Over the course of eight episodes, Legion took a basic idea from comics and turned it into one of the wildest, most surreal dramas on TV. Noah Hawley probed deep into the psyche of a damaged young man while refusing to answer how much of what was happening was in his mind and how much was real. Also, there were limericks. So fans were surprised when it was completely snubbed at the Emmys, but showrunner Noah Hawley wasn’t.
Hawley is no stranger to the Emmys; his other show, Fargo, has 52 nominations, 16 of those for this year’s derby. Speaking to Deadline, he noted that getting on the Emmys radar simply takes a lot more time than it used to, and that Legion is technically a “superhero show” doesn’t help matters:
I would run into those guys from Game of Thrones and they’d show up, never win, but then they finally won. It was a process to get that genre to that place where people consider it a real drama. There is a process to it. I never expected anything, I guess. The pilot for Legion was really special and it would have been nice to be recognized for that, but I also understand the genre itself is an obstacle for some people…
And, to be fair, we’re in throes of peak TV, and the Emmys tend to stick with the shows they nominate, whether they should keep nominating them or not. So, provided Legion gets another season or two, its time will come. Either that or the Emmys will wind up just nominating Fargo for everything, which would also be an acceptable outcome.
(via Deadline)