The 2021 Primetime Emmy Awards are inching closer, with the prestigious main ceremony set to take place on September 19 in Los Angeles.
It was previously announced that only nominees and their plus-ones would be invited to attend the in-person event, and now the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has gone one step further and revealed that attendees must show proof of vaccination before they will be permitted to enter. Masks will also be mandatory at the event.
The stricter rules are in response to the Delta strain of COVID-19 which has been circulating in the Los Angeles area.
The Creative Arts Emmys will also be split into three ceremonies, with the first event taking place on Saturday, September 11 and focusing on categories such as cinematography, costumes, hairstyling, production design, editing and sound mixing.
On the afternoon of September 13, a second Creative Arts Emmys ceremony will be held and will see awards handed out in the areas of reality television and documentary filmmaking, while the third event will take place later that evening and will centre on the guest actor and actress nods, short-form series and variety sketch series, among others.
The September 19 ceremony will be hosted by Cedric the Entertainer and will see awards handed out across 25 categories including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
Disney is a frontrunner at the 2021 ceremony, having racked up 146 nominations across all of the categories while streaming giant Netflix, earned a total of 129 nominations. WarnerMedia — which owns HBO and HBO Max — garnered 138 total nominations thanks to the two platforms.
The pandemic affected the ability of several series to be considered eligible for Emmy nominations, as production was slowed or stopped entirely on show’s such as Succession — which will finally debut its third season later in 2021. The gritty family drama tied third with Netflix’s Ozark for wins at the 2020 ceremony, winning seven Emmys out of 17 nominations.
Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso starring Jason Sudeikis— the second season of which is currently streaming on the platform — earned 20 nominations, becoming the most nominated comedy series this year, and the most nominated freshman comedy series in history.
Meanwhile, in the acting categories, artists of colour made up almost half of the total nominations across the categories — a refreshing and overdue change.
Mj Rodriguez, Rosie Perez, Bowen Yang and Kristen Anderson Lopez were some of the non-white performers who were recognised for their stellar performances with Rodriguez’s nomination for her role as Blanca Rodriguez-Evangelista in Pose representing the first time a trans woman has ever been nominated in the leading actress category.
Rodriguez’s co-star Billy Porter, also received a nomination in the lead drama actor category, having previously won the Emmy in 2019.
The 2021 Emmys will air on FOXTEL’s Arena as well as FOXTEL Go and FOXTEL Now, live at 10am and then again at 7.30pm, Monday, September 20 on FOX ARENA.
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