Game of Thrones makes history at the Emmys

A rare happy ending for Westeros

Game of Thrones reigned supreme at the 67th Annual Emmy Awards, taking home a record-breaking 12 Emmys from its 24 nominations, the most ever won by a television series in a single year. The previous record holder for this was The West Wing, which won nine awards during the 2000 Emmys.

The HBO epic finally bagged the award for Best Drama Series, the first time the show has won despite being nominated multiple times times. The fantasy epic went on to win other major awards of the night including Best Directing, Best Writing, and a second Best Supporting Actor Emmy for Peter Dinklage for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister.

A triumphant night for HBO

Veep, Armando Ianucci’s political satire, won Best Comedy, while stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale also won for Best Actress in a Comedy and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy, respectively. The political comedy broke Modern Family‘s five-year winning streak and served as a memorable farewell present for Ianucci, who recently stepped down as showrunner.

This was a big night for HBO, which took home a total of 43 Emmys, the most of any network. In addition to winning Best Drama and Best Comedy, the network also claimed the awards for Best Miniseries for Olive Kitteridge, a drama based on the award-winning short stories by Elizabeth Strout. Olive Kitteridge also won nearly every category for which it was nominated.

A historic victory for women and for diversity

Viola Davis made history by being the first woman of color ever to win an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series, taking the prize for her incredibly powerful performance on How to Get Away with Murder. In a very moving and earnest acceptance speech, Davis spoke passionately about the need for diversity and quoted civil rights activist Harriet Tubman. Her speech was met with much applause. Davis said:

“The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”

Davis’ much deserved win continued the trend of women of color taking home Emmys, with Regina King winning for American Crime and Uzo Aduba winning for Orange is the New Black.

Amazon Prime’s Transparent, a show about a transgender woman and her family, was also recognized when its star Jeffrey Tambor took home the award for Best Actor in a Comedy. Tambor, 71, is the oldest person to take home to prize. He dedicated his win to the transgender community, and in his speech said, “Thank you for letting us be part of the change.”

Farewell gifts

The Emmys also honored some of the shows that ended this year, such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which won three awards including Best Variety Talk Series.

Jon Hamm also finally won an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as the tortured ad man Don Draper, an award he had been nominated for every year since Mad Men started. The period drama concluded earlier this year, but lost to Game of Thrones for Best Drama.