The glittering annual affair will see hit TV shows such as “Succession” and “The White Lotus” vie for awards, along with actors including Elisabeth Moss for her portrayal in “The Handmaid’s Tale” and Pedro Pascal for his role in “The Last of Us.”
The live award show at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. Eastern time and will be broadcast by Fox. The show will “honor the talented performers, writers, directors and craftspeople whose work has entertained, inspired and connected viewers across the globe throughout the past year,” the Academy said.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which has 160,000 unionized performers including nearly all American TV and film actors, and the Writers Guild of America, which has 11,000 members, are jointly striking — they first time actors and writers have withheld work at the same time since 1960.
Talks took place Friday between the WGA and Hollywood studio representatives, but participants told Vanity Fair they were unfruitful and the stalemate continues.
Since May, thousands of unionized TV and film writers have walked off their jobs because of concerns about earnings and royalty payments, worker protections and the encroachment of artificial intelligence in a rapidly changing entertainment landscape. The strike expanded dramatically in July, when the Screen Actors Guild joined the strike and shut down nearly all remaining Hollywood productions.
The last time the Emmys were significantly delayed was in 2001, when the 9/11 terrorist attacks and subsequent U.S. invasion of Afghanistan pushed the show into November. The pandemic in 2020 did not postpone the show. It went virtual instead.
The striking actors are barred by their union not only from working for major studios, but also from promoting projects or appearing in award shows. The Emmy nominations were announced last month and include zombie-thriller “The Last of Us,” British royal drama “The Crown,” anxiety-inducing sandwich-shop series “The Bear,” and soccer comedy “Ted Lasso.”
Big franchise shows such as “Wednesday,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “Andor” also earned nods.
Among this year’s biggest contenders for top awards is the HBO drama “Succession,” about a dysfunctional family of billionaires, which has earned more than two dozen Emmy nominations. One of its lead stars, Brian Cox, raged against studios at a solidarity rally in London, saying that low pay and the encroachment of AI technology has put actors “at the thin edge of a really horrible wedge.”
Last week, A-list celebrities such as actors Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio each made donations of $1 million or more, in support of an emergency aid fund for striking individuals.
“I remember my days as a waiter, cleaner, typist, even my time on the unemployment line,” Streep said in a press release. “In this strike action, I am lucky to be able to support those who will struggle in a long action to sustain against Goliath. We will stand strong together.”
So far, the strikes have halted many popular late-night talk shows and disrupted dozens of majors shows and films in production.