Netflix landed 111 Emmy nominations today across 34 titles, with 21 series scoring multiple nominations, led by Beef with 16 and The Beast In Me with 9 — both limited/anthology series, a genre Netflix has had a stronghold on with four Outstanding Series wins in the past five years, including the last three. That included Beef’s first installment in 2023.
Jinny Howe, on her first Emmy nominations day as Head of UCAN Scripted Series — a role she was promoted to last August — spoke with Deadline after spending the morning talking to nominated talent, which includes four performers landing their first acting Emmy nominations: Charlie Hunnam for Monster: The Ed Gein Story and Beef‘s Charles Melton, Carey Mulligan and Youn Yuh-Jung.
“I feel tremendously proud of the showing that we had, I think it just demonstrates a really great representation across such a variety of different types of shows and creators,” Howe said. “We’re thrilled for these shows to all be recognized in this way.”
Two Netflix series increased their Emmy nomination tally season-to-season. Beef went from 13 to 16, while The Diplomat jumped from two nominations for Season 2 to 7 for Season 3. Both are nominated in the top series categories.
The latter should be particularly gratifying for Netflix executives who gave the political thriller starring Emmy nominees Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell early Season 3 and Season 4 renewals ahead of the previous seasons’ premiere. While a critical darling with devoted following, The Diplomat has not been able to attract wide audiences, with its most recent third season opening to 4.8M viewers and only spending three weeks in the Top 10 for English series.
“It just is, testament to how strong the show is,” Howe said about The Diplomat more than tripling its Emmy nomination haul this year. “As you know, we’ve been betting forward on that show every season because we believe in it, and we know that it’s just a really special and stellar show that Debora Cahn created.”
Beef took three years between seasons as creator Lee Sung Jin (Sonny Lee) had to reinvent the concept after the original installment swept the 2023 Emmys with 8 wins.
“Sonny, when he pitched us Beef, had always conceived this as an anthology that was going to be a different story and feature different characters from season to season, so it’s incredible when you think about how amazing Season 1 was, that he was able to follow that up with even more nominations and such an original new story,” Howe said.
Is there a third installment coming up? Season 2 ratings have been off the meteoric highs of Season 1 but that is being offset by Emmy gains.
“No, no talks about the third installment yet; we’re celebrating today,” Howe said.
The Beast In Me starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys — both nominated today — is a true limited series but, in light of its ratings success, showrunner Howard Gordon and the streamer had been discussing ways to extend the franchise.
“I don’t have anything to confirm on that front today,” Howe said. “I think right now we’re just focused on Season 1 and the nominations this morning, and for Matthew and Claire to be recognized in this way.”
Ryan Murphy has been looking ahead with his Monster true crime franchise, having the next installment ready to go as the previous one debuts. While Monster: The Ed Gein Story is celebrating its seven Emmy nominations, including acting noms for Hunnam and Laurie Metcalf, Murphy is working on Season 4, which tells the story of Lizzie Borden, the franchise’s first female subject.
“Ryan is such a master and a maestro of understanding where he wants to take the stories next, and I think we’re going to be really excited to see this next installment with Lizzie,” Howe said. “It’s really remarkable the way he can always make the franchise feel fresh and feature a new perspective, and it’s a really great showing for him. We’re so excited for Charlie and for Laurie to be recognized for their performances, too.”
As for the status of The Lizzie Borden Story, “we are in post on Lizzie, and yes, we’re feeling very excited about what’s to come.”
Juggernaut Stranger Things ended its Emmy journey with seven nominations for the fifth and final season, all in crafts/stunts fields. While a tick over Season 4’s six noms, the show did not return to the Outstanding Drama Series category or get any acting nominations, something it had done consistently in its first three seasons.
“The show is a global phenomenon, and the fandom around the world is massive, and we feel like this final season was just such a loving sendoff for the series, so seven Emmy nominations for that show, we are feeling great about,” she said. “It does feel like it is recognizing all the achievements, creatively, artistically, that that show has given fans over many, many seasons.”
Netflix’s most popular English-language series, Wednesday, landed six nominations for its second season, but they did not include the titular star Jenna Ortega, who was nominated for Season 1. And comedy Nobody Wants This went from six to two nominations, Outstanding Comedy Series and Music Supervision, in Season 2, with its previously nominated leads Kristen Bell and Adam Brody left out this time.
Were those omissions a little bit of head scratchers?
“No, that I wouldn’t say they were head scratchers,” Howe said. “We are really, really excited for Nobody Wants This to be recognized in the Best Comedy category. It feels like a very, very competitive year and competitive category. So it was very exciting to see us represented in that way.”
Bridgerton, which got four Emmy nominations for Season 4, will release its fifth season in 2027, as revealed at the Netflix upfront in May, the first time installments of the hit Regency drama have run in two consecutive calendar years. Is this part of an effort to shorten gap between seasons and when can fans expect Season 5?
“Our focus is making sure that the fans of Bridgerton have an amazing next creative installment when they want it; we are trying very hard to just make sure we are offering that up in a really steady cadence,” Howe said. “We still don’t have any definitive information in terms of when we’ll be launching the next season.”
Two years ago, Howe brought in HBO executive Nora Skinner as VP, focused on elevated and prestige dramas, an area Howe has been focused on expanding into. Is Skinner’s inaugural slate coming to fruition, with her first shows possibly ready for 2027 Emmy consideration?
“Yes, her slate is underway, you know about these big titles we have with Rabbit, Rabbit, and we just made a big commitment on The Corrections; these things take some time to come together, but will be coming your way very soon,” Howe said. “Next up we have on the slate, East of Eden that you should be watching very closely, which is very much a show that is crafted for this audience, and we think they will love.
“So yes, we are feeling very bullish, very excited about what’s to come in that space,” she continued. “We’ve been very focused — it’s not something new — giving creators a global platform to tell their stories. If you look at Sonny Lee and Debora Cahn, creators that I’ve worked very closely with, to see the long-term relationship and the creative partnership that we’ve been able to provide result in a day like today, with as many nominations as these shows have been able to garner, it feels really gratifying for us.”
Netflix landed both Rabbit, Rabbit starring Adam Driver and The Corrections starring Meryl Streep with straight-to-series orders as the streamer has been the most active — and aggressive — buyer over the past year, winning a slew of high-profile bidding wars with big commitments. What is the rationale behind the buying spree to fill the streamer’s pipeline?
“All of this is always driven by what the audience wants, and we are very focused on partnering with special voices and creators who we think have original, bold ideas that we think will resonate for people watching around the world, so that really is what’s driving this always for us, making sure that we are speaking to this audience consistently,” Howe said. “It’s been something that we’ve done since the very early days, and we’re just not taking our eye off of that ball, it just remains, as ever, a really big priority for us.”
Howe has no intention of taking her foot off the gas.
“It feels like for us it’s been a very competitive marketplace, there have been really compelling projects that have felt like the right ones for us to go aggressively after, and you’ll continue to see us do that,” she said.
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