Succession Just Broke a 20-Year Record for Emmy Nominations

With 25 total nominations, HBO's Succession was the most recognized show on TV, at least according to the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards nominees, which were announced on Tuesday morning. This included nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, writing, directing, and a slew of acting nominations. With almost every major cast member nominated (sorry, Alan Ruck, though a more Connor Roy outcome could not have been imagined), plus a dominant showing in the Guest Actor and Guest actress races, Succession was beyond a powerhouse in the acting races.

So much of a powerhouse, in fact, that the show smashed a record that's been held at the Emmys for 20 years: the most acting nominations by one program in a single year. The previous mark, at 12 nominations, was set by The West Wing in 2002, following the show's third season. Succession landed a whopping FOURTEEN acting nominations, a tally that included:

• Brian Cox, Outstanding Lead Actor, Drama
• Jeremy Strong, Outstanding Lead Actor, Drama
• Nicholas Braun, Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama
• Kieran Culkin, Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama
• Matthew Macfadyen, Outstanding Supporting Actor, Drama
• J. Smith-Cameron, Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama
• Sarah Snook, Outstanding Supporting Actress, Drama
• Adrien Brody, Outstanding Guest Actor, Drama
• James Cromwell, Outstanding Guest Actor, Drama
• Arian Moayed, Outstanding Guest Actor, Drama
• Alexander Skarsgard, Outstanding Guest Actor, Drama
• Hope Davis, Outstanding Guest Actress, Drama
• Sanaa Lathan, Outstanding Guest Actress, Drama
• Harriet Walter, Outstanding Guest Actress, Drama

The recent trend at the Emmys is a huge concentration of acting nominees from a small number of shows, and Succession's haul was certainly representative of that trend continuing. Ted Lasso, the year's most-nominated comedy, landed a whopping ten acting nominations, while HBO's limited series The White Lotus landed eight acting nominations (out of a cast of eleven main cast members).

Joe Reid is the senior writer at Primetimer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His work has appeared in Decider, NPR, HuffPost, The Atlantic, Slate, Polygon, Vanity Fair, Vulture, The A.V. Club and more.