This week in TV news, it’s all about the Emmys as HBO breaks their record and the clones of Orphan Black get their due. Plus, Christina Hendricks heads to Sundance TV and Michael Ironside joins The Flash!
Perennial Television Academy favorite HBO nabbed 126 primetime Emmy nominations Thursday. Leading the pack in HBO programming is Game of Thrones, which has 24 nominations, including Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Peter Dinklage, Outstanding Supporting Actress for Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke, and Outstanding Guest Actress for Diana Rigg. The miniseries Olive Kitteridge, starring nominees Frances McDormand, Richard Jenkins, and Bill Murray, also made a splash with 13 nominations. Queen Latifah‘s turn as Bessie Smith garnered a nod for Outstanding Actress in TV Movie for Bessie, which was nominated for 13 awards in total. Also making the leader board were Boardwalk Empire with 10 nominations and the Julia Louis-Dreyfus-led Veep with nine nominations. In total, HBO beat its own record for a network with the most nominations — the one it set in 2004 with 124.
It may be the end of an era for Mad Men, but star Christina Hendricks is already returning to a TV set near you. She’s set to star in Sundance TV’s forthcoming drama Hap and Leonard, joining James Purefoy (The Following) and Michael Kenneth Williams (Boardwalk Empire). Based on a series of novels by Joe Lansdale and set in 1980s Texas, the show follows Hap (Purefoy), a Vietnam War draft dodger who did time in federal prison, and Leonard (Williams), an angry openly gay Vietnam Vet. Hendricks will play Hap’s ex-wife, who mysteriously returns after a two-year absence.
Three seasons and many clones later, Tatiana Maslany, the star of BBC America’s Orphan Black, got the Emmy nomination that fans and critics alike have been saying she deserved. In the series, Maslany plays a group of identical clones in the center of a long-reaching global conspiracy, focusing on the characters of streetwise Sarah Manning, brainiac Cosima Niehaus, desperate housewife Alison Manning, and loose cannon Helena. “The clones are outsiders who don’t fit in society,” Maslany told Deadline Thursday. “That makes for interesting television, and for people who are on the fringe of society, they’re very relatable characters. The clones aren’t cookie-cutter. They’re complex and difficult people. The show’s fans have never seen themselves reflected on TV and they’re encouraged to be themselves.”
No stranger to the CW, Michael Ironside, who had a reoccurring role as General Sam on Smallville, will join The Flash as Lewis Snart. The character, described as the estrange, abusive father of villains Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Lisa Snart/Golden Glider (Peyton List), will appear in episode 203. Season two of The Flash is set to explore more of the Earth-Two mythos from DC Comics and will premiere Oct. 6. Season one is Certified Fresh at
96 percent.
