Emmy Snubs & Surprises: Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Murphy’s ‘Hollywood’ Left Out; ‘Mandalorian’s Force Is Strong

Dominic Patten
·6 min read

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Rolled out in a very different manner than in previous years due to the coronavirus pandemic, today’s Emmy nominations unveiling contained unexpected omissions and admissions galore.

Delivered remotely by Leslie Jones, Laverne Cox, Josh Gad and Tatiana Maslany this morning, the contenders for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards saw some powerful swings for Watchmen, Dead to Me‘s Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, Succession and The Handmaid’s Tale. Yet for the main stars of Big Little Lies‘ second season and others overlooked in the more than 100 categories, it might have been best to stay in bed and pull the covers over their heads.

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Whatever form the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted and Reginald Hudlin-executive produced ABC ceremony takes on September 20, here are some names and projects you won’t see in the running – and a few that almost no one expected to see in the races.

Is there anyone or any show we missed in the 2020 Emmys snubs and surprises? Tell us!

SNUBS

Nicole Kidman
A past winner, the Big Little Lies star and EP was nowhere to be found among the Outstanding Drama Actress nominees, and that’s an unfortunate truth.

Hollywood
There were nominations for Jeremy Pope as the Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie and for co-stars Dylan McDermott and Jim Parson too. But Ryan Murphy and Netflix’s alt-history take on Tinseltown’s past, public and private itself wasn’t on the Limited Series marquee.

Bob Odenkirk
The TV Academy gave the AMC’s Better Call Saul itself a ring for Drama Series but didn’t want to call Saul himself today, and that was a mistake.

Al Pacino
Hitting the streaming small screen in his first TV series role in Amazon’s Hunters, the legendary Oscar winner and two-time Emmy winner snared a lot of Nazis but couldn’t snag any TV Academy appreciation.

Desus and Mero
The move to Showtime has only sharpened New York’s finest late-nighters, but the brand still isn’t strong with the TV Academy.

Reese Witherspoon
Rounding out the almost total shutout of BLL this year, this Oscar winner also was empty-handed for her The Morning Show and Little Fires Everywhere roles.

The Morning Show
Speaking of the AppleTV+ flagship series, Jennifer Anniston and Steve Carell were nominated in lead Actors and Actress categories. Yet, proving that money can’t buy you everything the series itself was ignored after a massive campaign by the tech giant.

Larry David
Clearly the TV Academy has curbed its enthusiasm for the curmudgeon this time around, though the show itself scored a Comedy Series nom.

Daisy Edgar-Jones
Normal People had a pretty good start to the day with four Emmy noms for the BBC/Hulu limited series. I say pretty good, because while her co-star Paul Mescal received a nomination, Edgar-Jones oddly did not. So, Emmy voters, you know the show is a love story and that it takes two to tango, right?

Pose
Billy Porter is in the running, yet there will be no strutting onstage, virtually or not, for the second season of the FX trailblazer.

Pamela Adlon
The Better Things star and creator has seen better days and deserved more.

Homeland
The delayed final mission of Showtime’s multiple past Emmy winner just could not make it home for TV Academy voters, even with top-tier performances from Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin.

Rhea Seehorn
Always top notch, Better Call Saul‘s Kim Wexler should sue for being snubbed for her stellar performance this year.

Tim Blake Nelson
Watchmen had more nominations than any other show this morning and somehow among all that excellence the actor who played the survivor’s guilt tormented Looking Glass didn’t warrant a glance.

Power
Starz’s big rich town drama came to an end this year, but even with spinoffs galore coming down the line, it got no juice from the TV Academy – again.

Jackie Gleason
Still no honorary love for the small-screen pioneer? How many genres does a fella have to help create before he gets the recognition he so obviously deserves.

Dickinson
AppleTV+’s true breakout series is poetry in motion, but the renewed Hallie Steinfeld starrer about a true American icon lacked the right verses for voters this year.

Sir Patrick Stewart
TV Academy, why didn’t you make it so? This knight of the realm returned to the role of the Starfleet legend in CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Picard after almost 20 years, yet voter phasers stunned with no nomination.

Kaitlyn Dever & Merritt Wever
Their Unbelievable co-star Toni Collette was nominated in a Supporting category, but the other two actresses from the Netflix show were unbelievably overlooked.

The Plot Against America
HBO’s adaptation of Philip Roth’s alt-history novel is very much a tale for these harsh times of Trump. Yet like far too many of EP David Simon’s efforts, when it came down to the wire (see what I did there?), this sadly was not TPAA’s time

Emma Thompson
A Critics’ Choice TV Awards nominee for her solidly shuddersome stint as populist politician and UK PM Vivienne Rook in Russell T. Davies’ BBC/HBO dystopian miniseries Years and Years, one of the most acclaimed actors of this or any time was not the Academy’s choice this July morning.

The Good Fight
Opening its fourth season in an America where Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election and Harvey Weinstein still roamed free, the Christine Baranski-led CBS All Access series was on fire this year – but didn’t spark with Emmy voters once again

SURPRISES

Insecure
Issa Rae’s HBO series has rarely received the acclaim it deserves over its four-season run so far, but this year saw the star herself, co-star Yvonne Orji and the show very securely snare nominations.

The Mandalorian
The Force was strong with Disney+’s Star Wars series …proving a bit of Werner Herzog can go a long way

Zendaya
The Euphoria star must be ecstatic today.

What We Do in the Shadows
FX’s vampire series based on the flick from Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi took a bite outta Emmys in the best way — with eight nominations, including Comedy Series.

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