What do those Creative Arts results mean for the main Emmy ceremony?
The big prizes will be handed out at Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards, but a ton of statuettes were bestowed this past weekend at the Creative Arts Emmys, and the results have been both clarifying and confusing as we try to use them forecast the main categories — because let’s face it, when are we not confused about our predictions? Hundreds of users and our pundits have updated their predictions since Creative Arts, so where do we stand now?
COMEDY
“Ted Lasso” took home three Creative Arts Emmys from seven nominations, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s a perfectly fine haul for a show that’s not tech-heavy. It won the all-important casting prize, which is voted on by casting directors, producers and directors. It’s been the frontrunner in series, actor (Jason Sudeikis) and supporting actress (Hannah Waddingham) for ages, and nothing’s changed. But where it has made recent gains — and not just solely because of Creative Arts — is supporting actor, where Brett Goldstein is trying to overcome a four-way split. He has now risen one spot to second place, behind Kenan Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”), mostly on the strength of his character Roy Kent’s arc in the second season, which has been airing while final voting occurred.
The Apple TV+ hit is also predicted to win directing and writing, but these are by no means secure since it could vote-split as it has three directing noms and two writing ones. The only category “Ted” will definitely not win is actress since it doesn’t have a nominee there, duh. That remains Jean Smart‘s for the taking. “Hacks” had nine Creative Arts nominations, including three in editing, but it got blanked. That doesn’t sound great, but the HBO Max comedy also isn’t a tech giant, so it’s not a big deal, and only actors vote for acting awards.
SEE Full list of Creative Arts winners
DRAMA
Still the series favorite, “The Crown” nabbed four Creative Arts wins from 13 nominations, including editing — a category in which he had never even been nominated until this year — casting (its second) and guest actress for Claire Foy‘s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo reading a radio address as Queen Elizabeth. It did not win the guest category it was predicted to win, actor for Charles Dance, so it evens out? Foy’s victory is in line with recent name-check-y winners in the category for very, very brief appearances (hi, Margo Martindale and Cherry Jones). “The Crown” is expected to win writing and directing and three more acting awards in actress (Emma Corrin), actor (Josh O’Connor) and supporting actress (Gillian Anderson). Tobias Menzies remains in second place in supporting actor behind the late Michael K. Williams, whose “Lovecraft Country” co-star Courtney B. Vance won guest actor, so that could portend good things for Williams. (And no, the actor’s tragic death on Sept. 6 has no impact on the results since voting closed on Aug. 30.)
“Pose” stars Billy Porter and Mj Rodriguez have felt like potential upset winners in the lead races — they’re both in second — and the FX show’s three Creative Arts triumphs probably made every “Pose” stan believe that’s a possibility. It won three awards for costumes, hairstyling and non-prosthetic makeup. Before this, its only Emmy win was actor for Porter in 2019. However, it’s important to note that “Pose’s” Creative Arts wins came in contemporary categories, which are typically less competitive, and its prior nominations were in period, which is always stacked (for example, “Pose” lost period costumes to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” in 2019 and to “The Crown” last year). Rodriguez, the first trans performer to be nominated in a lead category, getting a nomination was a huge coup and she could certainly mount a historic win, but let’s also remember that costume designers, hairstylists and makeup artists are not voting for acting winners.
LIMITED/TV MOVIE
We all expected “The Queen’s Gambit” to do well at Creative Arts since it is a craft beast, but maybe not “nine wins out of 12 nominations” well. The Netflix smash, which swept the guild awards in the winter, reasserted itself as the Best Limited Series frontrunner — every branch votes in the program categories — and now stands five wins shy of breaking “John Adams'” record of 13 wins in one year. It was already predicted to win directing, but it’s made a lot of movement in one category it seemed like a lock to win six months ago: actress. Anya Taylor-Joy may just retake the top spot from Kate Winslet (“Mare of Easttown”) before Sunday. Given “The Queen’s Gambit’s” Creative Arts dominance, it’s hard not to see ATJ, who also won everything she could in the winter, snagging the Emmy as well, but, again, the thespians could go their own way here and we have yet to learn how they feel about the limited categories since there are no guest acting ones, so Winslet (and the other three nominees) are not 100 percent out of it.
If the chess drama is an unstoppable force across the board, it could also carry writing, where it’s currently in third place behind “I May Destroy You” and “Mare of Easttown,” and another acting category (or two). Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Moses Ingram are in fourth and fifth place in their respective supporting races. Kathryn Hahn (“WandaVision”) is still far and away the supporting actress favorite, and “Agatha All Along’s” win for music and lyrics ought to be encouraging that people just couldn’t get enough of her and that pop culture moment. Evan Peters remains in first in supporting actor — could he be “Mare’s” sole acting win? Not out of the question. As for the unsettled actor race, where “The Queen’s Gambit” is not competing, Paul Bettany (“WandaVision”) maintains the top spot, but, really, you could just throw a dart at the wall to pick a winner here.
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