George R.R. Martin on the Golden Globes: ‘The Crown was the safe choice’

A Song of Ice and Fire author and Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin took to his Not a Blog earlier this week to weigh in on the Golden Globes. Game of Thrones was up for Best Drama and Lena Heady (Cersei Lannister) was up for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series. Sadly, neither won. Instead, the Best Supporting Actress award went to Olivia Colman for The Night Manager, and the Best Drama award went to The Crown, Netflix’s series about the early days of Queen Elizabeth II.

Martin wasn’t pleased. “Lena Headey lost, and GAME OF THRONES lost, and WESTWORLD and its two amazing actresses lost as well. Pfui.”

"The Hollywood Foreign Press Association surprised me this year by nominating three genre shows — GOT, WESTWORLD, and STRANGER THINGS — for Best Drama, but in the end they reverted to form and passed over all of them in favor of the safe choice, the ‘prestige’ historical drama THE CROWN. (Which I did enjoy, mind you, even though I went away thinking that while it may have been good to be the king in the Middle Ages, it really sucked to be the queen in the 1950s). So: no Globes for us…The highlight of the Globes — and the day — was Meryl Streep’s speech."

The Crown. Image: Netflix

Is The Crown “the safe choice?” It’s true that the Hollywood Foreign Press tends not to give the Best Drama award to genre shows, although it has happened—Twin Peaks, The X-Files, and Lost have all earned this award in the past. Hell, The X-Files got it three times.

Having watched The Crown myself, I can say that the acting and writing is of a high quality. If Game of Thrones had to lose, I don’t mind that it was to The Crown. At least Game of Thrones has two more seasons remaining, which means two more opportunities for bringing home the gold.

Pfui.