The show’s major stars, including Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Elizabeth Dulau, Denise Gough, and Kyle Soller, were snubbed.
Rebellions are built on hope, but lately, the TV Academy isn’t giving us much to keep our optimism afloat.
When the Primetime Emmy Award nominees were announced last week, there was a glaring, if not expected, omission: The list didn’t include any of the lead actors from Andor, roundly proclaimed both some of the best Star Wars ever made and some of the best television ever produced.
Diego Luna filled in the narrative of one of the richest, most complex characters in the galaxy, completing Cassian Andor’s journey from mercenary to devoted rebel with a cause. Yet, he was omitted from the Outstanding Actor in a Drama category. And Genevieve O’Reilly, who brought to life an essential moment in Star Wars lore, missed out on Best Supporting Actress in a Drama despite there being room for no less than four women from the cast of The White Lotus.
For longtime Star Wars fans, it’s hardly surprising. In the nearly 50 year history of the franchise, there have only been five nominations in acting awards categories ever. Alec Guinness set an early and unmatched precedent with an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977’s Star Wars. He remains the only actor ever to receive an Oscar nomination for a role in the Lucasfilm creation.
The TV Academy has been a bit more generous in recent years, ever since Disney+ introduced prestige Star Wars television to the viewing public. But even there, the pickings are slim with Giancarlo Esposito nabbing two nominations for The Mandalorian, once for Best Guest Actor and once for Best Supporting Actor. Timothy Olyphant also snagged a Guest Actor nod, and this year, Forest Whitaker brought the total nomination count to five with yet another Guest Actor nomination.
Why, even when actors are doing top-tier work that speaks truth to power and tells a chillingly prescient story about fascism and rebellion, are these performances considered little more than Bantha fodder?
The answer is a systemic issue, one with which fans of genre storytelling, especially horror, are all too familiar (Toni Collette fans, I feel your pain). No matter how good a show or movie, if it’s steeped in the world of genre, it is painted with the broad brush that lumps it in with words like schlocky, campy, low-budget, or the niche interest of a group of nerds.
Despite being Hollywood’s predominant moneymaker, genre stories are unlikely to generate any awards love from “serious” actors. Even Game of Thrones, arguably the most successful fantasy/genre series in Emmys history, can only credit 32 of its 164 Emmy nominations across eight seasons to acting categories (and eight of them were for Peter Dinklage). That’s barely 20 percent of the HBO show’s overall nominations.
Star Wars has a harder uphill battle given that it’s only truly been taken seriously as an awards contender since The Mandalorian premiered in 2019. At first, Star Wars was a goofy space opera, entertaining and box office gold, but only really taken seriously by nerds. The franchise’s purchase by Disney in 2012 likely subconsciously reinforced the notion that Star Wars is popcorn, family entertainment, not the meaty material that wins acting awards. Game of Thrones, on the other hand, was able to bear the prestigious mark of an HBO production and the premium network’s mantra, “It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” Disney is better known for anointing box office winners, not awards contenders.
Consequently, it has taken over five years of well-crafted television to win the kind of critical acclaim that translates into awards’ love. Andor seemed to, at last, have the power of the force on its side, engaging both the fandom and cultural critics with its stirring themes of revolution, hope, and peek inside the inner machinations (and drudgery) of a fascist regime. Though creator Tony Gilroy never designed Andor as an allegory for our present moment, it became that anyway — a riveting text outlining how the “death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil.”
Particularly in its seventh and eighth episodes, Andor season 2 provided an unflinching, gripping, and heartbreaking portrait of the cost of rebellion and the courage it requires to continue with it despite knowing you might never enjoy the fruits of your labor. Andor delivered episodes of television that are as potent and enduring as any work of classic literature. This is because of the show’s writing, but also its acting.
Andor hits home because of the silent tears running down Diego Luna’s face as he leaves behind a burning planet that will prove the spark of revolution across the galaxy. Because of Genevieve O’Reilly’s steely grace and courage as she delivers a speech that she knows will cost her everything. Because of Elizabeth Dulau’s devastating look of loss in the moment she must say goodbye to the only father she’s ever known. Because of Denise Gough’s human frailty as a woman destroyed by her own ambition and Kyle Soller’s cowardice in the face of a horrible truth.
Still, Andor is not able to overcome the weight of its science fiction origins. Even the one acting nomination it did receive is for an Oscar-winning movie star who brings his own legitimacy in his wake. Yes, Andor received a nomination for Best Drama (and if there were any justice, it would win), but don’t the actors, who are responsible for making us root for these characters and invest in this narrative, deserve some portion of the credit and recognition?
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The absence of these performances among the nominations reeks of a snobbishness that the Academy should have long outgrown. Particularly when it can seem as if voters are only watching one show (four White Lotus women and three White Lotus men in one category, really???).
With most Star Wars shows currently in the pipeline falling on the animated side, we can’t help but have a bad feeling about this. Andor might have been Star Wars’ last major bid for legitimacy in the Emmy acting categories for a long time, a sunrise we may never get to see if you will. But all we can do is look for a new hope.
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