Last year’s 72nd Primetime Emmys rewarded a total of 23 contenders with trophies, including shows like “Schitt’s Creek” and “Succession” and actors like Billy Crudup and Julia Garner. But of those 23 winners, shockingly only two are eligible to repeat at the 2021 Emmys: “RuPaul’s Drag Race” for Best Competition Program and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” for Best Variety Talk Series. In other words, the upcoming 73rd ceremony will be positively overflowing with first-time winners.
We know what you’re thinking: Why are so many of last year’s shows now ineligible? It’s a mix of some programs having ended and the coronavirus pandemic halting production on others. “Schitt’s Creek” accounted for all seven of the primetime comedy categories (series, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, writing and directing), so that means all of those are up for grabs this year. “Succession,” which took home four of last year’s drama prizes (series, actor, writing and directing), wasn’t able to produce a new season in time to be eligible for the 2021 ceremony. Same with “Euphoria” (actress), “Ozark” (supporting actress) and “The Morning Show” (supporting actor).
According to Gold Derby’s Emmy predictions, the top series trophies will be awarded to a freshman comedy (“Ted Lasso”) and a fourth-year drama that has yet to win the top prize (“The Crown”). The other new programs from this 2020-21 cycle that are expected to take home prizes include “The Queen’s Gambit” in limited and “Sylvie’s Love” in TV movie.
In terms of the primetime ceremony’s 12 acting categories (four for drama, four for comedy, four for limited/movie), only two are predicted to go to people who have won Emmys before in their careers. Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”) is a former champ for writing the “SNL” song “Come Back, Barack” (2018) and Gillian Anderson (“The Crown”) previously won for starring on “The X-Files” (1997). Meanwhile, Michael K. Williams (“Lovecraft Country”) and Kathryn Hahn (“WandaVision”) have both been nominated before for other projects.
That means the other eight predicted winners will all be Emmy newcomers: Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”), Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”) and Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso”) in comedy, Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) and Josh O’Connor (“The Crown”) in drama, and Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”), Ethan Hawke (“The Good Lord Bird”) and John Boyega (“Small Axe”) in limited/movie.
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