Outlander – Emmy watch: Voting ends; what’s next + current odds
This year, Starz had more prominent potential nominees than ever. In addition to some fantastic behind-the-scenes categories like production and costume design, actors like Caitriona Balfe, Sophie Skelton, Richard Rankin, Sam Heughan, and Maria Doyle Kennedy all submitted in various categories. The series itself, meanwhile, is a contender in Outstanding Drama Series. The awareness of the categories is out there, but the overall awareness with the show itself among Emmy voters is still debatable. Maybe that’s been a factor the past few years — or, may there aren’t enough Emmy voters who are watching Starz in general. Outlander isn’t the only show on the network to be routinely snubbed; Power executive producer 50 Cent has openly complained about the Academy not giving his show any love.
Do we think that Starz did the best that they could in order to promote the series’ overall prospects? That’s probably a subject of great debate for a whole lot of people and understandably so. We do think that the network tried to push the show with a panel in Los Angeles (they flew out the core cast from Scotland, where they were filming) and then also an exhibition. We know that there were also some media ads that were out there.
If there’s one thing we would change (but this is more of a Sony/Netflix thing than Starz), it would’ve been to get the first couple of seasons onto Netflix maybe a month or so earlier. This doesn’t directly have anything to do with Emmy voting for the fourth season, but there’s a little connective tissue there. Let’s put things together this way — the more viewers you can get hooked on the series, the more they’re going to want to vote for it if they’re a part of the TV Academy. Going to where many voters are is a smart move.
So what’s next?
On Tuesday, July 16, the nominations are officially announced in the morning — that’s where everything will be made clear and we’ll get more into the voting system on the other side of that.
The best chances that Outlander has are probably for the technical categories, as they’ve been nominated in some of them before and their work is so outstanding and visually obvious. We’d say there is a small chance for the series and also Balfe and Heughan, but it’s a small one. Caitriona is the most-likely candidate of the three because of her previous good fortune at the Emmys. With Sam, we’re living in this perpetuate state of frustration ever since he wasn’t recognized for the final episodes of season 1 — some of the best work for any actor we’ve seen in years.
What is your take on the current Emmy outlook for Outlander? Be sure to share right now in the comments.
Photo: Starz