Westworld was snubbed by the SAG Awards and received only one nomination, and nope, it wasn’t for any of the cast.
Westworld didn’t quietly walk onto the TV scene during its first season. Its entrance was more like an explosion that blew minds. That first award season after Westworld’s debut seemed to be littered with the show’s name.
The series racked up more nominations then we could count and received some important wins for their spectacular work. What made Westworld so revolutionary was that despite being based on a movie from the ’70s–it felt like a new idea, a breath of fresh air we had never experienced.
Some of the biggest shockers of the series include the Bernard reveal and the final twist when Dolores shoots Ford in the head in the season 1 finale. Not to mention, discovering that the Man in Black was an older William left most with their mouths open and their eyes twitching.
But at the end of such a thrilling season, you had to ask yourself how the show would be able to top it off for the second season. How could they outdo their first season when it was such a game changer without repeating the same stories or giving into a lame narrative?
Somehow Westworld did just that by fiddling with multiple timelines and playing the story backward so that viewers would never know that Charlotte, at one point, was really Dolores. This is all to say that Westworld managed to cause the same level of shock value their second time around. Most shows land flat on their faces trying to duplicate what they once accomplished, but not Westworld.
Although Westworld stepped up their game and met the challenge, they’ve consistently been ignored by the award shows. The Emmys graced Westworld with 21 nominations, but the show only got away with taking home 4.
The Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards gave Westworld one nomination each–both for Thandie Newton’s performance as a supporting actress. Thandie Newton is absolutely outstanding but what about the rest of the cast and members of the show’s technical and creative crew?
The latest snub comes from the SAG awards who have only nominated Westworld in a single category. The SAG awards are supposed to be different than the standard award ceremonies that are reviewed by one academy or another. Instead of a close group of acting buffs reviewing TV and movies critically, the SAG awards is where an actor is considered for an award by their own peers.
The actors are the ones that make the choices in SAG and it is supposed to feel like a better list of nominees because talent recognizes talent. Any actor that receives a SAG award feels like there’s no greater honor than to be recognized by their own.
Westworld was nominated for a SAG for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a television series. Not only is that the strangest award to be chosen for when there are so many other areas for Westworld to be recognized, but it’s also odd that the actors felt that Westworld fit into this category nicely.
There were also a number of other talented shows and actors that were equally snubbed, and we have to ask out loud, what was the measuring stick they used to determine who was nominated?
None of the Westworld cast received a nomination for their work, and it’s sad to watch their work go unnoticed. Although Newton has been recognized for three awards so far, her performance as Maeve this season was not enough to get her a nod for the SAG award.
At the very least, I would have liked to have Zach McClarnon recognized since his part in the show was an emotionally riveting piece of work. Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright also come to mind for doing work this season worthy of peer recognition.
Alas, this is the fickle way of the award season–without rhyme or reason. We can only complain to anyone who is willing to hear and hope the series wins in all categories they are nominated for.
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