When the 2019 Emmy Awards nominations were announced last week, Game of Thrones broke the Television Academy record with a whopping 32 nominations. Several of these were for the drama acting categories, but as subsequent reports revealed, some of these nominations — including Gwendoline Christie and Alfie Allen’s nods — weren’t officially submitted by HBO. On Wednesday, the network explained why this was the case.
At the Television Critics Association’s annual Summer Press Tour, HBO’s president of programming Casey Bloys defended their decision not to submit everyone for considering. Why? As Entertainment Weekly reports, Bloys explained that it had more to do with the sheer size of the show’s cast than anything else: “GoT is unique because it has 27 series regulars — which is unusual.”
“We have someone who has worked at HBO who is an expert in awards; she will work with showrunners to figure out what the best chance of success. It’s a challenge for a series that big if everybody submitted themselves, everybody could cancel [each other out]. There is some strategic thinking… if someone decides to submit on their own, we will help them and their reps.”
So, HBO apparently didn’t sponsor or spearhead Christie and Allen’s efforts to get nominated because they evidently didn’t think they had “the best chance of success.” Though that is an admittedly cynical way of interpreting Bloys’ comments. Even in its final season, which saw the meaningful (and meaningless) deaths of many, many characters, Thrones boasted such a huge cast that their numbers would ultimately prove more detrimental than not.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
