The 2024 Emmy Awards capped off an incredible year for Shogun, the Japan-set period drama series taking home four top statuettes to set a record on television’s biggest night.
The latest success means that the Disney+ series based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell now has 18 prizes after collecting 14 gongs at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards earlier this month.
The show’s lead stars, Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada, also took home the top acting honours, making representation history as the first Asian woman and first Japanese man to win the awards for outstanding lead actress and actor in a drama series.
Shogun‘s impressive awards tally may have been expected after receiving 25 nominations, but the night was also full of surprises. While Disney+’s The Bear set a record for comedy series nominations, it did not take home the top prize, as HBO’s Hacks won the comedy series award.
The 2024 winners largely represent the continued power of legacy talent and classic stories that are updated to modern sensibilities.
Shogun revives a classic novel and once-beloved limited television series, though it fixes many of the flaws with the original, focusing on the Japanese characters instead of the Western man as the original did.
Hacks star Jean Smart, who had previously won multiple Emmys herself for her turn on Frasier, won the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series. Jeremy Allen White collected the prize of lead actor in the same category for his role in The Bear.
Jean Smart accepts the award for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for Hacks. AP
Netflix special (crosshead)
Netflix’s viral hit Baby Reindeer, about a comedian who becomes the victim of a stalker and based on a one-man show, is unlike anything that’s come before and was rewarded handsomely. It took home four trophies, including best limited series.
While the Mena region was largely absent with no onstage mentions of Palestine nor any wins for Arab talent such as the nominated Ramy Youssef, there were historic gains for diversity overall.
