Award season rolls on with the announcement of the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards nominations. Game of Thrones Season 6 picked up three nods.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
John Lithgow, The Crown
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Crown
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Stranger Things
Westworld
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
Game of Thrones
Marvel’s Daredevil
Marvel’s Luke Cage
The Walking Dead
Westworld
For those unfamiliar with how the SAG Awards work, they are voted upon by members of the Screen Actors Guild—that is to say, working television and film actors. Each year a pool of 2100 members are randomly chosen to vote on the awards.
I think we can all agree that Game of Thrones at least deserves a win in the Stunt Ensemble category given all the epic battle scenes from Season 6, including the Battle of the Bastards and the White Walkers’ decimation of the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave. It’s won that award for the past five years, and there’s no reason for it to stop now.
Peter Dinklage, on the other hand, will face a stiff test, competing against the likes of Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) and John Lithgow (The Crown). Sadly, no one else from the cast was nominated. On one level, that’s surprising, given that Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Maisie Williams and Kit Harington all received nominations at other awards shows, including at the Emmys. On another level, it’s not surprising at all. Dinklage is the only member of the Game of Thrones cast to ever be up for an individual SAG award—he’s been nominated in this category for the past three years, although he’s never won.
As for the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble award, the odds of winning are long, at least based on past performance. Game of Thrones been nominated in that category for four of the last five ceremonies, and lost each time. Last year, it lost to the cast of Downton Abbey. This year, Downton Abbey is nominated again for its final season.
The 23rd Annual SAG Awards will air on both TNT and TBS on January 29, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. EST.