A pair of Cold War Soviet spies and an awkward cyber hacker will challenge the warring nobles of the Iron Throne at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday.
More than more than 20 awards celebrating the best of television would be handed out at the occasion.
“Games of Thrones hopes to keep to its best drama series crown after an acclaimed sixth season but FX’s long-ignored “The Americans, alongside Mr Robot could take the top prize
“The Americans’ is probably the biggest competition for ‘Game of Thrones’ this year, because it has been a long-time snub at the Emmys and this was the FX drama’s finest season,’’ said James Hibberd.
“Games of Thrones’’ has a leading 23 nominations, including multiple supporting actor and actress nods.
“It had a triumphant season this year with lots of iconic episodes that critics and fans adored, so I can’t imagine it losing while it is still riding such a creative high,” said Tom O’Neil.
The best comedy competition probably would not be as dramatic, after a fifth season that reflected the jaw-dropping nature of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Washington satire “Veep” would be hard to beat.
Its star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is expected to pick up her fifth straight acting Emmy for playing the ambitious, self-absorbed Selina Meyer.
“‘Veep’ is Emmy inevitability,” O’Neil said. “This show was better than ever this year and it has no serious competition.”
However, the biggest winner could be FX’s “The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.”
It received 22 nominations for its 10-hour dramatisation of the former football star’s 1995 double murder trial, which was aired against a contemporary backdrop of tense race relations.
“The People v O.J.’ took what could have been an exploitative true crime docudrama and elevated it into a riveting and surprisingly topical television,” Hibberd said.
The show is seen as a shoo-in to take the limited series Emmy while Sarah Paulson is preferred for her role as prosecutor Marcia Clark.
Courtney B. Vance (Johnnie Cochran), Cuba Gooding Jr. (O.J. Simpson), David Schwimmer (Robert Kardashian), John Travolta (Robert Shapiro) and Sterling K. Brown (Christopher Darden) have also been nominated.
The three-hour ceremony in Los Angeles will be live on ABC television with Jimmy Kimmel as host. (Reuters/NAN)