Despite a divisive final season, Game of Thrones has scored a record 32 nominations at the Emmys for 2019. “The HBO epic... set a new benchmark with 32 total nominations, the most for any program in a single season (beating NYPD Blue‘s previous mark),” Deadline noted. The Emmys will be aired on September 18 and will be aired in India on Star World on September 23.
The television equivalent of the Oscars nominated the drama for, among others, Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series (for showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff) and Outstanding Directing (for the episodes The Last of the Starks, The Long Night and The Iron Throne). The show also picked up nods for music (by Ramin Djawadi), production design, casting, costume design, editing, hairstyling and make-up.
Emilia Clarke was nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category for her performance as Daenerys Targaryen. Clarke will compete with Robin Wright as Claire Underwood in House Of Cards, Viola Davis as Annalise Keating in How To Get Away With Murder, Jodie Comer as Villanelle in Killing Eve, Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri in Killing Eve, Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde in Ozark, and Mandy Moore as Rebecca Pearson in This Is Us.
Also nominated in the supporting actors (male and female) categories were Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Peter Dinkgale, Alfie Allen and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Kit Harington earned a nod for playing the tragic hero Jon Snow in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series category. Harington is up against Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill in Better Call Saul, Jason Bateman as Martin Byrde in Ozark, Billy Porter as Pray Tell in Pose, Sterling K Brown as Randall Pearson in This Is Us, and Milo Ventimiglia as Jack Pearson in This Is Us.
The second most nominated show was the Amazon Studios production The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The 20 nods include directing (for Amy Sherman-Palladino), casting, costumes, cinematography, production design, editing and hairstyling.
In the third slot was the HBO/Sky Atlantic production Chernobyl, which examines the fallout of the horrific nuclear accident in the former Soviet Union in 1986. The hugely popular show bagged 19 Emmy nominations, and will compete with Escape At Dannemora, Fosse/Verdon, Sharp Objects and When They See Us in the limited series category.
The stand-up comedy series Saturday Night Live got 18 nominations, while Barry and Fosse/Verdon got 17 each. When They See Us was nominated in 16 categories and Russian Doll in 13. Fleabag, which was passed over in 2018, got 11 nominations.
HBO was the leading network, with 137 nominations, followed by 117 for Netflix, 58 for NBC, 47 for Prime Video and 43 for CBS.
The complete list of nominations is here.