“Game of Thrones” has already made Emmy history with its 32 farewell nominations — that’s more noms in a single year for any continuing series. But it could make history again with the episode “The Long Night,” which may shatter the record for the most Emmys for a single television episode. It’s up for nine awards.
The current record for a single episode is six Emmys. That’s how many “Boardwalk Empire” won for its pilot (2011), which was matched by another “Game of Thrones” episode, “Battle of the Bastards” (2016). “Empire” prevailed for its sound editing, picture editing, non-prosthetic makeup, art direction, visual effects and Martin Scorsese‘s direction. Then “Bastards” took home awards for non-prosthetic makeup, visual effects, sound mixing, picture editing, writing and directing. “Bastards” was helmed by Miguel Sapochnik, just like “The Long Night,” so the achievement would be doubly impressive for him.
Like “Battle of the Bastards,” “The Long Night” is centered on a cataclysmic showdown, in this case the fight between human forces at Winterfell and the Night King’s army of the undead. The episode runs more than 80 minutes and consists almost entirely of the battle, so it’s a visually and technically audacious episode even by “Thrones” standards. It earned the following nominations:
— Best Drama Guest Actress — Carice van Houten
— Best Directing (Drama)
— Best Hairstyling (Single-Camera Series)
— Best Makeup (Single-Camera Series, Non-Prosthetic)
— Best Makeup (Prosthetic)
— Best Music Composition (Series)
— Best Picture Editing (Single-Camera Drama Series)
— Best Sound Editing (One Hour Series)
— Best Sound Mixing (One Hour Series)
“The Long Night” was on the Emmy ballot 10 times, so the only place it failed to score a nomination was for its cinematography. That probably isn’t too surprising to “Thrones” fans, many of whom took to the internet to criticize the episode for being too dark to see.
So how many of those prizes will it win? In our predictions center we’re forecasting three of the categories “The Long Night” is up for. As of this writing it’s the front-runner to win Best Drama Directing (5/1 odds) and Best Music Composition (31/10 odds). But Carice van Houten trails for Best Drama Guest Actress (ranked fourth with 11/2 odds), perhaps because “Thrones” has struggled to win acting awards in the past. If we’re right about those three races, the show will need to win four of its other seven nominations to tie the record and five to break the record. Vote in our poll below to let us know if you think “The Long Night” will make Emmy history.
Be sure to make your Emmy predictions today so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before winners are announced on September 22. And join in the fun debate over the 2019 Emmys taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our television forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
