The 70th Primetime Emmy Awards was a mixed bag of big surprises and not so big ones. While Game of Thrones won the Best Drama Series, Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel took home a number of trophies. Who were the other big winners?
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HBO’s 'Game of Thrones' Wins Best Drama Series, Best Supporting Actor
Game of Thrones had 22 nominations this year, and was one of the least surprising wins. Producer-writer DB Weiss accepted the award on behalf of the show and made a point of thanking George R.R. Martin, the author of the Game of Thrones books - noteworthy because of the reported chill between him and the show’s makers as the plot took off beyond the books.
Peter Dinklage beat co-star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to win Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series - his third win - and thanked Martin “for creating this darn thing.”
Claire Foy Wins Best Lead Actress in a Drama, Stephen Daldry for Netflix’s 'The Crown'
Claire Foy beat The Handmaid’s Tale actor Elizabeth Moss to win the Best Lead Actress in a Drama for Netflix’s hugely successful The Crown, in which she has played a stoic Queen Elizabeth for two seasons.
“I had the most extraordinary two and a half years of my life. I was given a role that I never thought I would get a chance to play,” ,” she said. The new season of the show will jump several years with new actors in the roles.
Stephen Daldry won the trophy for Best Directing for a Drama for The Crown, but was not present to collect his award.
'The Americans' Wins Best Lead Actor, Best Writing in a Drama
Matthew Rhys took his first best drama actor Emmy for playing a conflicted Cold War Russian spy in FX’s The Americans. “Parts like these come along so rarely...I will be forever in your debt,” Rhys said as he thanked the show’s creator, Joe Weisberg.
Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg won the laurels for Best Writing in a Drama, and thanked “our passionate, die-hard, slightly-treasonous fans.”
Thandie Newton Wins Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for HBO’s 'Westworld'
Thandie Newton won the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Maeve Millay, a "host" who gains sentience and goes on a quest to rescue her daughter, on the hit HBO series. “I don’t even believe in God, but I’m going to thank Her tonight,” a surprised Newton said in her acceptance speech.
Amazon’s 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' Wins Best Comedy Series, Director, Writer, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress
One of the original and sparkling series to come to the digital space last year, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - about a 1950s housewife who turns to stand-up comedy - this is a very deserving win indeed. Brosnahan said one reason she loves The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is because it’s about a woman finding her voice.
The makers raked in four awards in all, apart from directing, writing, lead actor (female) for Rachel Brosnahan, and supporting actor (female) for Alex Borstein. Borstein kicked off her acceptance speech with a joke about not getting pee on the toilet seat: “What a platform. Ladies, when you use a public bathroom: Sit. When you sit, we can all sit.”
Regina King Wins Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie for Netflix’s 'Seven Seconds'
A stunned Regina King was honoured for her portrayal of Latrice Butler, a Jersey City mother whose son is killed by the police in Veena Sud’s Netflix drama, Seven Seconds. It’s King’s fourth Emmy nomination and third win, her first for lead actress.
FX’s 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace' Wins Best Actor, Director, Limited Series
The Assassination of Gianni Versace, based on the true tale of a gay serial killer who murdered the Italian designer in Miami in 1997, took home the Emmy for Best Limited Series. The stylish show, flaunting names like Darren Criss (who also won the Best Actor in a Limited Series), Edgar Ramirez, Penelope Cruz and Ricky Martin, also won the Best Director in a Limited Series award for Ryan Murphy.
Jeff Daniels, Merrit Wever Win Best Supporting Actor, Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie for Netflix’s 'Godless'
Merritt Wever won the Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Television Movie Award for her role as Mary Agnes McNue on Godless. "I just want to say that I'm still shocked that you've made a space for me and that you made a space for Mary Agnes," she said about her character. "I love her and I still miss her, and I hope she's well and I wish I could tell her about tonight, and thank you from the both of us."
Jeff Daniels took the trophy home for his role as the ruthless outlaw Frank Griffin, which marked his fifth Emmy nomination and second win. “A tip for young actors,” Daniels said. “When they call you and say can you ride a horse, don’t lie.”
HBO’s 'Barry' Wins Best Actor, best supporting actor award in a Comedy Series
In what was one of the biggest surprises of the night presumed front runner Donald Glover, the star and creator of the surreal hip-hop-inspired FX show Atlanta, lost out in the comedy acting category to Bill Hader’s hitman-turned-struggling actor in HBO’s Barry. “I was taught you should always make other people look good, so what I did was hire a bunch of great actors who make me look really good,” he quipped.
This was the first Emmy win for 72-year-old Henry Winkler - for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series - after six nominations, including three times for Happy Days which premiered in 1974. “I wrote this 43 years ago,” he quipped before offering some advice that was given to him. “If you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you and tonight, I got to clear the table,” he said.
HBO’s 'Last Week Tonight With John Oliver' Wins Best Variety Talk Series
This marks the third consecutive victory for the HBO late-night show. This year, it beat Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, The Late Late Show With James Corden and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah to take home the gold. Oliver said in his acceptance speech that for every Emmy awards, “we fly our staff here, and we put them in the worst seats in the building to send a mixed message!”
NBC’s 'Saturday Night Live' Wins Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
Boasting stars like Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller and Alec Baldwin, the sketch show which doubles as political humour, targeting the Trump administration last season, won its fourth award in the category and 23rd nomination.
“So let me just say, I love my job and I love the people that I work with, and that in 1975 when we started there were a lot of articles for most of that decade about how the networks wouldn’t be around much longer, and here we are, it’s 2018 and we’re the Emmys and we’re on NBC,” said SNL creator Lorne Michaels.
William Bridges and Charlie Brooker Win the Emmy for Best Writing in a Limited Series for 'Uss Callister', an Episode of Netflix’s 'Black Mirror'
William Bridges and Charlie Brooker thanked Netflix, their children and famous sci-fi shows like Star Trek and The Twilight Zone.
'RuPaul’s Drag Race' Wins Best Reality-Competition Program
RuPaul's Drag Race beat previous winners The Amazing Race, The Voice and Top Chef to win this year’s trophy. "Thank you to the Academy. This is so lovely. We are so happy to present this show. I would like to thank, on behalf of the 140 drag queens we have released into the wild, I'd love to thank Dick Richards for introducing me to Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey," RuPaul said, tipping his hat to his partners at World of Wonder, who've produced the series.
Glenn Weiss Wins Best Directing for Variety Special 'The Oscars'
Glenn Weiss’s win for directing the Oscars ceremony was overshadowed by his wedding proposal to girlfriend, Jan Svendsen on stage - a first in Emmy history. He kicked off the acceptance speech by talking about his recently deceased mother and followed it up with how his mother always believed in “finding the sunshine,” leading him to denote Svensen as “the sunshine in my life.” He continued: “And Mom was right, don’t ever let go of your sunshine. You wonder why I don’t like to call you my girlfriend? Because I want to call you my wife.”
John Mulaney Wins Best Writing for a Variety Special for Netflix’s 'John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City'
John Mulaney, in his acceptance speech, shared that his wife didn’t think he had much of a shot. “I just can’t fly across the country to watch you lose,” she told him.
Betty White, for Her Contribution to the Television Industry
96-year-old Betty White got a standing ovation as she was honoured for decades of contribution to the television industry. The excited actor thanked the telecast’s executive producer, Lorne Michaels for the honour and said, “But little did I dream then that I would be here, and it’s incredible that I’m still in this business . . . and you are still putting up with me. Believe me, I’m thanking you. It’s incredible that you can stay in a career this long and still have people put up with you. I wish they did that at home.”
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