2016 Genre Emmy Nominations

Angie Fiedler Sutton article

Note: this article was also published on SciFi4Me.com.

First, the bad news: despite a glorious campaign, Bruce Campbell did not get nominated for an Emmy for the 2016 year for his portrayal of Ash in Ash Vs. Evil Dead.

Regardless, genre had a pretty decent showing when the Emmy nominations were announced on July 14. As per usual, however, many of them were for visual effects, costumes, makeup, and other ‘genre-esque’ categories. (Nothing against those categories, by the way: but they are typically considered ‘lesser’ compared to the writing, directing, or overall series nominations.)

Game of Thrones

Of course, the one everyone is talking about is Game of Thrones and their 23 nominations (actually down from last year’s 24, of which they won 12, which was the most Emmys won by a series in a single season). It also is the production with the overall most nominations in 2016.

Aside from Outstanding Drama Series, the episode “Battle of the Bastards” specifically got nominated for Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series (directed by Miguel Sapochnik), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series, Outstanding Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic), Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Special Visual Effects, and Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series (written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss). In addition, “The Door” also got nominated for Outstanding Directing (Jack Bender, director).

Meanwhile, Peter Dinklage and Kit Harington are both up for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series, while Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, and Maisie Williams are up for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series. Max von Sydow also got nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Drama Series. The series also captured nominations for production design, casting, cinematography, costumes, sound editing, sound mixing, and stunt coordination.

Finally, the Game of Thrones Main Titles 360 Experience (posted on the Game of Thrones Facebook page) was nominated for Outstanding Interactive Program (up against other genre item, the Talking Dead Interactive Experience).

New, Cancelled, and Recapped

Newcomer Mr. Robot got six nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series against Game of Thrones. Rami Malek was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series, and the pilot was nominated for Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series (“eps1.0_hellofriend.mov”, written by Sam Esmail).

On the other side of things, the final season of Penny Dreadful ended up getting six nominations, but all for genre-esque categories such as makeup and hairstyling.

Penny Dreadful Season 2 image, courtesy Showtime.

Speaking of shows we recap (or have recapped) on the SciFi4Me site, the (much to my sadness) cancelled Galavant got a nod for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics for the opening song in the season two opener, “A New Season aka Suck It Cancellation Bear”; Allison’s much beloved Outlander got nominated for production design and costumes; Gotham received three (cinematography, sound editing, and stunt coordination); Tatiana Maslany is up for the third time for her roles in Orphan Black; and The Walking Dead received two nominations – one for prosthetic makeup and one for special visual effects. (Related, the mini series Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462 garnered a nomination for Michelle Ang for Outstanding Actress In A Short Form Comedy Or Drama Series.)

Other Genre

The latest in the AHS series, American Horror Story: Hotel has a total of eight nominations, with Sarah Paulson and Kathy Bates up against each other for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Series Or Movie.

Other genre nominations include Hannibal, 11/22/63, Bates Motel, Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Minority Report, Sense8, and The Whispers all received minor nominations, and Will Forte is up for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series for The Last Man on Earth.

Marvel’s Jessica Jones

For animation, The Powerpuff Girls, Steven Universe, and genre-tangental Robot Chicken are all up for Outstanding Short Form Animated Program.

Also genre-tangental, the Sherlock Christmas special, “The Abominable Bride” (which I reviewed here) received six nominations, including Outstanding Television Movie and Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes.

In terms of non-fictional outings, Danny Elfman’s Music from the films of Tim Burton was nominated for a music and sound mixing award, the last season of MythBusters was nominated for Outstanding Structured Reality Program, Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson was nominated for Outstanding Informational Series, and A Year in Space was nominated for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction.

The 2016 Emmy Awards will broadcast on Sunday, September 18 at 7 pm Eastern, 4 pm Pacific on ABC. For more information about this year’s nominations, visit the Emmys official website.