Cancelled HBO Show Nabs 18 Emmy Nominations

The nominees for the 73rd Emmy Awards were announced on Tuesday, celebrating the best in the past year of television. The nominations spanned a pretty epic array of formats and shows — and also featured quite a lot of love for HBO’s Lovecraft Country. The genre-bending horror series scored eighteen nominations across a number of categories, including the coveted Outstanding Drama Series category. This news comes just weeks after the premium cable network confirmed that it would not be renewing Lovecraft Country for a second season, a decision that has upset fans ever since it was initially announced.

In addition to Outstanding Drama Series, Lovecraft Country scored five acting nominations — Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Jonathan Majors (Atticus Freeman), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Jurnee Smollett (Letitia “Leti” Lewis), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Michael K. Williams (Montrose Freeman), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Aunjanue Ellis (Hippolyta Freeman), and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Courtney B. Vance (George Freeman).

The series also earned a number of technical nominations, with the overall series receiving nods for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie, Outstanding Casting For a Drama Series, and Outstanding Main Title Design. The series’ first episode, “Sundown”, also earned specific nominations for Outstanding Writing For a Drama Series, Outstanding Cinematography For a Single-Camera Series (One Hour), Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Sound Editing For a Comedy or Drama Series, and Outstanding Sound Mixing For a Comedy or Drama Series. The series’ seventh episode, “I Am.”, earned nominations for Outstanding Stunt Performance and Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes. The series’ ninth episode, “Rewind 1921”, earned a nomination for Outstanding Music Composition For a Series (Original Dramatic Score).

“I did not take anything for granted shooting the show, and you couldn’t,” Ellis told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview earlier this year. “We were really — for me, anyway, I can’t speak for my other castmates who might have worked on similar things before — but I’ve never worked on anything like this before. I was in uncharted territory, so every day was surprising for me. All the scripts were surprising, I would read them and I would think ‘How the heck are they going to do this?’ I think that [showrunner] Misha [Green] and the writers were only limited by their imaginations. We were the arms and legs of their imaginations. There was no ceiling to what they thought of, so I was always surprised by it. I was surprised by something every day.”

What do you think of Lovecraft Country scoring so many nominations at the 2021 Emmys? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!