The HBO drama Succession and comedy Ted Lasso took top honours at the 2022 Emmy Awards in a ceremony that spread its awards between repeat winners and also honored several first-timers.
Jason Sudeikis and Jean Smart collected back-to-back acting trophies, while Zendaya picked up her second drama actress prize for Euphoria.
The ceremony also honoured several first-time winners, including Lizzo, Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game and Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph of Abbott Elementary.
“Thanks for making such a safe space to make this very difficult show,” said Zendaya, a two-time winner for Euphoria, the drama series about teens and their tough coming-of-age.
“My greatest wish for “Euphoria’ was that it could help heal people. Thank you for everyone who has shared your story with me. I carry them with me, and I carry them with” her character, Rue, as well, Zendaya said.
Sudeikis won his second consecutive trophy for the soccer comedy Ted Lasso, with Smart matching that haul for the standup-centred comedy Hacks. Sudeikis gave a rare awards show shoutout to TV consumers.
“Thanks to the people who watch this show and dig it as much as we dig making it,” he said.
The 2022 Emmy Awards ceremony, recognizing the best of television, bucked tradition by airing on a weeknight but still celebrated TV’s top shows in a typical three-hour runtime. Host Kenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live brought his distinct humour to the show in his first time as emcee.
Producers took a page from last year’s scaled-down ceremony and its club-style table seating for nominees.
“They had a ball. They had a party. They celebrated themselves,” said executive producer Ian Stewart, recalling a comment made by actor Sophia Bush at the evening’s end: “Oh, my God, I actually had fun at the Emmys.”
The tables were back and were again reserved for nominees — and their “significants,” Stewart said — but there were some 3,000 other guests seated traditionally in the temporarily reconfigured 7,000-seat Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
Early arrivals on the show’s gold carpet struck a fun, upbeat tone despite temperatures being in the 80s with unseasonable humidity in downtown Los Angeles.
Thompson kicked off the show with a tribute to TV, dismissing TikTok as “tiny vertical television,” and a musical number saluting series’ theme songs from Friends to The Brady Bunch to Game of Thrones.
Once the music stopped, Thompson provided a mic drop moment, announcing Oprah Winfrey as the first presenter. Winfrey strutted onto the stage holding an Emmy statuette, declaring the night “a party!”
Ted Lasso took a dark turn and ended up with another bright shining Emmy.
The show won its second straight Emmy Award for best comedy series on Monday night.
The Apple TV+ series starring Sudeikis as the fish-out-of-water coach of an American football team managing a soccer club in England focused on mental health and its characters’ pain in its second season, and was rewarded for it by Emmy voters.
Ted Lasso beat out competitors including Barry, Hacks, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in The Building and What We Do in the Shadows.
When Lizzo herself accepted the award for best-competition series trophy for Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, she offered another emotional pep talk.
“When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was me in the media. Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me,” the music artist said.
Find a complete list of the nominees in the major categories, below.
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Best Drama Series
Better Call Saul
Euphoria
Ozark
Severance
Squid Game
Stranger Things
** WINNER: Succession
Yellowjackets
Best Comedy Series
Abbott Elementary
Barry
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Hacks
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Only Murders in the Building
** WINNER: Ted Lasso
What We Do in the Shadows
Lead Actor, Drama
Jason Bateman (Ozark)
Brian Cox (Succession)
** WINNER: Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game)
Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul)
Adam Scott (Severance)
Jeremy Strong (Succession)
Lead Actress, Drama
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve)
Laura Linney (Ozark)
Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets)
Sandra Oh (Killing Eve)
Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show)
** WINNER: Zendaya (Euphoria)
Lead Actor, Comedy
Donald Glover (Atlanta)
Bill Hader (Barry)
Nicholas Hoult (The Great)
Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building)
Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
** WINNER: Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso)
Lead Actress, Comedy
Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary)
Kaley Cuoco (The Flight Attendant)
Elle Fanning (The Great)
Issa Rae (Insecure)
** WINNER: Jean Smart (Hacks)
Supporting Actor, Drama
Nicholas Braun (Succession)
Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
Kieran Culkin (Succession)
Park Hae-soo (Squid Game)
** WINNER: Matthew Macfadyen (Succession)
John Turturro (Severance)
Christopher Walken (Severance)
Oh Yeong-su (Squid Game)
Supporting Actress, Drama
Patricia Arquette (Severance)
** WINNER: Julia Garner (Ozark)
Jung Ho-yeon (Squid Game)
Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets)
Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul)
J. Smith-Cameron (Succession)
Sarah Snook (Succession)
Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria)
Supporting Actor, Comedy
Anthony Carrigan (Barry)
** WINNER: Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso)
Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso)
Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso)
Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Tyler James Williams (Abbott Elementary)
Henry Winkler (Barry)
Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live)
Supporting Actress, Comedy
Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)
Hannah Einbinder (Hacks)
Janelle James (Abbott Elementary)
Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)
Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso)
** WINNER: Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary)
Juno Temple (Ted Lasso)
Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso)
Guest Actor, Drama
Adrien Brody (Succession)
James Cromwell (Succession)
** WINNER: Colman Domingo (Euphoria)
Arian Moayed (Succession)
Tom Pelphrey (Ozark)
Alexander Skarsgård (Succession)
Guest Actress, Drama
Hope Davis (Succession)
Marcia Gay Harden (The Morning Show)
Martha Kelly (Euphoria)
Sanaa Lathan (Succession)
Harriet Walter (Succession)
** WINNER: Lee You-mi (Squid Game)
Guest Actor, Comedy
Jerrod Carmichael (Saturday Night Live)
Bill Hader (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
James Lance (Ted Lasso)
** WINNER: Nathan Lane (Only Murders in the Building)
Christopher McDonald (Hacks)
Sam Richardson (Ted Lasso)
Guest Actress, Comedy
Jane Adams (Hacks)
Harriet Sansom Harris (Hacks)
Jane Lynch (Only Murders in the Building)
** WINNER: Laurie Metcalf (Hacks)
Kaitlin Olson (Hacks)
Harriet Walter (Ted Lasso)
Variety Talk Series
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)
** WINNER: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
Late Night With Seth Meyers (NBC)
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Best Competition Series
The Amazing Race (CBS)
** WINNER: Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (Amazon Prime Video)
Nailed It! (Netflix)
RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Voice (NBC)
Best Limited or Anthology Series
Dopesick (Hulu)
The Dropout (Hulu)
Inventing Anna (Netflix)
Pam & Tommy (Hulu)
** WINNER: The White Lotus (HBO)
Best Made-for-TV Movie
** WINNER: Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers (Disney+)
Ray Donovan: The Movie (Crave)
Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon (Paramount Plus)
The Survivor (HBO)
Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas (Roku)
Lead Actor, Limited Series or Movie
Colin Firth (The Staircase)
Andrew Garfield (Under the Banner of Heaven)
Oscar Isaac (Scenes from a Marriage)
** WINNER: Michael Keaton (Dopesick)
Himesh Patel (Station Eleven)
Sebastian Stan (Pam & Tommy)
Lead Actress, Limited Series or Movie
Toni Collette (The Staircase)
Julia Garner (Inventing Anna)
Lily James (Pam & Tommy)
Sarah Paulson (Impeachment: American Crime Story)
Margaret Qualley (Maid)
** WINNER: Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout)
Supporting Actor, Limited Series or Movie
** WINNER: Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus)
Jake Lacy (The White Lotus)
Will Poulter (Dopesick)
Seth Rogen (Pam & Tommy)
Peter Sarsgaard (Dopesick)
Michael Stuhlbarg (Dopesick)
Steve Zahn (The White Lotus)
Supporting Actress, Limited Series or Movie
Connie Britton (The White Lotus)
** WINNER: Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus)
Alexandra Daddario (The White Lotus)
Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick)
Natasha Rothwell (The White Lotus)
Sydney Sweeney (The White Lotus)
Mare Winningham (Dopesick)
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To see a list of all the Emmy Awards, please visit the official Emmys site.
— With files from the Associated Press