win for an HBO project: She also won in the category for 2011’s Mildred Pierce.

Elizabeth Olsen’s WandaVision received 23 nominations

McGregor, who’d been previously nominated in the Limited Series Drama category, for Fargo, took home his first Emmy for Halston. Among the multiple nominees left out due to The Crown’s reign was the 21-time nominee The Handmaid’s Tale, which had previously been the only streaming series to win the Best Drama Award at the Emmys, taking the top prize in 2017 in a coup for Hulu. In 2021, the series won none of the awards for which it was nominated.

Barry Jenkins’s lyrical adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel, The Underground Railroad went into the evening as a contender for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. It didn’t win either.

Prediction for Lead Actress in a Drama category was that either Mj Rodriguez (Pose) or Colman’s Crown co-star Emma Corrin would take the trophy. Also, either one of those winners would have been historic, as Rodriguez would have been the first transgender winner in a major acting category, and Corrin would have been the first openly gender non-binary winner. But Colman, who played Queen Elizabeth on Seasons 3 and 4 of The Crown, took home the trophy, leaving everyone surprised. “I would have put money on that not happening,” she said in her speech.

Celebrated TV personality RuPaul has become the most awarded person of colour in the history of the show after his show, Drag Race, won a trophy for Outstanding Competition Program. The TV Academy limited the 2021 ceremony to about 600 attendees, due to health and safety guidelines.

Highlights of the Emmys

Scott Frank

The long-speech dilemma: Scott Frank won for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his work on the Anya Taylor-Joy-led series, The Queen’s Gambit. While accepting the award, he spoke for two minutes, despite the orchestra signalling him to wrap up. Social media users heavily trolled Frank.

Julianne Nicholson

Subtle nod to women: Julianne Nicholson, who won an Emmy for her role in HBO’s Mare of Easttown, gave a powerful acceptance speech, recognising women impacted by the Texas abortion ban, and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. In her acceptance speech, Nicholson said, “I owe this to you, and all of the ladies out there in Philadelphia, in Kabul, in Texas or anywhere struggling sometimes, finding it hard to be happy, understanding that life can be a lot, but never stopping, never losing hope, never giving up.”

Michaela Coel

For the survivors: Actor-writer Michaela Coel, who took home a gong for writing her limited series, I May Destroy You, dedicated her win to sexual assault survivors. 

Emmys So White: While setting a record for diversity, with 49 Black or indigenous people of colour (BIPOC) nominated across all categories, all major acting trophies went to white actors. According to reports, actors that were seen as solid contenders, included Billy Porter and Mj Rodriguez (Pose), the late Michael K Williams (Lovecraft Country) and Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live), ended up empty-handed. Calling out the event, a netizen tweeted, “Not a single black actor won tonight. Not a single Asian actor won tonight. Not a single Latino actor won tonight.”

The winners are:

1. Jason Sudeikis: Comedy Series and Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Ted Lasso)
2. Kate Winslet: Lead Actress in a Limited series (Mare Of Easttown)
3. Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham: Supporting Actor and Actress in a Comedy Series 
4. Josh O’Connor: Lead Actor — Drama (The Crown)
5. Ewan McGregor: Lead Actor in a Limited Series

Also Read: Emmy Awards 2021:'The Crown' star Josh O Connor wins his first Emmy

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