Emmy nominations biggest snubs and surprises

Some major snubs were unleashed Thursday morning as the nominations for the 70th Emmy Awards were announced. Below are the biggest shows and actors left out in the cold — and the most unexpected nominations too.

SNUBBED: Modern Family. This is a big one. Not because people are going to be outraged that the ABC veteran hit wasn’t nominated — the show’s buzziest days are long behind it — but because its absence breaks a major streak. This is the first time in the history of Modern Family that it wasn’t nominated. More surprising: None of the show’s stars were nominated either.

SNUBBED: Roseanne. Few, if anybody, predicted ABC’s controversial comedy would get nominated for best comedy series, but the absence of the most-watched new comedy of the season is worth noting nonetheless. ABC shotgunned the show’s odds by reportedly pulling the show’s Emmy campaign after it axed the series for Roseanne Barr’s racist tweet. Star Laurie Metcalf, however, wasn’t collateral damage and picked up a supporting actress nomination.

SURPRISE: Curb Your Enthusiasm. One should never overlook the beloved Hollywood-set HBO comedy, but few thought the series return — which didn’t generate much excitement last fall — would do this well. Curb crashed the comedy series category and star Larry David got a nom for lead comedy actor.

SURPRISE: Silicon Valley. Okay, perhaps not a big surprise, but this wasn’t the show’s finest season and some thought the tech industry comedy’s series nomination streak might get broken given all the competition.

SNUBBED: Will & Grace. The NBC series was expected to get nominated for best comedy, and didn’t. Also a surprise: Stars Eric McCormack and Debra Messing were also left in the cold (but Megan Mullally nabbed a supporting actress nod).

SNUBBED: Killing Eve. Fans hoped the British-made BBC America breakout thriller would land a nomination for best drama, yet the show’s modest ratings — great for BBC America but still less than 1 million per episode — might have hurt its chances. Thankfully star Sandra Oh did get nominated.

SNUBBED: Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones. HBO tried submitting Clarke and co-star Kit Harington in the lead categories for the first time due to their heavy screen time in season 7 — and to avoid having every major actor in the sprawling ensemble compete in the same crowded supporting categories. Yet in this competitive year the Mother of Dragons didn’t make the cut. Her costar Lena Headey, however, picked up a nomination for supporting.

SNUBBED: Kit Harington, Game of Thrones. Along with Clarke, submitted into lead actor categories instead of supporting for the first time. The gambit didn’t pay off for the King in the North, however. But Harington’s male costars Peter Dinklage and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau both were nominated in the supporting categories (a well-deserved first for Coster-Waldau). All told, GoT has 22 nominations this year — the most of any series

SNUBBED: Kyle MacLachlan, Twin Peaks. Even given the Showtime limited series’ divisive oddness, prognosticators thought MacLachlan would get a nod. Twin Peaks was also snubbed for limited series, which is perhaps an even bigger surprise.

SURPRISE: Westworld cleans up. The second season of the sci-fi drama may not have received the universal acclaim of the first, but you sure can’t tell from the show’s Emmy nomination haul: Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris (who was not a favorite among oddsmakers) and Jimmi Simpson were all nominated in various categories, plus it’s up for best drama too. All told, the show received 20 nominations.

SNUBBED: Alison Brie, GLOW. Netflix heavily marketing the second season of its acclaimed retro comedy to Emmy voters with ads and For Your Consideration events. And while it picked up the show’s first comedy series nomination, star Brie didn’t make the cut.

SNUBBED: Freddie Highmore, The Good Doctor. Highmore is in practically every scene of the biggest new breakout show of last season on broadcast and was expected to get a shout-out here.

SNUBBED: Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan. We’re not broken up about this one, but Schreiber is a TV Academy favorite and this snaps his nomination streak.

SURPRISE: Jesse Plemons, Black Mirror. A pleasant surprise at that as Plemons scores for his riveting portrayal of a megalomaniacal tech boss. Black Mirror‘s “U.S.S. Callister” episode is also up for best TV movie. Yet unfortunately, honors for the episode’s awesome female lead Cristin Milioti were lost in space.

SNUBBED: Mandy Moore, This Is Us. Moore stepped up her game in season 2 of the NBC dramedy hit, turning in her most achingly powerful work as Rebecca grieved Jack’s tragic death. Costar Justin Hartley was also left out of the supporting category.

SNUBBED: Real Time with Bill Maher. HBO’s Real Time has been nominated 12 times — only missing one year since 2005 — yet was squeezed out of the category by his late-night rivals (including front-runner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver).

SURPRISE: Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black. An upset in the super-competitive lead actress in a drama series for the BBC America cult favorite’s final season.

SNUBBED: Al Pacino, Paterno. This level of Hollywood icon casting in an HBO biopic is normally a lock to get nominated, but not this time.

SNUBBED: Jessica Walter, Arrested Development. Pundits thought Walter had a good shot this year, especially after the Arrested cast’s New York Times interview sparked sympathy for the actress.

SURPRISE: John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert. The singer beat out Pacino and MacLachlan and also HBO’s Fahrenheit 451‘s Michael B. Jordan for a lead actor in a movie or limited series slot.

SNUBBED: John Goodman, Roseanne. After the show’s cancellation, Goodman was quoted as saying he “wasn’t going to get an Emmy anyway” and now that’s definitely true.

SNUBBED: Peter Mullan, Westworld. One of the few noms that Westworld didn’t wrangle was one for Mullan’s heartbreaking performance as doomed immortality-seeking executive James Delos.

SNUBBED: Late Night with Seth Meyers. It was a competitive variety talk series category this year (Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, James Corden and Stephen Colbert got nods), but Meyers was expected to get in too.

SURPRISE: Netflix. The streaming service (111 nominations) toppled awards season king HBO (108 nominations) as the most honored network for the first time (more on that here).

Here is the full list of 2018 Emmy nominations.

NBC will air the annual primetime Emmys ceremony live on both coasts at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Monday, Sept. 17. Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost and Michael Che will host.