Just when all the other TV shows thought they had a chance, Game of Thrones once more crushed the Emmy nominations, cementing the show’s record for most noms (and wins, for that matter) ever.
That’s right, GoT, despite a short final season that seemed to satisfy no one, is up for 32 nominations when the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards roll around next fall. Most of those nominations seem obvious, but one in particular caused some kind of spontaneous record-scratch moment across the internet: Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for “The Iron Throne,” written by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
One Twitter user spoke for everyone when he asked, “Is this a joke?”
In case you forgot or put it out of your mind to cope with the trauma, “The Iron Throne” prompted a lot of intense reactions, and most of them were negative. So negative the cast was even sad about it.
You can’t blame them, given critics called it “lazy and false,” and said the ending was “not an earned ending.” But those were people paid to be minimally civil. Twitter users responding to the Emmy nomination didn’t bother.
And so on. Seriously, there’s plenty more where those came from.
No one in a position to know doubted Thrones would clean up, but the nomination for that particular episode really is puzzling, especially since there were at least a couple of others in the six-show season that were much more well-written and engrossing.
Either way, GoT faces tough competition in the writing category from shows like The Handmaid’s Tale and Better Call Saul. It’s anything but guaranteed it will win that one.
We’ll know for sure when the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards is broadcast on September 22, 2019.