Emmys 2023 Category Tallies: Here’s How Many Series and Stars Were Submitted As Nominations Voting Begins
Ballots for the 2023 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations are out, and in outstanding drama, there are 163 titles in the mix, while comedy has 95 series that have been submitted and limited/anthology has fielded 51 entries.
In the top two series categories – outstanding drama series and outstanding comedy series – there will be eight shows each that will make the cut.
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In drama, the submissions include freshman series such as HBO’s “The Last of Us,” Disney’s “Andor” and FX’s “The Old Man,” along with the final seasons of HBO’s “Succession” and AMC’s “Better Call Saul.” The 163 entries compared to last year’s 171, as well as 133 in 2021 and the record of 199 in 2020.
In comedy, the list includes new series like FX’s “The Bear,” Apple’s “Shrinking” and Netflix’s “Wednesday.” In addition, farewell seasons are in the midst such as Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” HBO’s “Barry” and maybe Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso.” This year’s 95 entries compared to 118 entries last year (which was believed to be a new record), as well as 68 in 2021 and 111 in 2020.
The limited or anthology category has programs in the discussion including Netflix’s “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” and Showtime’s “George & Tammy.” This year’s 51 is down from 61 entries in 2022, 37 in 2021 and 41 in 2020.
The race for outstanding television movie saw 61 films in the running, an uptick from 48, 41 and 28 during the past three years.
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Primetime Emmy predictions in the major categories.
Meanwhile, the acting races are overflowing with A-list names and celebrities.
Lead drama actor and lead drama actress both had 109 names on the ballot each. These include three “Succession” actors Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong, alongside two entries for Pedro Pascal for “The Last of Us” and Disney’s “The Mandalorian” (That compares to 134 last year). For drama actress, powerhouse performances like the four from “Yellowjackets” stars – Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress and Sophie Nélisse, are vying for attention (2022 saw 114 names in the running).
Lead comedy actor has 68 performers seeking attention (vs. 84 last year), including veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short from “Only Murders in the Building” and a second Bob Odenkirk bid from another AMC series, “Lucky Hank.” The lead comedy actress has 76 talents (compared to 91 in 2022) in the discussion which includes social media dominators such as Latina superstars Selena Gomez (“Only Murders”) and Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”). This means both categories will yield five nominees
With limited series and TV movie performers combined in their acting categories, there was a surprisingly larger number of entrants than expected.
Names like Evan Peters (“Dahmer”) and Daniel Radcliffe (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”) are among the lead actor (limited) race that has a total of 97 submissions (vs. 64 last year). At the same time, Jessica Chastain (“George and Tammy”) and Amber Midthunder (“Prey”) are among those in the running for lead actress (limited), totaling 96 (compared to 92 in 2022).
All lead acting races will yield six nominees each after voting closes. That won’t be the case in the supporting acting races which will see eight in the respective drama categories, with the supporting comedy and limited races eligible to bring seven nominees each.
In 2022, the TV Academy saw an all-time record in the submissions for supporting drama actor with 436 potentials. This year, there are 346, which puts respected actors like John Lithgow (“The Old Man”) and Jonathan Pryce (“The Crown”) on the ballots. Supporting drama actress saw a change from 385 in 2022. Supporting drama actress has former winners like Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”) and Ann Dowd (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) among the 319 names.
Supporting comedy actor has beloved Hollywood figures like Mel Brooks (“History of the World Part II”) and Henry Winkler (“Barry”) alongside the 239 list of actors (vs. 282 in 2022). Two hundred two supporting comedy actresses (compared to 265 last year) are going for Emmy Gold a diverse slate such as Janelle James (“Abbott Elementary”) and Jessica Williams (“Shrinking”). Unfortunately, this means only seven nominees will be up for the taking, differing from eight last year. One of the categories would need a minimum of 240 submissions.
Supporting actor (limited) will have 209 contenders (compared to 64 last year) such as Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”) and Murray Bartlett (“Welcome to Chippendales”) while supporting actress (limited) has 177 powerhouses (vs. 92 in 2022) which include Claire Danes (“Fleishman is in Trouble”) and Olivia Colman (“Great Expectations”). Those categories will have seven nominees each.
There are 19 talk series among the submissions including newly moved to the category “The Problem with Jon Stewart” from Apple and “Pause with Sam Jay” from HBO. This will allow five nominees to be named. The newly titled scripted variety series (formally variety sketch) has 12 entrants including “Saturday Night Live” which will give us three after consecutive years of two.
Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Creative Arts predictions in all categories.
Among the two variety special categories, pre-recorded has 92 entrants which include CBS’ “The Last, Last Late, Late Show Carpool Karaoke Special”. In contrast, the live category race has 29 including the 95th Oscars ceremony and “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage,” Netflix’s first live taping.
The documentary categories have a robust number of series and movies across varying distinctions. In the nonfiction (special) there are 52 including Hulu’s “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” while nonfiction (series) holds 63 candidates which include Netflix’s “Harry & Meghan.”
Hosted nonfiction series has 39 including CNN’s final season and last year’s winner “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” and Disney’s “Rennervations.”
Nomination voting is now open to the 20,000+ members of the Television Academy. The first round of voting ends on June 26 at 10 p.m. PT. The official nominees will be announced on Tuesday, July 12. The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment, are (tentatively scheduled pending the outcome of the WGA strike) on Monday, Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Fox. The two-night Creative Arts Emmys are scheduled for Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.
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