HBO nominates Game of Thrones stars for Emmy consideration

With 38 Emmy Awards under its belt, Game of Thrones is the most decorated show in the ceremony’s history. And with two seasons’ worth of stuff still eligible, it’s all but guaranteed to widen that gap by the time it’s over. Because of how late in the year season 7 aired, Game of Thrones wasn’t eligible for Emmy consideration in 2017. However, the Emmys are coming back around, and season 7 could still clean up at the 2018 ceremony. GoldDerby, a site that makes it its business to cover all things award shows, has learned what season 7 stars HBO has put forward for consideration. Take a look:

• Drama Actress – Emilia Clarke
• Drama Actor – Kit Harington
• Drama Supporting Actress – Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams
• Drama Supporting Actor – Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage
• Drama Guest Actress – Diana Rigg

The big news here is that HBO is submitting Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Kit Harington (Jon Snow) in the Best Actress and Best Actor categories, rather than in the Best Supporting categories. Up until now, it’s only ever submitted Game of Thrones stars in the Supporting categories, which made sense, because the cast was so big and the storylines so spread out that no one person could ever really be called the lead. But now that so many characters have died and so many plot lines have been yoked together, it makes sense to submit a couple of select cast members at a higher level.

Assuming they get on the ballot, this might help one or both of them win. Plenty of Game of Thrones stars have been nominated for Emmys over the years, including Clarke, Harington, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark). However, the only one to ever win an Emmy (twice, actually) is Dinklage, in part because, in the years when he won, he didn’t have to split the vote with other Game of Thrones stars. On the flip side, at the Emmy ceremony following season 6, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams were all nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category. None of them won. If the actors are spread out between different categories, it could be good for all of them.

Beyond that, I think Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell) has a good chance of finally taking home the award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, an award for which she’s been nominated — and lost — three times, always for Game of Thrones. She had an absolutely killer death scene in “The Queen’s Justice,” and the voters may use this as an opportunity to award her for the entirety of her time on the show, and to make up for not giving her the gold earlier. I’m pulling for her.

Also, here’s hoping Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Sophie Turner can finally score nominations. HBO has submitted their names before, but they’ve never gotten nominations. Let’s break the cycle.

Also, what does Alfie Allen have to do to get some recognition, huh?

Next: Go inside the massive King’s Landing set at Titanic Studios

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