This year in 70th Prime time Emmy Awards, it looked like a battle between two TV titans. In one corner was established TV powerhouse HBO, which went into the evening with 29 Emmy nominations for shows like Westworld, Silicon Valley, Game of Thrones, and Insecure. In the other was Netflix, with a whopping 37 total nominations, thanks to show like Black Mirror, Stranger Things, GLOW, and The Crown. But while HBO ultimately took home the top honor for Outstanding Drama Series for Game of Thrones, for much of the evening it seemed like another player had most of the momentum: Amazon.
The evening began with Amazon winning four of the first five awards presented, for its period comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Over the course of the evening, the series won five different categories, including writing and directing awards for series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, and acting awards for series stars Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein. It ended the evening by taking home Outstanding Comedy Series, the top honor of the night for a comedy series.
Jeff Daniels and Merritt Wever won acting awards for their work in the Scott Frank Western Godless, William Bridges and Charlie Brooker won Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Movie for the Black Mirror installment USS Callister, and actress Regina King won for her performance in the series Seven Seconds. The Crown won two awards Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for Claire Foy and Outstanding Directing for Stephen Daldry but Netflix’s wins were ultimately piecemeal. It spoke to the power of the company’s strategy of producing such an immense amount of content. Even when no single show became a juggernaut in its own right, Netflix still racked up a respectable number of wins.
Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story took home several awards, as did the FX espionage drama The Americans, the latter of which seemed poised to take home the top honor of Outstanding Drama Series. But instead, HBO’s Game of Thrones came in with the surprise win, taking the top prize even though it had only earned one other award over the course of the evening: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Peter Dinklage.
The complete list of Emmy winners is below.
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
- Game of Thrones
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES
- The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
OUTSTANDING VARIETY TALK SERIES
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
OUTSTANDING VARIETY SKETCH SERIES
- Saturday Night Live
OUTSTANDING REALITY-COMPETITION PROGRAM
- RuPaul’s Drag Race
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
- Claire Foy, The Crown
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
- Matthew Rhys, The Americans
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
- Stephen Daldry, The Crown – “Paterfamilias”
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
- Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg, The Americans – “Start”
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
- Thandie Newton, Westworld
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
- Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL
- Glenn Weiss, The Oscars
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A VARIETY SPECIAL
- John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous At Radio City
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
- Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
- Regina King, Seven Seconds
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
- Ryan Murphy, The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story – “The Man Who Would Be Vogue”
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A LIMITED SERIES, MOVIE OR DRAMATIC SPECIAL
- William Bridges and Charlie Brooker, Black Mirror – “USS Callister”
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
- Jeff Daniels, Godless
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE
- Merritt Wever, Godless
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
- Bill Hader, Barry
OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
- Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
- Amy Sherman-Palladino, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – “Pilot”
OUTSTANDING WRITING FOR A COMEDY SERIES
- Amy Sherman-Palladino, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – “Pilot”
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
- Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
- Henry Winkler, Barry
