‘Game Of Thrones’ Slays Competition For Most Emmy Wins Ever
Game of Thrones took home four Emmy awards Sunday night, giving the show 12 total awards this year. That total bests the previous most-awarded show in a single award season, according to Entertainment Weekly.
In addition to winning eight awards at the Creative Arts Emmys (the non-televised award segment of the Emmy Awards), Game of Thrones took home the top awards for drama, supporting actor (Peter Dinklage), writing (David Benioff and Dan Weiss), and direction (David Nutter).
Prior to winning the award for best drama this year, Game of Thrones had been shut out by Mad Men for two consecutive years. Although the AMC hit did not make it a three-peat, the show’s male lead, Jon Hamm, took home his long-awaited best actor Emmy after numerous nominations in the category.
In its sixth season, George R.R. Martin’s creation continues to show its ability to slay the competition at the awards ceremony. Damon Lindelof, who producers fellow HBO show The Leftovers, praised Game of Thrones as one of the best shows on television.
“As someone who makes television, I watch that show and I do not know how they do it. When I was watching [episode 8] “Hardhome” this season, I was just like, ‘That’s one of the most excellent hours of television I’ve ever seen.’ It’s excellent for different reasons than “The Suitcase” episode of Mad Men is excellent, but it’s just amazing.”
The previous best total was held by The West Wing, which took home nine awards almost 15 years ago. After claiming the top prize of the evening, Game of Thrones took to Twitter to congratulate its cast and crew on a hardware-filled evening.
Join the realm. Congratulate the cast & crew of #GameofThrones on their #Emmys win for Outstanding Drama Series. pic.twitter.com/tYcWFu94xY
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) September 21, 2015
Prior to the show, many reports focused on the rule change that allowed more members to vote on the selected nominations. Previously, only a select group of 70 to 80 members voted on a category, which meant in general that every nominee’s selection was viewed by each member to determine the winner.
However, with the rule change, now thousands of members of the academy are allowed to vote on every category, meaning the process was more open than ever, according to Vox. That could make for a very unpredictable night and winner list.
Despite the rule change, very few upsets occurred. Game of Thrones may have benefited from the change as it is one of the most popular series on television, but the show certainly remains a popular pick by fans and critics alike.
[Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
