Emmys 2022: Succession, Ted Lasso and The White Lotus triumph

The Emmys offered few surprises but plenty of truncated speeches on Monday evening, in an awards-packed telecast that mostly handed out repeat trophies to established favourites with a few spoilers mixed in.

During the three-hour telecast held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, the Emmys once again crowned Succession, the 2020 best drama winner and most nominated series of the evening with 25, as best drama, and Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso as best comedy series. HBO’s limited series The White Lotus, tied with Ted Lasso for second with 20 nominations apiece, swept all the awards for which it was nominated (the ensemble series about privilege and perversion at Hawaiian resort submitted all its performers to the supporting categories).

The bit-packed show, hosted by Saturday Night Live veteran Kenan Thompson, included several back-to-back wins — Hacks’s Jean Smart for comedy actress, Ted Lasso’s Jason Sudeikis for comedy actor and co-star Brett Goldstein as supporting — as well as repeat nods from previous years. Julia Garner tripled up on lead drama actress for the final season of Netflix’s Ozark after wins in 2019 and 2020, while Zendaya, already the youngest best drama actress winner, became the youngest two-time acting winner in history for the second season of Euphoria.

Noting that her “greatest wish for Euphoria was that it could help heal people”, the 26-year-old Dune star acknowledged those who shared stories related to her character, Rue, who struggles with addiction in the prestige HBO teen soap. “To anyone who has loved a Rue, or feels like a Rue, I want you to know that I’m so grateful for your stories, and I carry them with me, and I carry them with her,” she said.

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For the seventh year in a row, HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won best variety talk series as well as the genre’s writing award.

The night’s spoilers to the clear favourites also offered the few rejoinders to the Emmys’ lingering issues with diversity, a year after a broadcast which handed no acting awards to people of colour. Squid Game, the first non-English language series ever nominated for best drama, kept Succession from taking a full sweep with wins for director Hwang Dong-hyuk and star Lee Jung-jae, the first person to win an acting award for a non-English language performance.

Pop singer Lizzo, who created the Amazon series Watch Out for The Big Grrrls, won for best competition series and underscored the importance of representation in an emotional speech. “When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was someone like me in the media,” she said through tears. “Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me. If I could go back and tell little Lizzo something, I would be like, ‘You’re going to see that person ... but, b***h, it’s going to have to be you.’”

Lizzo won outstanding competition programme for Lizzo’s Watch Out For the Big Grrrls. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Newcomer and sole broadcast representative Abbott Elementary also prevented Ted Lasso from sweeping the comedy awards, with a writing nod to creator and star Quinta Brunson — only the second Black woman to do so — and best supporting actress to Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Ralph, a 40-plus year veteran of the screen and first-time winner, took advantage of the Emmys’ pre-submitted thank yous that ticked on-screen below acceptance speeches and provided arguably the emotional highlight of the evening with a rendition of Endangered Species by Dianne Reeves. “I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim’s song, I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs” she sang to a standing ovation, then said: “to anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. This is what striving looks like. And don’t ever, ever give up on you.”

Another first-time winner and veteran performer, Jennifer Coolidge, provided a comedic counterpoint. Revealing she “took a lavender bath tonight, and um, right before the show, and it made me swell up inside my dress, and I’m having a hard time speaking”, the White Lotus star danced all the way through the play-off music for best supporting actress in a limited series.

As with last year, the Emmys packed in over 25 awards around occasional bits from Thompson (as well as announcer Sam Jay), and a special Governor’s Award to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which has worked to increase representation for women in front of an behind the camera. “Tonight’s about honouring the best of television,” said Davis, who founded the institute in 2004, “and as you know, as Lizzo knows, television can often directly impact how people see themselves and judge their value in the world.”

Emmys 2022: The winners

Best comedy Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Best drama Succession (HBO)

Best limited series The White Lotus (HBO)

Best actress, comedy Jean Smart, Hacks

Best actor, comedy Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Best actress, drama Zendaya, Euphoria

Best actor, drama Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game

Best actress, limited series or TV movie Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout

Best actor, limited series or TV movie Michael Keaton, Dopesick

Supporting actress, comedy Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary

Supporting actor, comedy Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

Supporting actress, drama Julia Garner, Ozark

Supporting actor, drama Matthew Macfadyen, Succession

Supporting actress, limited series or a movie Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

Supporting Actor, limited series or movie Murray Bartlett, The White Lotus

Variety talk series Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Variety sketch series Saturday Night Live

Reality competition programme Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls

Writing for a comedy series Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary (Pilot)

Writing for a drama series Jesse Armstrong, Succession (All the Bells Say)

Writing for a limited series, movie or drama special Mike White, The White Lotus

Directing for a comedy series MJ Delaney, Ted Lasso (No Weddings and a Funeral)

Directing for a drama series Hwang Dong-hyuk, Squid Game (Red Light, Green Light)

Directing for a limited series or movie Mike White, The White Lotus

Documentary or nonfiction series The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

Documentary or nonfiction special George Carlin’s American Dream (HBO)

Outstanding writing for a variety series Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)

Outstanding writing for a variety special Jerrod Carmichael: Rothaniel

Outstanding variety special, prerecorded Adele One Night Only (CBS)

Outstanding variety special, live The Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show (NBC) — Guardian / New York Times