Will it be ‘Squid Game’ vs. ‘Severance’ vs. ‘Bridgerton’ vs. ‘This Is Us’ in 2022 Emmys?

NORTH HOLLYWOOD — “Squid Game” could make history when nominations for the 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awards are announced Tuesday morning as the first non-English language outstanding drama series nominee.

The South Korean Netflix survival drama was nominated for best television series-drama for the Golden Globe Awards, outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series for the SAG Awards and outstanding producer of episodic television-drama at the Producers Guild Awards, those awards’ equivalent of the Emmys’ outstanding drama series.

Other first-season series that are contenders for the category’s eight nominations include the Apple TV+ science fiction psychological thriller “Severance” and Showtime’s “Yellowjackets.” The Showtime series about a New Jersey high school soccer team whose flight bound for a national tournament in 1996 in Seattle crashes in the Canadian wilderness received a Writers Guild Awards nomination for outstanding drama series.

Two nominees from last year are eligible to be nominated — Netflix’s steamy alternate history period drama “Bridgerton” and the NBC family drama “This Is Us.”

“This Is Us” is the only series on a major broadcast network to be nominated in the category since 2012, also receiving nominations in 2017, 2018 and 2019. A series from the major broadcast networks has not won since Fox’s “24” in 2006.

The 2020 winner “Succession” is expected to be among the eight outstanding drama series nominees Tuesday. HBO did not air any new episodes of the series about a well-to-do family that owns a global media company during last year’s eligibility period.

“Succession’s” most recent season won the SAG Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series in February.

Three nominees from past years that did have any new episodes during the eligibility period for last year’s awards are contenders for nominations — AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” which received nominations in each of its the first five seasons, and two series that stream on Netflix, the science fiction horror series “Stranger Things” and the crime thriller “Ozark.”

“Stranger Things” was nominated in each of its first three seasons. “Ozark” was nominated in 2019 and 2020.

The Paramount Network neo-Western “Yellowstone” is a contender for a nomination after receiving nominations for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series for the SAG Awards and outstanding producer of episodic television — drama for the Producers Guild Awards.

“Ozark” and “This Is Us” both completed their runs in 2022, “Ozark” after four seasons and 44 episodes, “This Is Us” after 106 episodes and six seasons. “Better Call Saul” will end its six-season run Aug. 15 with its 63rd episode.

There were no new episodes released of last year’s winner, “The Crown,” during the eligibility period, June 1, 2021-May 31, 2022.

Last year’s outstanding comedy series winner “Ted Lasso” is expected to receive a nomination for its second season, which won the outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series at the SAG Awards and for outstanding producer of episodic television — comedy at the Producers Guild Awards.

Six other nominees from last year are also eligible this year —”black-ish,” “Cobra Kai,” “Emily in Paris,” “Hacks,” “The Flight Attendant” and “Pen15.”

Two nominees from past years that did not release any new episodes during the eligibility period for last year’s awards are contenders for nominations — Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” a nominee in each of its first three seasons, and HBO’s “Barry,” a nominee in each of its first two seasons.

First-year series that are contenders for the eight nominations include Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” which received nominations for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series for the SAG Awards and for outstanding producer of episodic television — comedy at the Producers Guild Awards, ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and CBS’ “Ghosts.”

The most recent time a series from the major broadcast networks won in the comedy series category at the Emmys was 2014 when ABC’s “Modern Family” won for the fifth consecutive year.

Contenders for the five nominations for outstanding limited or anthology series include Paramount+’s “Yellowstone” prequel,”1883″; Hulu’s look at the opioid epidemic, “Dopesick”; “The Dropout,” the story of biotechnology entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes and the health technology firm Theranos, which streamed on Hulu; Netflix’s 10-episode miniseries “Maid” which stars Margaret Qualley as a young mother who leaves her emotionally abusive boyfriend, takes her daughter and gets a job working as a maid; and HBO’s satirical comedy-drama about the lives of the staff and guests at a tropical resort in Hawaii, “The White Lotus.”

“Maid” won the Writers Guild Award in the best adapted long form category. “The White Lotus” received a Producers Guild Awards nomination for outstanding producer of limited or anthology series television.

VH1’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the winner the past four years for outstanding competition series, is expected to be nominated for the sixth consecutive year. Bravo’s “Top Chef” is expected to be nominated for the 16th consecutive year and NBC’s “The Voice” for the 11th consecutive year.

“The Amazing Race” is expected to be nominated for the 19th time in the 20 years the category has existed. It was nominated in each of the first 17 years, was not eligible in 2020 because CBS did not air a new season during the eligibility period, but nominated again last year. It is a 10-time winner, including each of the first seven.

The Netflix baking series “Nailed It!’ is expected to be nominated for the fourth consecutive year.

The sixth nomination could go to either the Amazon Prime Video dance competition “Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” or the Netflix social media competition “The Circle.”

Melissa Fumero and JB Smoove will announce the nominations at a virtual ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Pacific time Tuesday, which will be streamed live on Emmys.com. Television Academy Chairman and CEO Frank Scherma will join them for the nominations announcement.

Fumero was a cast member of the 2013-20 Fox-NBC comedy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and will co-star in the upcoming Netflix comedy “Blockbuster,” in which Smoove has a recurring role. Smoove is best known for his portrayal of Larry David’s friend Leon Black on the HBO comedy “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

The 74th annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented Sept. 12 at L.A. Live.

The bulk of the 118 awards will be presented at the Creative Arts Emmys Sept 3-4, also at L.A. Live. Those awards are mainly in technical categories, such as picture editing, costuming, hairstyling, makeup and sound but also include awards for guest acting.

Source: Orange County Register