While 2020 Emmy Awards nominees are celebrating Tuesday morning after their work was honored with this year’s nominations, other hopefuls are likely disappointed that their performances and series didn’t get the recognition they (and pundits) had hoped for.
High-profile series that were completely shut out include Better Things (including star Pamela Adlon), The Chi, Dickinson, The Eddy, The Good Fight, Hunters, The Loudest Voice (including star Russell Crowe), Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, Never Have I Ever, Some Good News and Twenties.
Series that were left out of major categories include The Plot Against America (only one nomination, for cinematography, for a show that was seen by some as a contender in multiple limited series categories); Homeland (only one nomination, for directing, for its final season, after dominating past Emmy Awards nominations); Mindhunter (only one nomination, for cinematography); Orange Is the New Black (only one nomination, for Laverne Cox’s guest actress appearance, in its final season); and Defending Jacob (two nominations in minor categories).
Individual stars not nominated for Emmys, despite past honors and pundits arguing they’d likely earn a nod this year include Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David (not nominated despite the series’ numerous nods); Allison Janney (up for Bad Education and Mom); Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss; Better Call Saul stars Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn and Jonathan Banks (left out despite the series’ seven nominations, which surprisingly didn’t include a nod for co-creator Vince Gilligan’s work as a director); Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt stars Ellie Kemper, Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe; Morning Show breakout Gugu Mbatha-Raw; Mrs. America star Rose Byrne; Unbelievable actresses Kaitlyn Dever and Merritt Wever; Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones; Watchmen’s Tim Blake Nelson; Big Little Lies‘ Nicole Kidman; and Reese Witherspoon (up for three series: Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere and The Morning Show, but left out of this year’s nominees).
In terms of snubs in specific categories, The Morning Show got multiple nominations but wasn’t nominated for best drama series. Similarly, Black-ish and Westworld received multiple acting nominations but failed to earn nominations in the best comedy and drama series categories, respectively. And I Know This Much Is True star Mark Ruffalo was nominated for best actor in a limited series, but the acclaimed program didn’t receive any other nominations.
Meanwhile, What We Do in the Shadows was nominated for best comedy series, and received three writing nominations, but none of the show’s individual performers were nominated.
While Pose star Billy Porter was able to repeat and the groundbreaking series got a handful of other nominations, stars Mj Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson and Angelica Ross were not nominated and the show wasn’t nominated for best drama series.
Late Night With Seth Meyers, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Late Late Show With James Corden and Real Time With Bill Maher were all left out of variety talk series.
