Awards for Game of Thrones, The People v. O.J. Simpson, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus highlighted this year’s honors.
HBO’s fantasy hit Game of Thrones dominated the 68th annual Emmy Awards, as the series won a whopping 12 awards, including best drama. It was rivalled only by newcomer The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story which won five prizes, including best limited series.
Emmy Awards took place Sunday night, honouring the best TV from the year 2015.
“Game of Thrones,” entered Emmy Awards 2016 with a leading 23 nominations, won a total of 12 Emmys, including for directing and writing.
When accepting their Emmy for best writing, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss thanked HBO for giving them enough support to “keep this giant lizard flying.” Game of Thrones costs a staggering $10 million per episode and, reportedly, a dragon-sized portion of that budget was poured into the visually arresting episode “Battle of the Bastards.”
FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson – a 10-hour dramatisation of the former American football star’s 1995 double murder trial – went into the evening with 13 nominations, and hauled in five awards.
Veep won best comedy series and best comedy actress for Julia Louis-Dreyfus (centre)
For the second year in a row Julia Louis-Dreyfus won two Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, for her role as the vainglorious US president Selina Meyer in Veep, as well as the best producer award for a comedy series. Veep, which has been nominated 42 times at the Emmys, won the best comedy category.
Rami Malek took home a surprise win for lead actor in a drama, for his performance as Elliot Alderson, a paranoid, socially awkward hacker in Mr Robot, while Tatiana Maslany won in the best actress category for Orphan Black.
Sarah Paulson has won her first Emmy, for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie.
After the win, Sarah Paulson told press that she felt a tremendous sense of “self-inflicted responsibility” in taking on the role. The American Crime Story actress has been nominated five years in a row, but never won—until now.
John Oliver won best variety talk series for his HBO series Last Week Tonight, beating fellow British nominee James Corden, who was nominated for The Late Late Show.
BBC One’s Sherlock was named best made for TV movie for its special episode The Abominable Bride.
Emmy Awards 2016 Winners
Here is the list of winners:
Outstanding Drama Series — “Game of Thrones”
Outstanding Comedy Series — “Veep”
Outstanding Lead Actress, Drama Series — Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Outstanding Lead Actor, Drama Series — Rami Malek, “Mr. Robot”
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama Series — Maggie Smith, “Downton Abbey”
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama Series — Ben Mendelsohn, “Bloodline”
Outstanding Directing, Drama Series — Miguel Sapochnik, “Game of Thrones”
Outstanding Writing, Drama Series — David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, “Game of Thrones”
Outstanding Lead Actress, Comedy Series — Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy Series — Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Comedy Series — Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Comedy Series — Louie Anderson, “Baskets”
Outstanding Writing, Comedy Series — Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, “Master of None”
Outstanding Directing, Comedy Series — Jill Soloway, “Transparent”
Outstanding Limited Series — “The People v. O.J. Simpson”
Outstanding Television Movie — “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride”
Outstanding Lead Actress, Limited Series or Movie — Sarah Paulson, “The People v. O.J. Simpson”
Outstanding Lead Actor, Limited Series or Movie — Courtney B. Vance, “The People v. O.J. Simpson”
Outstanding Supporting Actress, Limited Series or Movie — Regina King, “American Crime”
Outstanding Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie — Sterling K. Brown, “The People v. O.J. Simpson”
Outstanding Directing, Limited Series or Movie — Susanne Bier, “The Night Manager”
Outstanding Writing, Limited Series or Movie — D.V. DeVincentis, “The People v. O.J. Simpson”
Outstanding Reality Competition Program — “The Voice”
Outstanding Writing, Variety Special — Patton Oswalt, “Talking for Clapping”
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series — “Key and Peele”
Outstanding Variety Talk Series — “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”
Outstanding Directing, Variety Special — “Grease Live”
