Succession took home the trophy for Best Drama Series at the 2023 Emmy Awards, the show’s sixth victory on Monday, January 15.
“We want to thank HBO, this wasn’t a very easy show to commission at the beginning,” show creator Jesse Armstrong said during the ceremony, which was held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. “We want to say a couple of hellos. Hello to Jeremy Strong, who’s making a movie, and hello to [show writer] Lucy Prebble, who has made a baby. We send our love to both of them.”
Armstrong, 53, also gave a shout-out to Brian Cox, “who the show is revolved around,” even though his character died early on in the final season. He added, “This is a show about family but it’s also about when partisan news coverage gets intertwined with divisive right-wing politics. And after four seasons of satire, as I understand it, that’s a problem we have now fixed. So, we can now depart the stage.”
Succession beat out its seven fellow nominees for the top prize: Andor, Better Call Saul, The Crown, House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, The White Lotus and Yellowjackets.
Overall, Succession led the Emmys with 27 nominations while The Last of Us and The White Lotus earned 24 and 23 nominations, respectively. Actors Matthew Macfadyen, Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook also earned individual Emmy Awards on Monday for their respective Succession roles.
Last year, Succession won the award for Best Drama Series at the 2022 Emmy Awards after previously receiving the award in 2020.
“It’s a big week for successions,” Armstrong shared in his 2022 acceptance speech, referring to King Charles III’s accession to the British throne. “Evidently, there was a little bit more voting involved in our winning than King Charles.”
He continued: “I’m not saying he’s more legitimate in our position than where he is. We’ll leave that to other people. But we are incredibly grateful to have this. It is a wonderful honor.”
Previously, Netflix’s The Crown, which premiered in November 2016, took home the trophy for Best Drama Series in 2021. The show has won a total of 21 Emmys and has received 69 nominations.
“We’re gonna have a party now,” The Crown’s creator Peter Morgan shared during his acceptance speech at the time. “I’m lost for words. I’m very, very grateful. Thank you.”
AMC’s Better Call Saul, which premiered in February 2015, has been nominated for Best Drama Series a total of seven times. The critically acclaimed series has received a total of 53 nominations and was hoping for their first Emmy award this year.
Showtime’s Yellowjackets was also nominated in this category in 2022 and has received a total of 10 nominations.
HBO Max’s The White Lotus previously won 14 Emmys and received 43 nominations. Two other HBO Max series, The Last of Us and House of the Dragon are also up in this category. The Last of Us has received 24 nominations with eight Emmy wins so far while House of the Dragon received eight Emmy nominations with one win.
Disney+’s Andor, a Star Wars spinoff, is up for eight Emmy nominations after its debut season.
