After three incredible seasons, it seemed like Hollywood was never going to recognize the Paramount Network's massively successful drama Yellowstone at the Emmy Awards. For the past two years, frustrated fans have passionately been vocal online in support of their favorite actors getting overlooked, but this year, the modern western is finally included in the list of Emmy nominees. Strangely, it's not in the category you would expect to see considering how many talented people are on the show.
As a passionate fan of the TV show, I'm doing a deep dive into this year's Emmy nominees and my thoughts on the award show consistently snubbing the seriously talented cast of Yellowstone.
Read More: 'Yellowstone': Every Major Character From The Hit TV Show, Ranked
Yellowstone received their first Emmy nomination this year
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This year, Yellowstone is being recognized as a nominee for Outstanding Production Design. The TV series posted the big news on social media with special shout-outs to creator Taylor Sheridan, Cary White (Production Designer), Yvonne Boudreaux (Art Director), and Carla Curry (Set Decorator).
While we agree that this is well deserved, we can't help but wonder...that's it? What about all of the other categories?
Why does Yellowstone keep getting snubbed?
Great question. I'd love to know why it was justified that The Crown earned two nominations for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Potentially the biggest shock is that Kelly Reilly hasn't been recognized once for the astounding work she brings season after season as Beth Dutton. If there was one person I'd fight for getting a nomination it's Reilly, who has turned Beth into a fan-favorite character and one of the toughest on the entire series.
I think The Handmaid's Tale is great, but it gets nominated every single year, which brings me to my shock over this year's nominations in the Best Supporting Actor category. You're telling me that Bradley Whitford, Max Minghella, and O-T Fagbenle from Handmaid's Tale ALL needed a nomination in this category? Whitford was nominated for the same role last year and yes, he's amazing. But there is absolutely no reason that Cole Hauser and Luke Grimes deserved to be overlooked for the third year in a row.
And don't even get me started about the fact that the Emmys nominated Regé-Jean Page from Bridgerton over Kevin Costner for Lead Actor. Page is very talented, but I personally couldn't get through the first season even though I fully understand how popular Bridgerton is...it's literally Gossip Girl in the 1800s. And Kevin Costner is a respected Oscar winner who kills it playing John Dutton. Not to mention, Billy Porter already won for his role in Pose and has been nominated three years in a row. If you're going to nominate him again, can't you at least also recognize Costner's performance? If you can't tell...I'm having trouble understanding this. But, hey, we live in a world where Emily in Paris gets nominated for real awards so I guess anything is possible these days.
Let's dive into yet another snub in the Best Supporting Actress category. The Handmaid's Tale garnered a whopping three nominations in this category for Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, and Madeline Brewer while The Crown also earned three for Gillian Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter, and Emerald Fennell. So basically, they're nominating the entire cast of each of these shows and multiple actresses who've already been recognized before. I'm not saying people can't get nominated for a role more than once, but I just don't understand how you can justify these nominations when there is other incredible work not getting recognized whatsoever. Now I have mixed feelings about Kelsey Asbille's character Monica Dutton, but if there was ever a time to nominate her acting work, it was for the third season. As a quick refresher, there was a rapist and murderer who abducted a woman on the reservation and Monica literally volunteered to use herself as bait to help catch him. It was a seriously intense episode featuring trauma that will undoubtedly affect her in the future. Asbille's solid acting work should have been recognized.
Okay, the last category I'm going to complain about is Best Drama Series. Amazon's The Boys earned a nomination as did Bridgerton and Disney's The Mandalorian. Now, I view this as a category kind of like at the Oscars, where you can recognize great shows that don't necessarily deserve to win but deserve some recognition, like Stranger Things in past years. This feels like a fair place to give a nod to Bridgerton, which is one of the most-streamed shows on all of Netflix, as well as The Boys, which I'll admit is a seriously great superhero show. Then you can mix in other notable shows like NBC's This Is Us. But Yellowstone is literally one of the most outstanding drama series on all of television with some of the best storytelling I've seen in years. And the Emmys won't even nominate them for Best Drama? Waiting for season 4 has been some of the biggest entertainment drama of the pandemic so it's surprising that the series consistently gets overlooked over what I would call safe and boring choices that get recognized every year (this does not include Emily in Paris, which is a nomination I'm not sure I'll ever get over).
Hopefully down the line, this series will finally get the recognition it deserves. In the meantime, get excited for the upcoming fourth season by watching the new teaser here.
Now Watch: Who Plays Beth Dutton on 'Yellowstone'? Kelly Reilly Brings the Series' Toughest Character to Life
