Emmys: 'Westworld,' 'Stranger Things' take early lead but 'Big Little Lies,' 'Veep' favourites

12 September, 2017 - 08:30

The Creative Arts Emmy Awards were held over two nights this weekend, with Westworld and Stranger Things taking an early lead with five awards each, followed by The Night Of with four, with Big Little Lies and Veep both on three.

Westworld, about an artificial intelligence theme park where every human appetite can be indulged, for a price, won Special Visual Effects, Hairstyling, Make-up, Sound Mixing, and Interactive Media, while Stranger Things, a homage to 80s horror, won Theme Music, Title Design, Casting, Picture Editing and Sound Editing.

The Night Of, about a man who wakes up after a one-night stand with a stranger to find her murdered, won Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Picture Editing.

The main categories for the Primetime Emmy Awards take place this Sunday, 17 September 2017 and the world's top TV critics have already put their necks on the line with brave predictions on which of your favourite series will win - and it sounds like Westworld and Stranger Things might not keep their leads for long.

Here are the main predictions from the main industry trades:

Best Limited Series: Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies is the unanimous favourite of the three most influential trade publications in Hollywood: Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter (THR) and Variety.

As Deadline wrote, Perennial contender HBO hit the mother lode with this upscale, enormously popular adaptation of Liane Moriarty's best-selling book focusing on sex, murder, motherhood, and female bonding in upper-middle-class suburbia.

All three trades are also betting on Nicole Kidman to edge out co-star and fellow executive producer Reese Witherspoon to take home Best Actress In A Limited Series. The series already has Casting, Music Supervision, and Contemporary Costumes awards from its 16 nominations, with more expected: Alexander Skarsgard is both Deadline and THR's favourite for Best Supporting Actor; Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley are in contention for Best Supporting Actress; Jean-Marc Vall e is nominated as Best Director; and David E. Kelley is up for Writing.

Luckily for early Emmy favourite The Night Of, Big Little Lies doesn't have a lead actor, leaving that category open for either Riz Ahmed or his co-star John Turturro, although the split vote there may pave the way for Deadline's favourite Robert de Niro (The Wizard of Lies) or THR's pick Ewan McGregor (Fargo).

Big Little Lies is available to binge-watch on Showmax from today; The Night Of premiered on Showmax in July 2017 and is still on the platform. Watch and embed the trailers for Big Little Lies at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nVVcIkP9lE and The Night Of at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw43kHWeCBk.

Best Comedy: Veep

The three trades are also in agreement that Veep will win Best Comedy for the third year in a row, with lead Julia-Louise Dreyfus taking home Best Actress in a Comedy for a record sixth consecutive year as - spoiler alert for those who've been sleeping on arguably the best comedy on TV - former US president Selina Meyer. Veep has 17 nominations overall this year, with wins already for casting, cinematography and production design.

As Deadline wrote, Can Veep repeat? Seems entirely doable, especially since the series feels more pertinent than ever considering what is going on in Washington.

In the Best Actor category, last year's winner Jeffrey Tambor is again THR's pick, but with Transparent snubbed as Best Comedy this year, Deadline and Variety are rather betting on Donald Glover for Atlanta. But as Variety admits, Black-ish star Anthony Anderson could be the spoiler as a successful black man raising his kids in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class suburb.

Veep co-stars Tony Hale and Matt Walsh are competing against each other for Best Supporting Actor, although Alec Baldwin is both Deadline and THR's favourite for his Donald Trump impersonation on Saturday Night Live.

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Veep's Anna Chlumsky is second in line to win Best Supporting Actress; both Deadline and THR expect Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton imitation on Saturday Night Live to take this.

The first three seasons of Veep are available to binge-watch on Showmax, with Black-ish available from January 2018. Watch and embed the trailers for Veep at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjF6Tp2PDss and Black-ish at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2oHMze7RwY.

Best Drama: This Is Us or The Crown

Despite having the most nominations (22, shared with Saturday Night Live), the most awards so far (5, shared with Stranger Things) and the highest IMBD rating at the time of writing (9/10, #28 all-time), Westworld is the underdog, which says everything about the quality of the competition this year.

Variety and THR both predict This Is Us will win Best Drama and Best Actor (Sterling K. Brown), but Deadline is rather betting on The Crown for Best Drama and Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk for Best Actor.

The only thing all three trades agree on is that Elisabeth Moss will take home Best Actress for The Handmaid's Tale. THR and Deadline also agree John Lithgow will claim Best Supporting Actor for his role as Winston Churchill in The Crown.

The Best Supporting Actress race has three main contenders, with Deadline and THR betting on This Is Us' Chrissy Metz to edge out Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown and Westworld's Thandie Newton.

Last year's big winner, Game of Thrones, was ineligible this year as it didn't air during the 1 June 2016-31 May 2017 window.

You can binge-watch Westworld on Showmax, as well as fellow 2017 Emmy nominees Mr. Robot, The Young Pope, South Park and The Late Late Show With James Corden. Watch and embed the trailers for Westworld at https://www.youtu

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