Even Without Game of Thrones, HBO Is Already the Big Winner of the 2017 Emmy Awards

The main Emmy Awards event won’t take place until next Sunday, September 17. But the reason the dominating narrative for the past few years has focused on all the record-breaking victories of HBO’s tentpole series Game of Thrones is, in part, because of the sheer volume of wins that show racked up year after year at the Creative Arts Emmys. Thrones racked up an impressive eight Creative Arts wins in 2015 and nine in 2016. That bellwether event, taking place over two nights this weekend, had to soldier on this year without CGI dragons or elaborate Westerosi costumes to award. Game of Thrones is not in contention this year. Does that mean HBO is sweating? As it turns out, maybe not. Even without Westeros, HBO is already the big Emmys winner of 2017.

Last year HBO emerged from the two-night Creative Arts Emmys with 16 wins almost all of which were thanks to Game of Thrones. This year HBO somehow topped that number with a total of 19 Creative Arts wins spread out over five series: Veep, The Night Of, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Big Little Lies, and Westworld. Given that three of those series debuted for the first time this year, newly -minted programming chief Casey Bloys ought to be feeling very self-congratulatory right about now. The future even without Game of Thrones is not as bleak as some might have painted it.

While HBO’s continued success is one story to emerge the weekend, the other statistic worth considering belongs to Netflix. Last year the streaming service only pulled in six Creative Arts Emmys, this year it leapt over the competition to take home a staggering 16 awards largely thanks to genre favorite Stranger Things though The Crown, House of Cards, Ava DuVernay’s 13th, Luke Cage, Master of None, and, surprisingly, The Ranch, all had contributed to the grand total.

NBC should also be congratulating itself thanks to strong showings from S.N.L. and This Is Us it went from four wins to nine. But while HBO maintained and other networks gained, FX is the awards season darling that took the biggest hit this year. Without the likes of Atlanta or American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, last year’s golden network only walked away with four wins for Feud, Fargo, and American Horror Story: Roanoke.

What does this mean for the big ceremony on Sunday night? Well, it may spell trouble for NBC’s hopes that in the absence of Game of Thrones, its emotionally intense but grounded-in-reality drama This Is Us would take away the top prize for Outstanding Drama. It would be the first time a network show had won since Fox’s 24 in 2006. But judging by the victorious robot cowboys, Demogorgons, and even dystopian handmaids of the 2017 Creative Arts Emmys (which, admittedly, favor the more extreme technical aspects of genre storytelling), the sci-fi fantasy trend that Game of Thrones started may be here to stay.

Full ScreenPhotos:2017 Emmy Nominations: All the Acting Nominees

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA

Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder

Photo: Courtesy of Gilles Mingasson/ABC.

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA

Claire Foy, The Crown

Photo: Courtesy of Alex Bailey/Netflix.

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA

Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale

Photo: Courtesy of George Kraychyk/Hulu.

LEAD ACTRESS, DRAMA

Keri Russell, The Americans

Photo: Courtesy of FX.

LEAD ACTOR, TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Geoffrey Rush, Genius

Photo: By Dusan Martincek/National Geographic.

LEAD ACTOR, TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

John Turturro, The Night Of

Photo: By Craig Blankenhorn/HBO.

LEAD ACTOR, TV MOVIE OR LIMITED SERIES

Ewan McGregor, Fargo

Photo: BY Chris Large/FX.

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