Emmys 2022: Zendaya makes history, Ted Lasso and The White Lotus win big

The Emmys returned for its 74th year in Los Angeles last night. The longest-running current SNL cast-member Kenan Thompson hosted, paying tribute to TV shows of the past and present.

One big winner of the evening was The White Lotus. With a whopping 20 nominations, the thrilling comedy-drama won half as many awards. This included Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Jennifer Coolidge for Outstanding Supporting Actress, and Mike White for Outstanding Directing. The second season will drop on HBO this October.

Apple TV's comedy series Ted Lasso cleaned up for the second year in a row. It won four awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Jason Sudeikis landing Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (both for the second time). Brett Goldstein also won Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series for the second year in a row, and carried on his tradition of dropping an F-bomb in his acceptance speech.

Zendaya continues to make history for her role in Euphoria, as she won Outstanding Lead Actress in A Drama Series both this year and in 2020- making the 26-year-old the youngest actress to win two Emmys and the first Black woman to win this prize twice.

Noting that her “greatest wish for Euphoria was that it could help heal people”, the Dune star acknowledged those who shared stories related to her character, Rue, who struggles with addiction in the prestige HBO teen soap. “To anyone who has loved a Rue, or feels like a Rue, I want you to know that I’m so grateful for your stories, and I carry them with me, and I carry them with her,” she said.

Here's Zendaya's full acceptance speech for lead actress in a drama series for #Euphoria. https://t.co/h3GrtHDmKy pic.twitter.com/qRsOpZaLfI

— Variety (@Variety) September 13, 2022

Another win for HBO, Succession was awarded Outstanding Drama Series along with seven others. Writer of the series Jesse Armstrong stirred a bit of controversy in his acceptance speech, stating, “It’s a big week for successions, a new king in the UK, this for us. Evidently a bit more voting involved in our winning than for Prince Charles.”

Netflix's Squid Game won six awards after becoming an international sensation. Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series went to Hwang Dong-hyuk and Outstanding Guest Actress in A Drama Series went to Lee You-mi for her role as Ji-yeong.

Lee Jung-jae became the first Asian actor to win Outstanding Lead Actor in A Drama Series for his role as Seong Gi-hun. In his speech, he joked, "Thank you to the director for making realistic problems we all face come to life so creatively on the screen with a great script." He delivered his speech in both English and Korean.

For the seventh year in a row, HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver won best variety talk series as well as the genre’s writing award.

Lizzo, who created the Amazon show Watch Out for The Big Grrrls, won for best competition series and underscored the importance of representation in an emotional speech.

“When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see was someone like me in the media,” she said through tears. “Someone fat like me, Black like me, beautiful like me. If I could go back and tell little Lizzo something, I would be like, ‘You’re going to see that person ... but, b***h, it’s going to have to be you.’”

Newcomer and sole broadcast representative Abbott Elementary also prevented Ted Lasso from sweeping the comedy awards, with a writing nod to creator and star Quinta Brunson — only the second Black woman to do so — and Best Supporting Actress to Sheryl Lee Ralph.

The 40-plus year veteran of the screen and first-time winner took advantage of the Emmys’ pre-submitted thank yous that ticked on-screen below acceptance speeches and provided arguably the emotional highlight of the evening with a rendition of 'Endangered Species' by Dianne Reeves.

“I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim’s song, I am a woman, I am an artist and I know where my voice belongs” she sang to a standing ovation, then said: “to anyone who has ever, ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn’t, wouldn’t, couldn’t come true, I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like. This is what striving looks like. And don’t ever, ever give up on you.”

Sheryl Lee Ralph blew the roof off the #emmys with this speech! pic.twitter.com/MFJzIqxBWC

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 13, 2022

Another first-time winner, Jennifer Coolidge, revealed she “took a lavender bath tonight, right before the show, and it made me swell up inside my dress, and I’m having a hard time speaking” in her speech.

The White Lotus star danced all the way through the play-off music for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series.