Two Sci-Fi Series Landed Golden Globes Nominations
The Golden Globes announced their favorites in film and television, giving The Mandalorian and Lovecraft Country nominations for best drama.
This article is more than 2 years old
Today, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominees for the 2021 Golden Globe Awards, which celebrate the best in both film and television. In the Best Drama Series category, The Mandalorian and Lovecraft Country received nominations alongside perennial nominee The Crown, Jason Bateman’s Ozark, and Ryan Murphy’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest prequel Ratched.
The Mandalorian and Lovecraft Country are the rare sci-fi shows to make the cut in one of the Golden Globes’ biggest categories. The other sci-fi series in the last two decades to receive nominations in this category are Stranger Things and Westworld in recent years. However, despite more openness to nominating sci-fi shows, only one sci-fi series has won the award, with The X-Files winning in both 1995 and 1997.
The Mandalorian marks the first series from Disney+ to receive a nomination in the Best Drama Series, while Lovecraft Country airer HBO has frequently received nominations and wins in this category, winning last year with Succession. Prior to Succession, HBO’s last win in Best Drama was in 2011 for Boardwalk Empire, and before that HBO hadn’t won the award since Six Feet Under in 2002.
But both The Mandalorian and Lovecraft Country face some stiff competition in Best Drama. This nomination is the sole nomination for both series, whereas Ratched received two acting nominations, Ozark received three, while The Crown earned five acting nominations. Even though the film side of the awards presents awards for best writing and directing, the television side does not, meaning any other nominations for these shows would rely on acting nominations. However, Jurnee Smollett, Jonathan Majors, and Michael K. Williams have both been called by several sites for being snubbed at the awards.
Beyond The Mandalorian and Lovecraft Country both receiving Best Drama nominations, Best Musical/Comedy Series nominations went to Emily in Paris, The Flight Attendant, The Great, Schitt’s Creek, and Ted Lasso. Over on the movie side of the awards, Best Picture Drama nominees included The Father, Mank, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Meanwhile, Best Picture – Musical/Comedy nominations went to Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Hamilton, Music, Palm Springs, and The Prom.
The Mandalorian has become somewhat of a surprise award contender over the last few years. At the 2020 Primetime Emmys, which focuses exclusively on television, the first season of The Mandalorian received multiple nominations. The Mandalorian also received a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series, where it lost to Succession. The series also received multiple nominations for editing, and Giancarlo Esposito was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Moff Gideon. However, The Mandalorian walked away with seven Emmy wins for its first year.
While it seems that The Crown likely has Best Drama Series in the bad, the Golden Globes are an unpredictable group, as can be seen by some of their unconventional nominations today. The Mandalorian or Lovecraft Country could very well become the first sci-fi series since The X-Files to walk away with this award. We will have to wait until the end of the month to find out, as The 78th Golden Globe Awards are scheduled for February 28, with hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
