The 2023 Emmy Awards celebrated the best of the best in television, but two shows stood out among the rest.
Both Succession and The Bear came out on top with six awards during the Monday, January 15, ceremony.
Initially set for September of last year, the 2023 Emmys were postponed to Monday due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which came to an end in September 2023 and November 2023, respectively.
When the nominations were eventually announced in July 2023, Succession had racked up the most nods with a total of 14. Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin (who won) and Jeremy Strong were all up for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for their roles as Logan Roy, Roman Roy and Kendall Roy, respectively. Similarly, the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series category had three of Succession stars as well, including Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfadyen (who won) and Alexander Skarsgård for their roles as Greg Hirsch, Tom Wambsgans and Lukas Matsson, respectively.
Sarah Snook also took home Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Shiv Roy.
Succession, which aired its series finale in May 2023, also nabbed nominations for Outstanding Drama Series (which they won), Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (for three separate episodes) and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. The show took home the writing and directing award for the episode titled “Connor’s Wedding,” in which the Roy family patriarch, Logan, surprisingly dies.
“He called me, and he said, ‘Logan’s going to die.’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s fine.’ I thought he would die in about Episode 7 or 8, but episode 3, I thought … ‘Well that’s a bit early.’” Cox recalled to The New York Times in April 2023, discussing a conversation with the show’s creator, Jesse Armstrong. “Not that I was bothered.”
Coming in behind Succession was The White Lotus with 12 nominations for its second season — which also had a surprising character death. Jennifer Coolidge’s character Tanya McQuoid-Hunt drowned in the show’s season 2 finale, which aired in December 2022. (Coolidge won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for said role.) Overall, however, the show only took home one award.
Perhaps the most surprising wins of the night came from The Bear cast, who took home all six of their awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series.
Jeremy Allen White won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, while his onscreen counterpart Ayo Edebiri was awarded Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for playing Sydney Adamu. Their costar Ebon Moss-Bachrach took home Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Richard “Richie” Jerimovich — go, Cousin!
The show’s creator, Christopher Storer, also took home two awards: Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the episode “Review” and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode “System.”
