Succession, Ted Lasso and The White Lotus dominate Emmys

Jason Korsner

The third season of HBO’s satirical study of a media dynasty, Succession, has been named the Best Drama series at one of the most prestigious TV awards ceremonies, the Emmys, in Los Angeles. Collecting the prize, its British creator Jesse Armstrong made a reference to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, noting that it had been a big week for Succession, with a new King in the UK.

Matthew Macfadyen (right) won his first Emmy for Succession.

One of its stars, the British actor Matthew Macfadyen, won the award for the best supporting actor in a drama. Another British star, Brett Goldstein, was named the best supporting actor in a comedy for Ted Lasso, about an American managing a British football team. Jason Sudeikis, who plays the lead, was named the best actor in a comedy, and the show itself retained its best comedy series award.

The other main acting awards saw Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae named the best actor in a drama series, Jean Smart named best actress in a comedy series for Hacks and Zendaya winning the best actress in a drama series prize for playing a teenaged drug addict in Euphoria.

In the supporting categories, Julia Garner won the drama series award for Ozark and Sheryl Lee Ralph won the corresponding comedy award for Abbott Elementary, which also won the comedy writing award. The drama writing award went to Succession.

Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett won supporting acting prizes in the limited series category for The White Lotus.

The main directing honours went to Ted Lasso in the comedy category, while Squid Game won the corresponding drama prize.

Mike White’s The White Lotus dominated the awards in the limited series categories, winning the top prize – as well as earning writing and directing prizes for White himself, and supporting acting prizes for Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett.

Michael Keaton was named the best actor in a limited series for Dopesick, which centres on America’s opioid addiction crisis, and Amanda Seyfried won the award for the best actress in a limited series for The Dropout, in which she plays the disgraced tech entrepreneur, Elizabeth Holmes.

This was the first full-scale Emmys ceremony since the pandemic, with many of the shows having come to prominence while people were stuck at home, with little else to do, other than watch TV.