In the television industry, the conventional wisdom has long held that a genre series could never take home television’s top prize. But at last night’s 2015 Emmy Awards, the conventional wisdom was WRONG.
HBO’s epic fantasy series Game of Thrones won for Outstanding Drama series, it’s first win in the category. Game of Thrones overcame stiff competition from Mad Men, Better Call Saul, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Downton Abbey, and Homeland to take the award. Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage was also named Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama, his second award in that category.
Mad Men’s Jon Hamm was named Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama after several previous nominations, while Viola Davis won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for How To Get Away With Murder. Orange is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba won the supporting actress in a drama award.
In comedy, Veep was the winner of Outstanding Comedy Series, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus won the leading actress award yet again. But in one of the night’s biggest surprises, Jeffrey Tambour was named Oustanding Lead Actor in a Comedy for his role in the Amazon.com original series Transparent, in which he plays a man transitioning into a woman.
HBO’s Olive Kitteridge miniseries dominated in the miniseries categories with wins in every field except for Supporting Actress, which was taken by American Crime’s Regina King. In the variety and talk show categories, it was a clean sweep by Comedy Central with wins for The Daily Show and Inside Amy Schumer.
A full list of 2015 Emmy winners is reproduced below:
Outstanding Drama Series
Game of Thrones
Outstanding Comedy Series
Veep
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy”
Outstanding Variety Series
The Daily Show
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series
Inside Amy Schumer
Writing for a Variety Series
The Daily Show
Outstanding Limited Series
Olive Kitteridge
Outstanding Actor in a Mini-series or Movie
Richard Jenkins, Olive Kitteridge
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie
Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge
Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special
Lisa Cholodenko, Olive Kitteridge
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie
Regina King, American Crime
Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Series
Jane Anderson, Olive Kitteridge
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy
Jeffrey Tambour, Transparent
Outstanding Directing for Comedy Series
Jill Soloway for Transparent
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Veep, “Election Night”
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Allison Janney, Mom