What are the best series and TV titles of 2023? The 2023 Emmys won’t be awarded until September 18, 2023, but the nominations have already been announced. The series, which recently ended with a lot of observation with the fourth season “Succession“ ends up in the role of favorites again. There were 27 nominations for the succession battle in the family of a media mogul. This also surpassed the video game adaptation “The Last Of Us”, which was especially popular with audiences. There were 24 nominations. Of course, both titles are in the running for best drama series – “Success” won the award last year.
There were also a lot of nominations for “The White Lotus” with 23 and “Ted Lasso” with 21 nominations. Both are also old acquaintances at the Emmys and winners from last year. They won in 2022 for Best Miniseries and Best Comedy Series. This year, however, “White Lotus” will not defend its title as it now faces “Succession” in the “Best Drama Series” category.
Disappointment or success for Netflix?
Streaming giant Netflix is probably a bit ambivalent about the 2023 Emmy nominations. With a total of 103 nominations for its own productions, it is only surpassed by HBO Max (127), but could have been represented a bit more often in the top categories.
The Crown (only six nominations in total) is the only Netflix series to be nominated for Best Drama Series, while Wednesday (12 nominations in total) is the only one in the Best Comedy Series category. After all, with the miniseries “Beef” and “Dahmer” (both 13 nominations in total) you have two hot irons in the fire.
Fantasy duel and “Star Wars” triathlon
It was also eagerly awaited when the Emmys watched the two major fantasy series: the “Game Of Thrones” spin-off “House Of The Dragon” and the “Lord of the Rings” series “Rings of Power”. With eight nominations for “House Of The Dragon” and six for Amazon’s Journey to Middle-earth, the result seems pretty close. While the Westeros prequel has been nominated for Best Drama Series, among other awards, the fantasy competition has only been nominated in smaller technical categories – for costumes, make-up or the title design, for example.
Three ‘Star Wars’ series compete against each other at the Emmys. In the end, there were nine nominations for The Mandalorian, eight for Andor and five for Obi-Wan Kenobi. “Andor” is nominated for best drama series, “Obi-Wan Kenobi” for best miniseries. “The Mandalorian” gets its nominations mainly in technical categories such as stunts, special effects and costumes.
The nominees in the main categories
Since an overview of all nominees in all categories would go too far here, the following is an overview of only the main categories of the best productions and the leading actors. If you’re interested in all the nominees, there are a list of 60 (!) pages long on the website of the Television Academy.
Best Drama Series 2023:
- Andor
- You better call Saul
- The crown
- House of the Dragon
- The last of us
- Succession
- The White Lotus
- Yellow jackets
Best Comedy Series 2023:
- Abbot Elementary School
- barry
- Jury duty
- Only kills in the building
- Ted Lasso
- The bear
- The wonderful Mrs. Maisel
- Wednesday
Best Miniseries 2023:
- beef
- dahmer
- Daisy Jones and the Six
- Fleishman is in trouble
- Obi Wan Kenobi
Best TV or Streaming Movie 2023:
- Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas
- Fire Island
- Hocus Pocus 2
- prey
- Strange: The Story of Al Yankovic
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series 2023:
- Sharon Horgan (“Bad Sisters”)
- Melanie Lynskey (“Yellow Jackets”)
- Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
- Bella Ramsey (“The Last of Us”)
- Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”)
- Sarah Snook (“Succession”)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series 2023:
- Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”)
- Brian Cox (“Succession”)
- Kieran Culkin (“Succession”)
- Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)
- Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”)
Best Actress in a Comedy Series 2023:
- Christina Applegate (Dead to Me)
- Rachel Brosnahan (“The Wonderful Mrs. Maisel”)
- Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary School)
- Natasha Lyonne (poker face)
- Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series 2023:
- Bill Hader (Barry)
- Jason Segel (“Shrink”)
- Martin Short (in-building kills only)
- Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”)
- Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”)
Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie 2023:
- Lizzy Caplan (“Fleishman’s in Trouble”)
- Jessica Chastain (George & Tammy)
- Dominique Fishback (“Swarm of Bees”)
- Kathryn Hahn (“Little Pretty Things”)
- Riley Keough (Daisy Jones & The Six)
- Ali Wong (“Beef”)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie 2023:
- Taron Egerton (“Black Bird”)
- Kumail Nanjiani (“Welcome to Chippendales”)
- Evan Peters (“Dahmer”)
- Daniel Radcliffe (Weird: The Story of Al Yankovic)
- Michael Shannon (George & Tammy)
- Steven Yeun (“Beef”)
All TV shows that premiered between June 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023 were eligible for the nominations. That’s why previous series like “Better Call Saul” are also represented at the 2023 Emmys.
The election process for the nominees will now take place from August 17 to 28. As I said, September 18, 2023 will be the grand ceremony.