Killing Eve is looking to avenge last year’s Emmy disappointment after picking up nine nominations including a Best Drama Series nomination, while leads Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer will battle it out for Lead Actress.
Last year, the BBC America thriller scored two nods for Oh and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s writing but was beaten by The Crown’s Claire Foy and The Americans.
Oh and Comer’s characters, Eve Polastri and Villanelle respectively, are more used to fighting it out on screen, but this time the pair will come up against Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke, House of Cards’ Robin Wright, How To Get Away With Murder’s Viola Davis, This Is Us’ Mandy Moore and Ozark’s Laura Linney in the Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series category.
Oh, who was also nominated for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Saturday Night Live, still has the chance to become the first Asian-American to win best drama actress, having been beaten last year by Foy. But now she will face competition from Comer, a first-time nominee, who recently won best actress at the BAFTA TV Awards in London.
Elsewhere, Fiona Shaw, who plays Carolyn Martens, the head of MI6’s Russian desk, is up for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series, having won a similar award at the BAFTAs, where Killing Eve also won best drama. Shaw is similarly up for two awards, having also been nominated for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Fleabag.
The Sid Gentle-produced series is also up for awards in writing, with season two showrunner Emerald Fennell getting a nod for the “Nice and Neat” episode, similar to her predecessor Waller-Bridge, as well as production design, casting, editing and directing, with Lisa Brühlmann getting nominated for the episode “Desperate Times.”
The second season of Killing Eve saw Eve Polastri, fighting, and sometimes collaborating with Comer’s Villanelle in a cat-and-mouse thriller. Season two saw the pair work together to track down tech bro Aaron Peel, who the team thinks is about to sell a mysterious weapon, but ended with disastrous consequences.
The second season performed well again for BBC America; the cable network said the eight-parter had the highest season-over-season growth of any returning TV drama on U.S. television in the past three years, up 87% in total viewers and 78% in the key adults 25-54 demo from the first season, per Live+7 numbers from Nielsen Media Research.
Sid Gentle boss Sally Woodward Gentle told Deadline that Fennell had big “Phoebe Waller-Bridge sized shoes to fill in season two and did so effortlessly, bringing her own unique flavour to the story”.
“Here at Sid Gentle Films in the UK, we are beyond thrilled to have been nominated for nine awards. We are so grateful that audiences worldwide have continued their addiction and become even more obsessed with the show. The brilliant cast including Sandra, Jodie, Fiona and Kim have taken the audience deeper into their characters and our phenomenal crew once again gave their all and more, with special mention to Damon Thomas and Elinor Day. These nominations are a huge testament to everyone’s hard work and dedication and we’ll be back filming season three in September with all our fingers and toes crossed.”
The Emmy nominations come after the show won big at the recent BAFTA TV Awards, albeit its inclusion in the U.S. awards will be slightly less controversial than its inclusion at the British awards. The series took home the best drama series award, Comer won best actress and Fiona Shaw, who plays Carolyn Martens, the head of MI6’s Russian desk, won best supporting actress.
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