Gold Derby reports that Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Kit Harington (Jon Snow) are to be submitted by HBO as lead acting contenders for Game of Thrones at the 2018 Golden Globes, an unusual move on HBO’s part. We remember back when HBO submitted Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister) and Sean Bean (Eddard Stark – RIP) for season 1 at the 2011 Emmys, but with the show not reaching the worldwide popularity and pop culture dominance it now holds, they did not clinch the nominations. Hopefully, Harington and Clarke will fare better, but they have not even been submitted yet, let alone nominated, so hold your direwolves before celebrating!
Historically, HBO has done its best to spread the wealth instead of putting all their eggs in one basket. Clearly the runaway success has been Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), who won the only Golden Globe for which he was nominated (season 1), and has been nominated for Emmys for all 6 years of GoT, having won two (seasons 1 and 5). However, since season 3, people not named Peter Dinklage have begun to pick up steam amidst the increasingly stiff Emmy competition; Dame Diana Rigg (Olenna Tyrell) was nominated for guest actress in seasons 3, 4, and 5, Headey finally broke through at the Emmys with nominations for the past three seasons (4-6), and Maisie Williams (Arya) finally cracked an Emmy nomination for season 6. Even Max von Sydow (Three-Eyed Raven) got in on the action for season 6 with a one-shot guest actor nomination.
Like Williams, Harington received his first Emmy nomination for season 6, but Clarke has already received three Emmy nominations, ever since Daenerys began her freedom-tour of Essos (seasons 3, 4, and 6). However, all the major players have largely been competing in the supporting or guest categories in either awards show. Should either Harington or Clarke emerge victorious at the reading of the ballots, it would be multiple firsts for either of them, as GoT acting nominations have not been as prominent at the Golden Globes as they have been at the Emmys, nor has either of them been nominated before as a lead in either awards show.
Another reason to get excited is that Seth Meyers was just recently announced as the Golden Globes 2018 host. A well-documented fanboy of Game of Thrones, Meyers has invited Kit Harington to a dinner party, brought Melisandre to a baby shower, and thrilled us all with the continued adventures of Leslie Jones’ “Game of Jones” here and here. We will hopefully see a good dose of GoT-related humor at the telecast.
The Golden Globe nominations will be read on December 11th. What do you think their odds are? What competition do you think they’ll face? Any other Golden Globe predictions you’d like to share? Please do so in the comments below!
Makes sense. Their relative screen time was much higher this season than in the past.
I hope Lena gets nominated for a Golden Globe again this year as she did for Season 6. although the GGs usually don’t do two consecutive nominations in a row.
I hope Kit and Emilia are submitted as leads for Emmys too so Peter and Lena don’t have to split the vote with these two
I can see them having a shot for the last season of the show, as awards shows like to do.
“Another reason to get excited is that Seth Meyers was just recently announced as the Golden Globes 2018 host. A well-documented fanboy of Game of Thrones, Meyers has invited Kit Harington to a dinner party, brought Melisandre to a baby shower…”
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Those Melisandre and Jon Snow skits were hysterical. He really ought to do some more. Like…Sandor Clegane, flight attendant; Tormund Giantsbane, Customer Service Representative; Arya attends a wine-tasting (or bake sale)….
I’m sure you all out there have more and better ideas…
This has so far been an extremely boring off-season. When can we expect to see some filming news?
Headey!
Port,
Not until they start production in Spain.
I’d rather give that Golden Globe to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
My initial reaction was to write “Bwahahahah” but then I got a little angry instead. Both of them are good and kind people I’m sure, but neither of them are great actors, and at times, they are flat out poor actor imo.
I hope Alfie Allen gets submitted for best supporting actor but I suppose that won’t happen now or we would have been told. It’s so sad and frustrating that these awards aren’t about acting but only about popularity.
Ah yes the Golden Globes – the awards were Ridley Scotts the Martian was nominated for a comedy. It won as well.
I’m seconding Gigi with it should have been Lena Headley. I’d also probably nominate whoever is playing Euron (sorry, sir, your name escapes me this moment).
Harrington is slowly improving, but Clarke has really fallen flat on some key scenes – especially losing Viscerion, where Jorah appears far more distressed than she is. That’s not to say Clarke can’t shine, but her best work was actually in earlier series, with Drogo and Astapor.
It strikes me that part of the reason this season feels empty, is so many of our good actors have had relatively little to do. Tyrion’s been somewhat underused (for goodness sake, let him ride a dragon and thrill ). Sansa and Arya are badly undermined by a lot of their arc making no sense whatsoever. Ellaria almost makes up for it though. Yara is fab in every scene she’s in as well.
Jorah looked positively verklempt at Viserion’s death, but then Iain can win a scene by moving an eyelash, so I suppose that’s par for the course. 😜 I think Dany showed it more after the fact, when sitting with Jon. When she shakes her head and looks away like she can’t talk about it, I thought that was well done.
I love Pilou. He had a couple really stellar moments this season.
Clarke and Harington are both terrible actors. They’d fair better with Dinklage and Headey.
lol good luck with that
Agreed! Lena Headey too.
I don’t agree with the bell-ends above who say Kit & Em are bad actors. I do agree it was more Nikolaj’s year, especially the last ep.
I really hope the writing for their relationship improves in the last season and they don’t carry on rushing it.
Nikolaj and Lena are no lead actors. They did not have enough screentime this season to be submitted as lead actors.
And my own opinion:
Kit Harington has improved a lot as an actor since first season. I really started to like him since season 4 episode 1.
And people like Daenerys, or there wouldn’t be so many people who call their kids Khaleesi. It’s true she sometimes doesn’t show much emotion but that’s the director’s choice. The moments she does show emotion she does it very well.
Good luck to both Kit and Emilia, but I doubt either of them will be able to secure nominations in the lead category. The best bets to get nominations are Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage in the supporting category imo. But honestly, I think there have been better performances in other shows this year, so who knows.
The golden globe doesn’t usually show love to Thrones.
The Golden Globes’ TV acting awards are the rare awards body where going lead, if possible, makes more sense from a game theory perspective, because they have separate lead categories for drama/comedy/limited series, but cram the supporting actors from all three into a single, ludicrously tough bracket.
That said, the Globes’ distinguishing feature among the main awards bodies is that they embrace new stuff, so I’m not sure that at this juncture they’re likely to double back to GOT in a big way.
Best of luck Kit and Emilia! Here is to Lena, Peter and Nikolaj for supporting!
I will do my utmost best to deliver news with the energetic pep you so desire next time!
• “Acting” ability is subjective – at least to amateurs like me (us?), and many times is a function of the writing and directing.
• I doubt that more than a small percentage of the audience would say that Kit H. and Emilia C are “flat out poor” actors. I wouldn’t. For virtual unknowns seven years ago, they’ve both evolved tremendously.
• I believe the only drawback to Emilia C. playing Daenerys Targaryen is that she doesn’t get to showcase her comedic talents and playful personality. Similarly, Jon Snow has to be “serious” most of the time. On the rare occasion he gets to let loose and laugh, Kit H. shows ample charisma. (See, for example, Jon’s classic scene with Ygritte in “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” – ”Oh, a spider! Save me, Jon Snow! My dress is made of the finest silk from Tralalaeeday!”.)
• I acknowledge that a good portion of the fandom admires Alfie Allen’s acting. You’ve conveyed your sadness and frustration “that these awards aren’t about acting but only about popularity”, suggesting that Alfie Allen has been unfairly overlooked.
I have to confess that his portrayal of Theon has not resonated with me. [*Dodges virtual tomatoes and spitballs*].
He’s got that jittery, crystal meth-overdosing look down pat; that, along with his signature bug-eyed expression, aredistracting to me. But again, I’m no expert and wouldn’t question the judgment of Alfie Allen admirers. However. it’s kind of a stretch to imply that he’s been unfairly deprived of a supporting actor nomination because popularity trumps acting ability.
• Again, this is all subjective. However, in my view, if anyone has been criminally overlooked for a supporting actor nomination, it’s Rory McCann. Exhibit “A”: S4e7, telling Arya how he was disfigured and betrayed as a boy; Exhibit “B”: S7e1, running the gamut of comic, dramatic and tragic in his scenes with Beric and Thoros. Exhibit “C”: the last ten munutes of S4e1, “Two Swords” aka “Every F*cking Chicken in This Room” – because it’s the #1 GoT scene of all time in my book.
Kit and Emilia instead of Lena and Peter (or Nikolaj)? Okay….
To be fair, we do not know who HBO will submit in the supporting categories. That said, whoever end up on the list (Alfie, Lena, Nikolaj, Peter, Aidan, Rory etc), they are all better actors than Emilia or Kit, as far as I am concerned.
Ten Bears said “• “Acting” ability is subjective – at least to amateurs like me (us?), and many times is a function of the writing and directing.”
This is true. I won’t mention any names but there have been some actors (male and female – though I’m not thinking of GoT cast members here) that have won awards, not necessarily Golden Globes who leave me somewhat cold. I’ve never had the aversion to Emilia or Kit that some people have. I think Alfie Allen has conveyed the by turns braggart, hapless and then (hopefully) recovering Theon well.
At the end of the day I guess for any actor getting work is the main priority – awards are icing on the cake and nice to have but are not vital. One thing about being in an older age bracket and retired (though I do still work part-time from home) is that I have sometimes seen daytime TV shows even if I have had them on in the background. There have been some enjoyable daytime dramas (I’m based in the UK) which have never reached mass audiences because of the time they have been aired. I can’t remember whether GoT actors have ever won anything as an ensemble cast? I think it deserves to but I don’t vote in the Emmy competition. Considering how many TV shows are cancelled after maybe one season, I am grateful that GoT is going to go the full distance. I know there are some people who have been saddened (or annoyed) by some of the choices made in the adaptation process but I’m glad the series wasn’t dumped part-way through.
Emilia clarke & kit harington being submitted as lead for the golden globes has nothing to do with popularity or acting skills, and is has everything to do with the HPPA RULES. Regardless of who we think are the best actors, Alfie allen & lena headey were supporting actors in season 7, therefore they can’t compete in the lead category no matter how great they are. They weren’t even in all 7 episodes and each year they have a considerable dicrease on screentime compared to kit & Emilia.
Anyway, If someone cares to check the Golden Globes eligibility rules rather than just ranting for the sake of ranting, here it is: https://www.goldenglobes.com/sites/default/files/media/golden_globe_awards_eligibility_descriptions_2017_revisions.pdf
These two have brought to life two of the most iconic characters in modern pop culture, so credit’s due where it’s due. Their versions of Jon Snow and Daenaerys Targayren are nearly universally-recognisable (and adored). I hope they do really well this awards season.
Go Kit! 🙂
jdtargstark,
Totally true. I mistakenly thought that Kit and Emilia would be the only ones submitted this year from the show but we don’t know that yet. In other words, there is still hope for other actors from GoT being submitted for the Best Supporting category. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed.
singedbylife,
Season 7 has been criticized for a number of different reasons…pacing, scripts and in some cases, acting. The actors report to the set supposedly knowing their lines and they follow the director as to how he wants the scene played out.
I thought Emilia Clarke did a brilliant job not by what she said but rather by what she didn’t say with the use of her eyes, facial expressions, and body language. She made it clear that her character, Queen Daenerys was falling for the King of the North, Jon Snow.
Well, given that they are the two “most primary” of the protagonists, it makes sense! However, my understanding is that the definitions of “lead” and “supporting” are based on screentime, not the definitions of “protagonist” and “secondary character” that we learn in high school/secondary school literature classes.
Well, that is also based on the behavior of modern royalty, which in turn informs people on what we expect acting “royal” to be like. We know what Queen Elisabeth emoting would be considered showing “excess character” and all of that, but we also know that she probably is a real woman when the world is not watching. The difference is that the show gives us Public Daenerys and Private Daenerys: so, we get to see that “excess character” occasionally.
😂😂😂😂😂
Emilia Clarke please meet 2018 Golden Globes winner Elizabeth Moss for Haindmaids Tale. Kit Harington please meet the others in your category…hope one of them mentions you in their thanks.
We all know the Golden Globes and Emmys don’t mean jack sh*t.
It’s the coveted Watchers on the Wall Awards that count. 🏆
I rank you an 11 out of 10 bears. 🙂
Well heck, at least all of us that vote actually watch the show! 😉
Ten Bears,
Yasss! I don’t know how you do it but comments are always brilliant!
It makes sense to me to spread out the categories the actors are submitted for if possible, as they might have a better chance if they aren’t competing against someone else from the same show (and potentially splitting the vote).
If we are looking at screentime and the role that plays, Kit had more screentime than anyone over the last two seasons and so if any of the male actors are to be singled out as leading then it makes sense for it to be him. I’d also argue that though the show is ostensibly an ensemble piece, as a viewer I personally felt that the central character focus for season seven was Jon and Daenerys. Their paths crossing for the first time and how that impacted them and the overriding story.
I agree with this – I know Viserion’s death has been debated on this thread; for me, in the moment of his death we see Daenerys’s “public reaction” and in the boat scene with Jon we see her “private reaction.” In public, Daenerys has to remain strong and hide anything that could be taken for weakness.
I give rat’s arse about awards, especially American ones, because the’re more about media exposure and carefully managed PR than actual craft.
That said, I wish all the best to Kit and Emilia, they have done outstanding work.
I agree with everybody who want NCW recognised.
Also, Queen Cersei “emotes” frequently, which is taken as a sign she’s “mad.”
Sometimes I wonder if people think before they comment. Kit and Emilia being submitted as leads is the most logical thing for Thrones to do. Whether some people like it or not, Jon and Daenerys are the protagonists of the story. Period. So logic tells you that the actors portraying them are the leads. One character brought back dragons, the other one is a resurrected hidden prince. All other characters are supporting characters. Now there may be better characters and you may like them more than you do Jon and Danny but that doesn’t make them lead characters.
Many actors are submitted into consideration for awards, few are nominated, even fewer are awarded. Kit and Emilia being submitted as leads is not an affront to anyone, they are simply being submitted so best save your outrage or your disdain for something more important.
You’re right. Outrage and disdain should be saved for something more important, like the end of net neutrality or world hunger, etc. I’m sure we’re all doing what we can to solve these problems….
The problem as I see it, based on the comments, is not that they’re recognized as leads but that Emilia and Kit are not very good actors. That, and the fact that some seem to understand the politics of this particular awards show and feel that GOT doesn’t have a chance.
Port,
…..yes and that’s a good thing. At least to me it is, I don’t want to know every damn thing about this season months and months before it comes out like with S7. Especially since this will be the last season. I hope the off-season continues to be boring as all out hell.
I expect the same thing to happen with Game of Thrones with the SAG Awards, Emmys, Golden Globes, etc. as what happened with The Lord of the Rings at the Oscars: a sweep following the conclusion.
Having said that, given the enormous cast and depth of talent no one will ever be properly rewarded for brilliant acting. I would argue that GoT has an even deeper talent pool than LotR, but none will see individual kudos for their incredible contributions for the simple reason that they were stellar among a group of stellar castmates. Elisabeth Moss stands out as the stellar lead against a stellar supporting cast in The Handmaid’s Tale, yes… but the same cannot be said of GoT, a much broader story, far more dependent on stellar ensemble work than either LotR or A Handmaid’s Tale.
That! Best of luck to both of them, I love them both and I think they are both excellent actors.
I don’t think anyone gave a nomination-worthy performance this season.
Rory McCann. Episode 1.
Rory McCann, in any scene he’s appeared in ever. *cough* I love him so much *cough*