Lovecraft Country Earns 18 Emmy Nominations After HBO Cancellation

The nominees for the 73rd Emmy Awards were announced on Tuesday, celebrating the best in the past year of television. The nominations spanned a pretty epic array of formats and shows — and also featured quite a lot of love for HBO’s Lovecraft Country. The genre-bending horror series scored eighteen nominations across a number of categories, including the coveted Outstanding Drama Series category. This news comes just weeks after the premium cable network confirmed that it would not be renewing Lovecraft Country for a second season, a decision that has upset fans ever since it was initially announced.

In addition to Outstanding Drama Series, Lovecraft Country scored five acting nominations — Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Jonathan Majors (Atticus Freeman), Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Jurnee Smollett (Letitia “Leti” Lewis), Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Michael K. Williams (Montrose Freeman), Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Aunjanue Ellis (Hippolyta Freeman), and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Courtney B. Vance (George Freeman).

The series also earned a number of technical nominations, with the overall series receiving nods for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie, Outstanding Casting For a Drama Series, and Outstanding Main Title Design. The series’ first episode, “Sundown”, also earned specific nominations for Outstanding Writing For a Drama Series, Outstanding Cinematography For a Single-Camera Series (One Hour), Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Sound Editing For a Comedy or Drama Series, and Outstanding Sound Mixing For a Comedy or Drama Series. The series’ seventh episode, “I Am.”, earned nominations for Outstanding Stunt Performance and Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes. The series’ ninth episode, “Rewind 1921”, earned a nomination for Outstanding Music Composition For a Series (Original Dramatic Score).

“I did not take anything for granted shooting the show, and you couldn’t,” Ellis told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview earlier this year. “We were really — for me, anyway, I can’t speak for my other castmates who might have worked on similar things before — but I’ve never worked on anything like this before. I was in uncharted territory, so every day was surprising for me. All the scripts were surprising, I would read them and I would think ‘How the heck are they going to do this?’ I think that [showrunner] Misha [Green] and the writers were only limited by their imaginations. We were the arms and legs of their imaginations. There was no ceiling to what they thought of, so I was always surprised by it. I was surprised by something every day.”

What do you think of Lovecraft Country scoring so many nominations at the 2021 Emmys? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!