How many Emmys can Game of Thrones actually win for its final season?

Writing and directing

Here is where the controversies truly begin, depending on how you feel about season 8.

Outstanding Writing

“The Iron Throne” got the nomination over “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which is something that seems absolutely bonkers, but sure, okay. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are thus the nominees, and this might just be a body-of-work win rather than a win for the specific episode. They haven’t won since 2016, however. If there’s going to be a sneaky win, it’s probably going to be Bodyguard, which isn’t nominated for much else but this and Outstanding Drama Series.

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Again, the episode choices — “The Iron Throne,” “The Last of the Starks,” and “The Long Night” — are a little weird, especially for David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik in particular. Seriously, if it were “The Bells,” I’d probably hand this to Sapochnik in a heartbeat, but “The Long Night” was the greater challenge. Nutter and Sapochnik have both won when they’re nominated, but Sapochnik has the bigger reputation. Benioff and Weiss have never been nominated for their directing, so they’re something of a wild card in the sense that we don’t have a track record.

It’s possible that all these nominations could cancel each other out, but not necessarily likely given previous overlaps in this category.

If Benioff and Weiss get the nod for writing, Sapochnik could take the one for directing.