If there’s one thing everyone had in common this past year, it’s that we consumed a whole lot of television. In the hours we watched, there were some stand-out pieces of art, reflected in the series recognized by the 2021 Emmy nominations. These phenomenal series allowed us to travel to the streets of Paris (Emily in Paris), London (The Crown), and New York (Halston). They brought out our competitive sides (The Queen’s Gambit, or if chess isn’t your game maybe it was Nailed It!) and had us falling in love (Bridgerton). They gave us moments in our day to laugh (The Kominsky Method and Cobra Kai) and captured the emotions that we often couldn’t find the words for (Dave Chappelle’s 8:46 and Bo Burnham: Inside).
Queue celebrates the actors, writers, directors, producers, and craftspeople who have brought joy and excitement to our homes this year. To toast their achievement, we present fourteen of the nominees with well-deserved accolades from their co-stars and collaborators.
For us she was a dream because she is such an instinctive actor — the camera is on her and she’s absolutely in character. Olivia is down-to-earth, fun, highly intelligent, thoughtful, and a collaborator. She’s always on it and I think that sets a tone. I think if your protagonist or principal actor is of that sort of mindset then it quickly seeps down.
- Suzanne Mackie, executive producer of The Crown
She really became [Diana]. It was spooky to sit in front of her. It was like looking at the real thing. It’s such a beautiful performance. There’s nuance and darkness: Those things are really fun to play and she does it beautifully.
- Olivia Colman, co-star
I find Michael to be a very generous, supportive actor. Over the years, as we’ve grown, so have our abilities, and that all comes to play in our work.
- Kathleen Turner, co-star
Watching Ewan transform into Halston was fascinating. When he arrived in New York, he asked for a room where he could work undisturbed with some props. It was really important to Ewan that we didn’t double him in any way, so that when he makes the dress on screen, he’s really making the dress. That’s the level of detail he was committed to achieving.
- Daniel Minahan, director and executive producer of Halston
There’s no actor out there that could have been more nuanced and just so thoughtful as the young Prince Charles that we depict in these two seasons: the young man’s journey to manhood, husband, father, and, you know, endlessly a king in waiting. It’s a big part to play and Josh does it so beautifully.
- Suzanne Mackie, executive producer of The Crown
I thought there was something very three-dimensional, painful, and vivid about Regé as Simon. In a fascinating way, he was exactly what you imagined Simon to be when you read the books, but he also created Simon as his own, which was lovely. He’s really talented and can inhabit a character so fully. I think he’s a perfect Simon.
- Shonda Rhimes, executive producer of Bridgerton
As sometimes happens, you shake someone’s hand and you go, This is the person. She conveys such intelligence and yet there’s a vulnerability there. You sense something dark rippling all the time.
- Scott Frank, director, writer, and producer of The Queen’s Gambit
Her depiction was extraordinary and there have been some iconic Margret Thatchers over the years, but Gillian worked so hard to make Margaret Thatcher her own creation, and I think she has done an amazing job. She is both incredibly sympathetic and truthful in rounding her as a mother, a wife, and as Prime Minister. Gillian just has something in her own presence that gives both a glimpse of fragility and then this incredible steel.
- Suzanne Mackie, executive producer of The Crown
She just brings a wickedness to this part and it’s tantalizingly naughty. It feels like it’s the part that she was sort of born to play.
- Ben Caron, director of The Crown
What can you say about Benny Watts? He was an endless source of entertainment for me. Thomas Brodie-Sangster is my personal hero for going for it in the way that he did.
- Anya Taylor-Joy, co-star
Camilla is hugely important to Charles’s overall arc because she is someone who comes in and talks to him like an ordinary human being. She takes the mickey out of Charles but looks after and adores him. It also brings Emerald Fennell into the show and she is an amazing actress and such a treat to work with.
- Josh O’Connor, co-star
We instantly realized that [Moses Ingram] was going to be a star. She’s got so much presence on screen, as well as maturity and gravitas.
- William Horberg, executive producer of The Queen’s Gambit
I think Tobias imbues the Duke of Edinburgh with tremendous wit and panache; he’s still the sort of alpha male somehow. Tobias is able to bring a real honesty to that part where he’s not frightened to be a slightly vulnerable man with his own fragilities and weaknesses.
- Suzanne Mackie, executive producer of The Crown
I had to tell him how to pronounce it. He was like, “Megan ‘Thee’ Stallion.” I was like, “Pretty sure it’s just ‘the.’”
- Sarah Baker, co-star