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The 76th Primetime Emmy Awards were a respectfully low-key affair, considering the audience had already attended the ceremony once this year. The 75th Emmys, originally scheduled to take place in 2023, actually took place this February due to last year’s actors and writers’ strikes. There were no slaps in the face, though. Slow horses Writer Will Smith (not The Will Smith assured everyone that he came “in peace” despite his namesake as he accepted the award for outstanding screenplay for a drama series.
Father-son hosts Dan and Eugene Levy avoided any political hilarity as the US presidential election approached, keeping their pre-show promise to keep things “light and cheerful”, instead poking fun at the nominees and parodying Martha’s creepy lyrics from Richard Gadd’s stalker drama Baby reindeer for a sketch about how older people struggle with technology.
The same couldn’t be said for the celebrity presenters, many of whom used their time on stage to poke fun at Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance’s comment about “childless cat ladies.” “I want to say what an honor it is to work with two guys who are so far from being childless cat ladies,” Selena Gomez said while moderating alongside her senior. Only murders in the building colleagues Martin Short and Steve Martin.
Heart-pounding kitchen drama from FX The bear got off to a hot start after dominating the Emmys earlier this year. Chef and Calvin Klein model Jeremy Allen White picked up a trophy, as did his co-star Ebon Moss-Bachrach – repeating her success from February. Her third acting win for Liza Colón-Zayas, however, was a much bigger surprise. She beat out Hollywood greats Meryl Streep and Carol Burnett for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in one of the biggest upsets of the night.
One of the big questions of the night was whether the Television Academy would honor Gadd despite the advertising controversy surrounding his Netflix hit after the creator’s real-life stalker went public and sued the streaming giant. The answer was a clear yes. In fact, Jessica Gunning, who played Martha in the series, was the first to receive the award. In her acceptance speech, she thanked her “reindeer” Gadd: “I will never forget (Martha) or you or this.”
Gadd was also a hit backstage, with audiences flocking to the Scottish comedian, whose presence marked his first major Hollywood appearance since Baby reindeer exploded into Netflix’s top 10 most watched shows of all time. A video was shared on X/Twitter shows the actor posing for selfies during an intermission before rushing back into the theater. Gadd won three awards, one for acting and two for screenplay. In a passionate acceptance speechhe told the audience: “I never thought I would get my life together. I never thought I would be able to make up for what happened to me and get back on my feet. And now here I am, a little over a decade later, winning one of the most important awards in television screenwriting.”
Over the course of the three-hour ceremony, the Television Academy honored some of the medium’s greatest archetypes, including villains, cops and lawyers. Viola Davis (who played Keating in How to get away with murder), Christine Baranski (who played Lockhart in The good wife And The good fight) and Gina Torres (who in Pearsonthe spin-off of the character she played Suits) have joined forces to award the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. “Ultimately, TV lawyers remind us of two things: First, that the trifecta of weakness, stupidity and malice will never go away,” Baranski said. “Second, the cases and trials and clients that showcase that trifecta make for really entertaining television.”
The lawyer trio awarded first-time nominee Anna Sawai the Emmy for her role in Shogunat which she immediately burst into tears. FX’s epic period drama about power struggles in 17th century Japan was breaking records before the televised ceremony even began. Last weekend, it won 14 Creative Arts Emmys, making it the most awarded single television season in Emmy history. On Sunday, it extended its record by four more awards, bringing the total to a whopping 18 Emmys. Executive producer Justin Marks said of the networks that created the show: “You have greenlit a very expensive, subtitled Japanese period drama whose central climax revolves around a poetry contest. I have no idea why you did that, but thank you for your faith in this incredible team.”
At the other end of the spectrum The Crown ended quietly. After 21 Emmys and 87 nominations, Peter Morgan’s sixth and final series brought just one more win for Elizabeth Debicki’s performance as Princess Diana. With giants like The Crown And Consequence The 2025 Emmys are now out of the running, but there will still be plenty of work to do. Luckily, we can wait a whole year for them this time.
