The Handmaid’s Tale: So, where are all their 2019 Emmy nominations?
By Ariba Bhuvad
The Handmaid’s Tale is a bit absent from the 2019 Emmy nominations, aren’t they?
The Handmaid’s Tale has an interesting tale to tell when it comes to the 2019 Emmys. First off, the third season is currently airing but given that it started after the deadline for submissions, it was not eligible for this year’s Emmys. However, season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale which aired in 2018 did receive a total of 11 nominations, but none of them are in any of the major categories.
So, how exactly does this work considering season 2 was last year? Well, the Academy has something called the “hanging episode rule” which states, per a Deadline article:
"If an ongoing series has enough episodes in the current eligibility year to qualify as a series and has one or more episodes that are part of the series season that fall into the subsequent eligibility year, the “hanging episodes” that are in a contiguous rollout on the same distribution platform join in eligibility the already-qualified-as-eligible episodes of the series."
Also. The Handmaid’s Tale season 3, episode 8 recap: Unfit. light
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In English, this means that because the final three episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale were ineligible for the 2018 Emmys, they are now eligible for 2019. You’ll notice that the nominations are not in the major categories, and are award individually this year, and this is because the series itself doesn’t qualify. Either way, the series got to be a part of the Emmys in some capacity this year and will be able to submit the entire third season in 2020.
The only downside I see to this is the episodes that are nominated were from last year so it’s sort of old news. But hey, a nomination is a nomination, right?
This “hanging episodes” rule will be changing from 2019 onwards, however. It will allow for shows to submit these types of episodes for the year they aired in rather than what happened this year with The Handmaid’s Tale. The only requirement shows will have to meet is that six of the season’s episodes have to have aired before the May 31st deadline. Basically, the rule changed from “airing prior to the nomination-round voting deadline” to “airing prior to the start of nomination-round voting.”
Deadline reported that in regards to The Handmaid’s Tale:
"The ‘hanging episodes’ however must still air within the month of June to qualify, a factor which, if it had been in effect last year, wouldn’t have applied to Handmaid’s three episodes anyway, since they aired in July."
Next. Primetime Emmy nominations 2019: surprises and snubs. dark
Wow, that was a mouthful, but hopefully, it makes sense now why the series has such a weird assortment of nominations this year. And if you’re curious as to what exactly they are nominated for, here’s that list below.
- Guest Actress: Cherry Jones (plays Holly Maddox)
- Guest Actor: Bradley Whitford (plays Commander Lawrence)
- Directing: Daina Reid for Episode 211, “Holly”
- Writing: Bruce Miller and Kira Snyder for Episode 211, “Holly”
- Other nominations: Cinematography, production design, sound mixing, costumes, editing, and music composition
Tune in on Sunday, Sept. 22nd at 8 PM EST to check out the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards on Fox!
(Source: Deadline)