2023 Emmys: A closer look at ‘Prey’s’ 6 nominations

“The hunt begins,” according to the ominous tagline for the sci-fi action TV movie “Prey,” which has now set its sights on converting its impressive six Emmy nominations into wins this year.

“Prey” is the Hulu original film directed by DGA-nominated Dan Trachtenberg (“10 Cloverfield Lane”) from a script by Patrick Aison. It’s the latest installment in the “Predator” film franchise, serving as a prequel to the first four films. Amber Midthunder stars as Naru, young Comanche woman determined to prove herself as a hunter on the Northern Great Plains of 1719. She finds herself protecting her people from a vicious alien (the Yautja, otherwise known as the Predator), which hunts humans for sport, as well as from French fur traders mindlessly destroying the buffalo that her tribe relies on for survival. Midthunder leads a mostly indigenous cast including Dakota Beavers as Taabe and Michelle Thrush as Aruka, with former international basketballer Dane DiLiegro co-starring as the vicious, human-hunting extraterrestrial.

“Prey” became a sensation for Hulu after its premiere back in August 2022, garnering universal praise from critics, like the rave from James Dyer of Empire who after calling it the best “Predator” movie since the original, said that it has a “ferocious heroine, authentic period setting, and a bloody string of inventive action beats,” and Rolling Stone’s David Fear, who wrote that the movie is a “long-awaited masterpiece.” The streaming film went on to score six Emmy nominations last month, including Best TV Movie, plus bids for writing, directing, sound editing, picture editing and music composition.

SEE 2023 Emmys: Complete list of nominees

In the Best TV Movie race, “Prey” competes against “Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas” (two Emmy nominations) “Fire Island” (two) “Hocus Pocus 2” (three) and “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” (eight).

Perhaps most impressively, the action drama claimed both writing and directing nominations, signaling a return to form for TV movies at the Emmys, which often struggle to make the cut in both categories, as they compete directly against (usually higher profile) limited series in the composite Best Movie/Limited Directing and Writing categories. Prior to this year, no TV movie had achieved this nomination combo since “The Normal Heart” in 2014. That bodes well for “Prey” on Emmy night, with perhaps its strongest competition, satirical biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” only showing up in writing and tellingly missing out on a directing nomination.

Here are the 2023 Emmys nominations for “Prey”:

Best TV Movie 
Lawrence Gordon, Executive Producer
Ben Rosenblatt, Executive Producer
James E. Thomas, Executive Producer
John C. Thomas, Executive Producer
Marc Toberoff, Executive Producer
John Davis, Produced by
Jhane Myers, Produced by
Marty Ewing, Produced by

Best Movie/Limited Directing
Dan Trachtenberg, Director

Best Movie/Limited Writing
Patrick Aison, Written by & Story by
Dan Trachtenberg, Story by

Best Movie/Limited Picture Editing
Angela M. Catanzaro, ACE, Editor
Claudia Castello, ACE, Editor

Best Movie/Limited Music Composition (Original Dramatic Score)
Sarah Schachner, Composer

Best Movie/Limited Sound Editing
Chris Terhune, Co-Supervising Sound Editor
William Files, MPSE, Co-Supervising Sound Editor
Jessie Anne Spence, MPSE, Dialogue/ADR Editor
James Miller, Sound Designer
Diego Perez, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor
Lee Gilmore, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor
Christopher Bonis, Sound Effects Editor
Daniel DiPrima, Music Editor
Stephen Perone, Music Editor
Leslie Bloome, Foley Artist
Shaun Brennan, Foley Artist

PREDICT the 2023 Emmy winners through January 15

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