Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones season 7 nominated for SAG Awards
By Dan Selcke
Awards season marches on, with nominations rolling in for Game of Thrones season 7. It now has a few more under its belt thanks to the Screen Actors Guild, which announced the nominations for the SAG Awards.
Game of Thrones has two nominations. First, Peter Dinklage is up for the award of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. Here’s his competition:
- Jason Bateman / Martin “Marty” Byrde – Ozark (Netflix)
- Sterling K. Brown / Randall Pearson – This Is Us (NBC)
- Peter Dinklage / Tyrion Lannister – Game of Thrones (HBO)
- David Harbour / Jim Hopper – Stranger Things (Netflix)
- Bob Odenkirk / Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman – Better Call Saul (AMC)
Dinklage is the only Game of Thrones cast member to have received an individual nomination for his work on the show. He’s been nominated in this category four times before, for seasons 3, 4, 5, and 6. He has never won. Peter Dinklage is also nominated as part of the cast of the movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which is up for the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award. Dude’s everywhere.
Season 7 was also nominated in one of the bigger awards of the night, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. The SAG Awards are all about actors, so this is basically their version of “Best Drama.”
- The Crown (Netflix)
- Game of Thrones (HBO)
- The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)
- Stranger Things (Netflix)
- This Is Us (NBC)
Game of Thrones has been nominated in this category every year it’s been on except season 2. It has never won.
Finally, the show is nominated for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series.
- Game of Thrones (HBO)
- Glow (Netflix)
- Homeland (Showtime)
- Stranger Things (Netflix)
- The Walking Dead (AMC)
Game of Thrones has been nominated in this category for every one of its previous six seasons, and it’s won every damn time. Finally.
Looking at that track record, do you kind of get the idea that the Screen Actors Guild members are in a bit of a rut when it comes to voting on Game of Thrones? Dinklage is great, but there are other performers in the cast who have been worthy of recognition over the years, and it’s a little surprising that the show has never won Best Ensemble in a Drama, considering the size and consistently high quality of its cast.
But at the end of the day, awards shows are voted on by people, and people have stuff to do and like patterns and aren’t given to taking risks. My bet is that Game of Thrones will take home a bunch of awards from all quarters for season 8, as the TV industry acknowledges its acomplishments as a whole.
On the subject of awards show mysteries, TV Guide has an interesting article simply titled, “Why Do the Golden Globes Hate Game of Thrones?” It’s well-known that, while the show routinely cleans up at the Emmys, it can’t get no respect from the Globes. TV Guide chalks this up to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a 90-strong group of journalists who vote on the Globes, having very specific tastes.
"They love TV shows like how they like their stars: prestigious and glamorous. They go for glossy, cool, high-brow, or what they consider to be high-brow, fare with buzz. Sometimes that correlates with the Emmys (see: Mad Men, The West Wing) and other times they’ve given us, for better or worse, noteworthy series winners that the Emmys have overlooked (see: Mr. Robot, Nip/Tuck)."
TV Guide reasons that Game of Thrones, with its fantasy trappings and multifarious plot threads, just isn’t the kind of thing that the Globe voters go for, however much buzz it has.
In conclusion, awards shows are silly.
Next: John Bradley: Every character is placed 'in a completely alien environment' in season 8
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