“Game of Thrones” won the Emmy for Best Drama Series a record-tying four times. It also took top honors at the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Television Critics Association Awards, the Producers Guild Awards, the Peabody Awards and even the MTV Movie and TV Awards, to name just a few. But there’s one prize that has always escaped its grasp: the Golden Globe. Will it finally win in 2020 on its last try?
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association that decides the Golden Globes are a mercurial bunch. There are fewer than 100 members, and they often have idiosyncratic tastes, giving top program awards to shows like “Nip/Tuck,” “The Affair” and “Mozart in the Jungle” that were never highly regarded by the Emmys. But the HFPA is also sensitive to popularity, buzz, and cool factor, which is why it’s unusual that “Game of Thrones,” arguably the biggest show on television in the last decade, has been shut out in the top category.
The only Globe “Thrones” has won thus far was in January 2012 for Peter Dinklage‘s supporting performance for the show’s very first season. Overall the show has been nominated for Best Drama Series five times (2012, 2015-2018). And it received one other acting nom for Lena Headey‘s supporting role as Cersei Lannister in 2017. But it hasn’t won any of those prizes. Sometimes Globe voters just aren’t that into you.
However, the Globes sometimes give a farewell Emmy to a show they’ve neglected, perhaps to avoid seeming like they missed the boat on a cultural phenomenon. “Breaking Bad” didn’t win a single Globe until 2014, when it took Best Drama Series and Best TV Drama Actor (Bryan Cranston) for the show’s swan song. The same thing happened to “The Americans” earlier this year when it claimed its first and only Globe: Best Drama Series.
But “Breaking Bad” and “The Americans” went out on creative highs that were hailed by critics, whereas “Game of Thrones” had a divisive final season with abrupt character swings and rushed story arcs. So if Globes voters didn’t love the show before, are they likely to change their tune now even after the show amassed 12 more Emmys including Best Drama this fall? If not, that might be another throne Dany’s dragon is keen on melting.
Be sure to make your Golden Globe predictions so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions until nominations are announced. And join in the fierce debate over the 2020 Golden Globes taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our TV forums. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
