How Game of Thrones paved the way for genre shows to be taken seriously

Before Game of Thrones, you didn’t see a lot of sci-fi and fantasy shows getting recognition at awards shows. Now, it’s a completely different ballgame.

Sci-fi and fantasy have long been among the post popular genres at the movies and on TV, but when it came to glitzy award shows like the Emmys and Oscars, they’re rarely given much recognition. Sure, movies like Star Wars and E.T. got Oscar nominations back in the day, but they were the exception, not the rule.

Or at least it used to be. In recent years, genre fare has been getting more respect, especially at the Emmys. HBO’s Game of Thrones has won five awards for Outstanding Drama Series, not to mention a mile-high pile of other statues. And it’s not an outlier but seems to have brought other sci-fi and fantasy shows along with it on the road to respectability.

Just look at the nominations for this year’s Emmy Awards: HBO’s superhero drama Watchmen has the most nominations of any show with 26. Robots-vs-humans drama Westworld has 11 noms, tied with Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, which won Outstanding Drama Series when Game of Thrones was off for a year. Vampire comedy What We Do In The Shadows has nine nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series (please win). Gonzo animated sci-fi comedy Rick and Morty picked up two nominations. Netflix’s ’80s monster pastiche Stranger Things picked up eight noms, while Disney’s live-action Star Wars show The Mandalorian nabbed 15, and the latter two are both up for Outstanding Drama. Sci-fi and fantasy shows haven’t just broken through: they’ve taken over.

“I always credit Game of Thrones [for the shift] more than anything,” Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer told Variety. “That changed the TV landscape in so many ways and changed the awards landscape. I think if our show would have come out — if it had even been able to exist in a pre-‘Game of Thrones’ world — I doubt it would have been recognized. I always think about Battlestar Galactica, which was never nominated for best drama. If it were coming out now, it would probably be nominated a number of times for drama. I think that dam has been broken, and more and more genre shows will keep getting nominated.”

Meanwhile, The Handmaid’s Tale showrunner Bruce Miller attributes the shift to the voters getting younger; the new set grew up with sci-fi and fantasy and isn’t as snobbish about awarding it. They’re more willing to see these shows as capable of having something to say about the times we’re living in. “As the world gets more complicated, sci-fi becomes a better medium for communicating what’s happening in the world,” Miller said. “The world is so complicated [that] creating another world allows you to simply look at some of the issues, as opposed to looking them all at once in our real world.”

I completely agree with the idea that Game of Thrones helped pave the way for these other genre shows, and hope that other awards ceremonies take their cues from the Emmys. These shows aren’t just popular; they’re really good, and show a ton of imagination. That should be rewarded, not looked down upon.

The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards air on September 20. Let’s hope another show takes home the gold! Personally, I’m rooting for The Mandalorian.

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