“Games of Thrones” raked in 10 trophies on Sunday to dominate the second night of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, held at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
“Thrones” cleaned up in craft and technical categories, from visual effects to single-camera, non-prosthetic makeup to main title design to drama series casting. The show is the most nominated program in the 2019 Emmy race, with a total of 32 noms and up for 18 kudos on Sunday. As expected, “Thrones” is heading into the Sept. 22 Primetime Emmy Awards with strong momentum to triumph once again at the ceremony, which will be telecast live on Fox.
On Sunday, HBO’s “Chernobyl” grabbed seven wins, followed by Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” with six. The heft from “Thrones” and “Chernobyl” put HBO over the top in the network race coming out of the two-night Creative Arts ceremony, with HBO collecting 25 statuettes to Netflix’s 23. National Geographic TV and Amazon were tied for third with eight apiece.
The guest acting awards were carved up by two shows: Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Amazon’s “Mrs. Maisel.” Bradley Whitford and Cherry Jones won drama actor and actress, respectively, for their work in the second season of the dystopian drama that was eligible for the Emmy race this year. Although the majority of episodes were up at last year’s awards, the Academy allowed the few that streamed in this year’s eligibility window to be entered here. Jones was actually nominated two consecutive years for the second season due to this allowance, while Whitford’s first appearance came too late for last year but made him a winner now. Meanwhile, on the comedy side, Luke Kirby and Jane Lynch won for their work as comedians in “Mrs. Maisel.”
“Maisel” also scored in craft categories such as period costumes, and it took the win for music supervision. “Maisel” showrunners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino share that latter award with Robin Urdang.
“Chernobyl’s” victories included limited series/TV movie music composition for the haunting work by Icelandic composer Hildur Gudnadottir. The first-time Emmy winner bowed to the crowd as she dedicated her win to the people of the Chernobyl region who endured the horror of a nuclear disaster.
“To everyone who suffered at all from Chernobyl, thank you for allowing us to tell this story,” she said.
Netflix’s critical darling “Russian Doll” captured three awards, including half-hour production design and cinematography honors.
Nike’s “Dream Crazy” won the kudo for commercial. HBO’s “Succession” won for main title theme music, for composer Nicholas Britell.
Netflix’s “When They See Us” took the casting laurel for limited series. Casting director Aisha Coley dedicated the win to the five men who were wrongfully convicted in the 1989 Central Park jogger case. She also expressed her gratitude to “When They See Us” exec producer, writer and director Ava DuVernay. “You inspire us,” she said of DuVernay.