“Game of Thrones” has just one shot at a writing Emmy for its eight-episode final season: the incredibly divisive series finale, “The Iron Throne.”
The first round of voting for the 2019 Emmy Awards began Monday with a ballot that revealed the HBO series has only submitted that installment, penned by “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, in the Outstanding Writing category, opting not to lobby for a statuette for more critically acclaimed Season 8 episodes, like “Winterfell” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
So that means if “GoT” Season 8 takes a writing Emmy at the awards show this fall, “The Iron Throne” is the only episode it could win for. But in order for that to happen, it has to first receive the nomination from the Television Academy during phase one of the voting process, which wraps up June 24.
HBO is giving voters more options in the directing category, in which the pay-TV channel has offered up Miguel Sapochnik for “The Long Night,” David Nutter for “The Last of the Starks,” and Weiss and Benioff, again, for “The Iron Throne.”
As for acting, here is the rundown of submissions for the “GoT” cast:
Kit Harington – Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Emilia Clarke – Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Alfie Allen – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Pilou Asbaek – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Peter Dinklage – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Richard Dormer – Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Gwendoline Christie – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Lena Headey – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Sophie Turner – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Maisie Williams – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Carice van Houten – Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series