Emmy Upset! Phoebe Waller-Bridge Wins Best Comedy Actress, Prevailing Over Frontrunner Julia Louis-Dreyfus
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Selina Meyer has gone down in defeat.
In what represents a major upset (unless, of course, you read TVLine’s predix), Fleabag‘s Phoebe Waller-Bridge won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series over perennial Veep champ Julia Louis-Dreyfus at Sunday’s 71st annual Primetime Emmy Ceremony. Waller-Bridge’s victory robs Louis-Dreyfus the chance of going seven-for-seven as Selina (she won in each of Veep‘s previous six seasons). It also means the Seinfeld vet remains tied with Cloris Leachman as the most Emmy’d performer in history (eight total wins apiece).
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The Amazon series had been riding a wave of awards-season momentum leading up to July’s nominations announcement, where it netted a surprisingly potent 11 nominations. Fleabag entered Sunday’s kudoscast having already won two of its 11 awards at last week’s Creative Arts Emmys (including Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series). On Sunday, Fleabag won Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Harry Bradbeer for “Episode 1”) and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (Waller-Bridge for “Episode 1”).
Fleabag‘s strong Emmy showing is no doubt bittersweet for Amazon considering Waller-Bridge has publicly stated that Season 2 would serve as the show’s swan song. However, Amazon boss Jennifer Salke told reporters over the summer that she is not ready to close the door on a potential third season.
“Nothing would make us happier than to have her bring another season of that show [to us], or anything else she wants to do,” Salke declared at the Television Critics Assoc. summer press tour. “I mean, I’m forever the optimist, so I remain always hopeful until it’s really over. So I’m hoping.”
Check back shortly for video of her speech. In the meantime, hit the comments with your reaction to Waller-Bridge’s big win.
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