2022 Emmy Awards: Succession, Ted Lasso, The White Lotus, Zendaya nab big wins
Los Angeles, California - Ted Lasso and Succession came away the biggest winners at this year's Emmys, as the awards show returned to the inside of LA's Microsoft Theater for the first time since 2019.
The Emmy Awards saw big wins as predicted on Monday night, with host Kenan Thompson at the helm to honor primetime television's biggest night.
The Apple TV+ favorite Ted Lasso, about an English football team and their folksy American coach, played by Jason Sudeikis, took home the top comedy award at the Emmys for the second year in a row.
Sudeikis also won for Lead Actor in a Comedy, while co-star Brett Goldstein failed in his promise to not swear during his acceptance award for Supporting Actor in a Comedy.
On the other side of the aisle, HBO's Succession was an almost shoo-in win for Outstanding Drama, while star Matthew Macfadyen took home the trophy for Supporting Actor as the hapless Tom Wambsgans, which he called a "bonkers gift of a role."
Zendaya also made history, becoming the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama Series twice and the youngest two-time winner of any Emmy for her role as the teenage drug addict Rue in Euphoria.
"My greatest wish for Euphoria was that it could help heal people," she said while accepting her award – an accolade we definitely saw coming.
The 2022 Emmys sees history made with Best Lead Actor and Actress in a Drama Series awards
The White Lotus was a voter's dream, winning trophies for Best Limited Series or Anthology, Supporting Actor for Murray Bartlett, and Supporting Actress for Jennifer Coolidge in Mike White's farcical show about a Hawaiian resort and the awful people who populate it.
Abbott Elementary star Sheryl Lee Ralph brought down the house with a stunning rendition of Dianne Reeves' Endangered Woman during her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for playing the stern yet dedicated Ms. Howard in the ABC sitcom about an inner-city Philadelphia school.
"To anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like," the 56-year-old said in her acceptance speech.
Lizzo won the Emmy for Outstanding Competition Program for Lizzo's Watch Out For the Big Grrrls. She shared: "I'm very emotional, and the trophy is nice but my emotion is for these people who are on the stage with me. The stories that they shared, they're not that unique, they just don't get the platform telling stories. Let's just tell more stories."
Squid Games star Lee Jung-jae scored a historic win for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series, making him the first Asian man to win the award and the first actor ever to win for a non-English-speaking role.
In one of the more competitive categories of the night, Amanda Seyfried won Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for the true-to-life role as Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout.
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS