The nominations for the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards have been announced, with television fans buzzing over their picks. Disney's The Mandalorian was particularly successful, amassing twenty-four nominations in total and tying for the highest amount of nominations among all television shows with Netflix's The Crown. And in a development that will surely please fans, two of the show's actors, Carl Weathers and Timothy Olyphant, have been nominated for their Mandalorian roles for the first time.
Carl Weathers plays Greef Karga, an agent of the Bounty Hunter's Guild who joins with the titular Mandalorian. His character is a fan favorite and the actor himself is also notable for having directed "Chapter 12: The Siege," the fourth episode of the second season. Meanwhile, Guest star Timothy Olyphant appeared in the second season's first episode as Cobb Vanth, who became the sheriff of Mos Pelgo, Tattooine after freeing his people from slavery.
Weathers has not been nominated for many big awards despite his legendary acting career, with his Mandalorian nod being the first Emmy nomination he's ever received. Olyphant has had more luck, as he has been nominated for Emmy awards twice before, one for acting in FX's Justified and another time as a producer on HBO's Deadwood: The Movie. The two actors are joined in the Emmy nominee list by co-star Giancarlo Esposito, who was nominated for his role as Moff Gideon in the Guest Actor category last year (and has since graduated to a nomination in the Supporting Actor category).
Disney Plus is heavily represented throughout the Emmy nomination list not only by The Mandalorian but by Marvel Studios' WandaVision as well. The Marvel series earned a whopping twenty-three nominations, including a Best Limited Series nomination as well as nods for Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, and Kathryn Hahn. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also earned five nominations, including a nod for Don Cheadle. Furthermore, the streamer's filmed edition of the Broadway show Hamilton also garnered a large number of nominations, including nods for many of its main cast members.
Disney Plus has a ways to go before they can edge out HBO and Netflix for the Emmy nomination crown. HBO and HBO Max came together to earn 130 nominations combined, edging out Netflix's 129 nominations by the skin of its teeth, while Disney Plus relied heavily on The Mandalorian, WandaVision, and Hamilton to carry them to a healthy 71 nominations. This amount of nominations represents a streamer that is much more of a factor in the Emmys than last year when they only managed to acquire 19 nominations.
The stark increase in nominations is a bold declaration of the growth of Disney Plus in a relatively short amount of time, and with Loki and other Disney Plus programming likely to play a factor in next year's Emmy nominations, the streamer will likely be a force to be reckoned with and could have a realistic chance of challenging HBO and Netflix for the Emmy throne in years to come.
The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards will air on September 19, 2021.
Source: Primetime Emmy Awards