WandaVision and The Mandalorian Nominated for DGA Awards

The Directors Guild of America announced the television nominees for the 73rd annual DGA Awards on Monday and both WandaVision and The Mandalorian made the list. Matt Shakman was nominated in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Limited Series for WandaVision while Jon Favreau was nominated for multiple awards including Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series for The Mandalorian, "Chapter 9: The Marshal). Overall Disney+, the home of both WandaVision and The Mandalorian, received five nominations.

WandaVision's Shakman is up against Susanne Bier (The Undoing, HBO), Scott Frank (The Queen's Gambit, Netflix), Thomas Kail (Hamilton, Disney+), and Lynn Shelton (Little Fires Everywhere, "Find a Way", Hulu). Last year, Johan Renck won in this category for HBO's Chernobyl. This is Shakman's second DGA Award nomination, having previously been nominated in the Dramatic Series category for Game of Thrones "The Spoils of War."

Favreau's The Mandalorian is up against Jason Bateman (Ozark, "Wartime", Netflix), Vince Gilligan (Better Call Saul, "Bagman", AMC), Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland, "Prisoners of War", Showtime), and Julie Anne Robinson (Bridgerton, "Diamond of the First Water", Netflix). Last year, Nicole Kassell won in this category for HBO's Watchmen. This is Favreau's third DGA Award nomination. This year he was also nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs for Netflix's The Chef Show, "Tartine". Favreau was also nominated in 2020 in the Reality Programs category, that time for The Chef Show "Hog Island".

The DGA Awards are voted on by the more than 18,000 members of the guild and this year's qualification time period for television entries runs from January 1, 2020, through February 28, 2021. The 73rd annual DGA Awards will take place on Saturday, April 10th, though ceremony details are forthcoming. A complete list of nominees for outstanding directorial achievement in television, commercials, and documentary for 2020 can be found here.

Founded in 1936 as the Screen Directors Guild (the group would later merge with the Radio and Television Directors Guild in 1960 to become the Directors Guild of America), the first DGA Award was awarded in 1938 to D.W. Griffith. The film awards, in particular, are considered to be a significant precursor to the Academy Awards with the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film having been a near-perfect barometer for the Best Director Oscar.