Craig Mazin won the award for best writing for HBO’s Chernobyl at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards.
When accepting the award, Mazin was quick to praise series director Johan Renck, who won for best directing earlier in the night. “You could not ask for a better director or a writer,” he said. He later thanked the “incredible cast led by Jared Harris” and crew dedicated to “telling this story.”
Mazin then dedicated the award to the victims of the tragic Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster.
Mazin beat out other nominees “Episode 6,” Escape at Dannemora (written by Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin, Jerry Stahl); “Episode 7,” Escape at Dannemora (Written by Brett Johnson, Michael Tolkin); “Providence,” Fosse/Verdon (written by Steven Levenson and Joel Fields); A Very English Scandal (written by Russell T. Davies); and “Part Four,” When They See Us (Teleplay by Ava DuVernay and Michael Starrbury).
When speaking to press backstage, Mazin addressed whether there would be a second season to the hit show. “We will not be doing that. We told a story in a place in time. And we did it pretty darn well,” he told reporters. “And it’s time to start talking about other places and other times, but the thing that’s most important to me.”
“The good thing is history does repeat itself. It’s just the trick is finding interesting history that is repeating itself an interesting way. So I think we closed the book on this chapter. We’re very glad that people can watch this series … and on to the next.”
Mazin also briefly addressed the news that David Goodman was reelected as Writers Guild West President: “Listen to all the members. Do the best you can and see if you can’t patch this whole thing up. And we’ll see how it goes.”
The 71st Annual Emmy Awards is airing live on Fox from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
