'Game Of Thrones' Just Broke The Record For Most Emmy Nominations Ever

Game of Thrones may have come to an end, but the entertainment industry isn't done paying homage to the series, which became a global sensation over the last decade. The full list of 2019 Emmy nominations was announced on Tuesday, July 16, by by D'Arcy Carden and Ken Jeong, and while several projects and actors received significant praise, Game of Thrones received a record-breaking 32 Emmy nominations for its eighth and final season. In other words: trophies are coming.

Prior to this, the only show that even came close to that many Emmy nods at once was NYPD Blue, which earned 26 nominations back in 1994, according to The New York Times. But considering how popular the HBO series has become, it's not all that surprising that its final showing at the Emmys would prove to be unforgettable. Since its premiere back in 2011, the series has earned a total of 260 Emmys, per People, and counting. So odds are even more will be added to this impressive collection when the Emmys air in late September.

Some of the categories Game of Thrones will be competing in include Outstanding Drama Series, which was to be expected. Meanwhile, Kit Harington is up for Best Actor in a Drama Series while Emilia Clarke received a nom for Best Actress; Gwendoline Christie, Lena Headey, Sophie Turner, and Maisie Williams all nabbed Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series nominations, along with Alfie Allen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Peter Dinklage, who are Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series contenders. Additionally, the series also swept the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series category, with showrunners' David Benioff and D.B. Weiss both earning nods for "The Iron Throne" episode, as did David Nutter for "The Last of the Starks" as well as Miguel Sapochnik for "The Long Night."

The final season of Game of Thrones received a great deal of backlash, with many fans arguing that the storylines felt rushed, making certain character arcs feel under-developed (like Dany going full Mad Queen, for example). Many of the actors have confronted the controversy head-on and defended the showrunners' decisions for how the series played out. “People always have an idea in their heads of how they want a show to finish, and so when it doesn’t go to their liking, they start to speak up about it and rebel,” Turner told The New York Times back in May. Meanwhile, Coster-Waldau called the fan backlash "vicious" at a recent fan convention and admitted that it really brought down the morale in the cast's private WhatsApp chat group.

But whether you agree with the choices the writers made or not, there's no denying what a monumental impact this show has made on the world, so it's nice to see the cast and crew earn recognition for their efforts one final time on the Emmys circuit.

Granted, by the same token, there were some very noticeable snubs for the 2019 Emmys, so one could argue Game of Thrones didn't need to nab quite as many nods as it did. But the good news is this means fans can look forward to seeing plenty of their favorite stars from the show grace the red carpet when the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards air on Sept. 22 on FOX.