Emmy Nominations 2022: Historic, Record-Breaking and Otherwise Notable Nominees

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Emmy Nominations 2022: Historic, Record-Breaking and Otherwise Notable Nominees

When the 2022 Emmy Awards nominations were announced on Tuesday morning, Netflix’s Squid Game, HBO’s Succession, NBC’s Saturday Night Live and Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso were among the TV shows breaking notable records.

With 14 nods, Squid Game made history by becoming the first-ever non-English language show and series solely produced outside of a Western country to receive a major-category nomination. Ted Lasso once again secured 20 nods, the same total it earned last year where it had the most nominations in a single year for a freshman comedy.

Meanwhile, SNL also maintained its record as the most Emmy-nominated series in history, with 315 nods. Succession’s 14 nods in the acting categories broke the record for the most Emmy acting nominations for a drama series in a single year.

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Among other history-making nods, Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson not only became a first-time nominee but is now the youngest Black woman nominated in the outstanding lead actress in a comedy acting category. After receiving his first nod for best narrator, former President Barack Obama could be halfway to EGOT status if he gets the small-screen trophy, while other notable first-time nominees include the late Chadwick Boseman for Marvel’s WHAT IF…?.

The 74th Emmy Awards will be broadcast Monday, Sept. 12, on NBC and will stream live for the first time on Peacock.

Read on for more about this year’s noteworthy nominations.

Squid Game

After securing 14 Emmy nominations, including for outstanding drama series, Netflix’s Squid Game made history by becoming the first-ever non-English language show and series solely produced outside of a Western country to receive a major-category nomination. Stars Park Hae-soo, Lee Jung-Jae, Jung Ho-yeon, Lee You-mi, Oh Yeong-su also received their first nominations in the acting categories. Squid Game also marks Netflix’s most-nominated series this year.

The nomination follows the series being nominated at the SAG Awards for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series and for best drama at the Golden Globes. Lee Jung-jae won the Independent Spirit Award for male performance in a new scripted series, as well as drama actor at the Critics Choice Awards. Last year, Yeong-su won his first Golden Globe for his role, becoming the first Korean actor to ever win a Golden Globe.

Zendaya 

The Emmy-winning actress becomes the youngest acting nominee for the second year in a row. For 2022, she is nominated in both the best lead actress in a drama series and best drama series categories.

Saturday Night Live

After earning nine Emmy nominations this year, Saturday Night Live maintains its record as the most Emmy-nominated series in history. The comedy sketch series now has a total of 315 Emmy nominations since its 1975 premiere. Lorne Michaels holds the record for most Emmy nominations for an inpidual with a total of 96 nods; Michaels has won 20 Emmys. This year’s nominations for SNL include outstanding variety sketch series and supporting actor and actress nods for Bowen Yang and Kate McKinnon, respectively. Jerrod Carmichael was nominated in the outstanding guest actor category for hosting an episode this season.

Quinta Brunson

The 32-year-old creator and star of ABC’s freshman comedy Abbott Elementary has secured her place in Emmys history. The first-time nominee is now the youngest Black woman nominated in the outstanding lead actress in a comedy category. Her three nominations — for best actress, outstanding comedy series and outstanding writer for a comedy series for the show’s pilot — also make her the first Black woman to earn three comedy category nominations in the same year.

Barack Obama

Former President Barack Obama earned his first Emmy nomination for narrating the Netflix docuseries Our Great National Parks. Should Obama win an Emmy, he would be halfway to an EGOT after winning two spoken word Grammy Awards for the audiobooks of his memoirs Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope.

First Nominations Club

The 2022 Emmy Awards serve as first-time recognition by the Television Academy for many of its nominees beyond America’s 44th president. Among the stars scoring their first nods are the late Chadwick Boseman for Marvel’s WHAT IF…?, musician Lizzo (for Watch Out for the Big Grrrls), comedians Bill Burr and Jerrod Carmichael (nominated for two separate honors including his HBO comedy special Rothaniel), and actors Jennifer Coolidge for The White Lotus, Andrew Garfield for Under the Banner of Heaven, Oscar Isaac for Scenes From A Marriage, Sheryl Lee Ralph for Abbott Elementary, Amanda Seyfried for The Dropout and Colman Domingo for Euphoria.

Succession

HBO’s Succession received a total of 14 Emmy nominations in the acting categories, which broke the record for the most Emmy acting nominations for a drama series in a single year. Stars Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong are nominated in the best actor in a drama series category, while Matthew Macfadyen, Nicholas Braun and Kieran Culkin are nominated for the best supporting actor in a drama series. Meanwhile, Sarah Snook and J. Smith Cameron are among the supporting actress in a drama series nominees. The series secured 25 nods overall, including for best drama series, making it the most-nominated show of the year.

Lucky 13 Club 

After being nominated this year for outstanding host for a reality or competition program for Bravo’s Top Chef, Padma Lakshmi has now accumulated 13 Emmy nominations but no wins. Should she win this year, it would mark her first Emmy. Actress Sandra Oh, who has been nominated for honors in leading actress, supporting actress, variety special and drama series categories, also garnered her 13th nomination — and potentially first win — in the best drama actress category for Killing Eve.

Ted Lasso

Last year, Ted Lasso earned the most nominations in a single year for a freshman comedy with 20 nods. The Apple TV+ series continued that streak by scoring another 20 nods this year, including outstanding comedy series and a comedy lead actor nod for Jason Sudeikis. Brett Goldstein, Toheeb Jimoh, Nick Mohammed were each nominated in the comedy supporting actor categories, while Juno Temple and Hannah Waddingham received supporting actress nods. 30 Rock currently holds the record for the single highest number of nominations in a single year for a comedy with 22 nods.

Brett Goldstein

Should the Ted Lasso star win for supporting actor in a comedy series at this year’s Emmys, he would mark the first consecutive winner of that category since Jeremy Piven in 2007, who won for Entourage.

Asian Representation

The Emmys have recognized a historic number of Asian artists this year in the major onscreen categories. That includes Killing Eve’s Oh and Top Chef’s Lakshmi as well as SNL’s Bowen Yang, five Squid Game stars (Lee Jung-jae, Jung Ho-yeon, Park Hae-soo, Oh Yeong-su and Lee You-mi), Station Eleven’s Himesh Patel, Ted Lasso’s Mohammed and Queer Eye’s Tan France.

Sanaa and Stan Lathan 

Father-daughter duo Sanaa and Stan Lathan were both nominated for Emmys this year. Sanaa’s honor in the outstanding guest actress in a drama series category for her role as Lisa Arthur in Succession marks her first Emmy nomination. Stan, a three-time Emmy winner and six-time nominee, was nominated this year for outstanding directing for a variety special for his work on Dave Chappelle’s The Closer — one of two Emmy honors for the controversial special. 

Posthumous Nominations

A number of this year’s nominees are receiving honors for their work after they died. That includes What If’s Boseman, who was nominated in the outstanding character voice-over category, nearly two years after he died from colon cancer. Joining him are comedian Norm Macdonald and actress Jessica Walter. Macdonald scored his first-ever nomination and the posthumous honor in the outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) category for his surprise Netflix special Nothing Special, filmed ahead of his death at the age of 61 from cancer. Jessica Walter also scored her second and consecutive posthumous honor for her voice work on FX’s Archer.

The Daily Show With Trevor Noah

After earning 7 nominations, The Daily Show’s has earned the most nods since Noah started his hosting tenure in 2015 and the most nods of any late-night franchise this year. Nominations include outstanding technical direction, camerawork and video control for a series. Desi Lydic also earned for also her first inpidual Emmy nomination for outstanding actress in a short form comedy or drama series for her Foxsplains segments.

Searchlight Television 

The Searchlight Television, the recently launched pision of Searchlight Pictures, limited series The Dropout earned 6 nods including in the outstanding limited or anthology series category, for directing for a limited or anthology series or movie, writing in a limited or anthology series or movie and a lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie nomination for Seyfried. The Dropout marks Searchlight Television’s first limited production in conjunction with 20th Television and Hulu.