Post-Emmy nomination headlines might be dominated by the big stories — like the five first-time nominees in the best drama category or “Westworld” and “Saturday Night Live’s” 22 nominations apiece — but there’s a lot more going on in the 65 pages of nominations than the names that were announced on Thursday morning’s televised presentation.
First time nominees
Sure, A-listers like Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Reese Witherspoon were all nominated for an Emmy Award for the first time in their careers on Thursday morning. But it was actress Shannon Purser’s first-time nomination that seemed to be getting the biggest cheers from the corner of the Internet that still craves justice for the killed-too-soon “Stranger Things” favorite.
“I am so incredibly honored. Thank you so much. Congratulations to all the other incredible nominees,” Purser, a nominee in the outstanding guest actress in a drama category, wrote on Twitter.
Fellow fan favorite Lena Waithe also earned a nomination for her first writing gig ever — a much-praised Thanksgiving-themed episode of “Master of None’s” second season, which tackled her character Denise’s coming out story in a way no other show has ever explored.
“Savoring this moment,” she wrote on Instagram, accompanied by a photo of her name on the nomination list.
Also joining the first-timers club were best friends in food Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart, who were both nominated in the outstanding host category for VH1’s “Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party.”
And Snoop wasn’t the only musician to break into the Emmy action this year.
Chance the Rapper scored a nomination for his work on outstanding original music nominee “Last Christmas,” an “SNL” tune on which he’s credited as Chancelor Johnathen Bennett.
“MAMA I GOT NOMINATED FOR A EMMY,” he tweeted.
Overachievers
The guest actor in a comedy series category featured two actors who were nominated for multiple projects this year: Riz Ahmed (“Girls” and “Night Of”) and Matthew Rhys (“Girls” and “The Americans”).
Ann Dowd (“The Leftovers,” “Handmaid’s Tale”), Ty Burrell (“Modern Family,” “Boondoggie”) and Liev Schreiber is also nominated for two awards for different projects.
Schrieber is nominated for outstanding lead actor in a drama for Ray Donovan and another for outstanding narrator for “Muhammad Ali: Only One.” In the latter category, he goes up against another dual nominee, Ewan McGregor (nominated for outstanding lead actor in a limited series for “Fargo” and outstanding narrator for “Wild Scotland”) and Meryl Streep, who is the member of another group overachievers — Emmy nominees who were also Oscar nominees last year.
Joining her among that crop is Ava DuVernay, who scored three Emmy nominations for “13TH,” and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is nominated for his turn as “SNL” host.
A fitting tribute
The late Carrie Fisher’s name appeared three times in the list of nominations.
She was nominated in the outstanding guest actress in a comedy series category for her role in Amazon’s “Catastrophe.” On the show, she played Mia, the mother of Rob Delaney’s character.
Fisher was flying back from London, where she was filming the show, when she suffered a fatal cardiac arrest back in December.
The documentary about her life and relationship with mother Debbie Reynolds was also honored, scoring nominations for the teams involved, including directors Fisher Stevens and Alexis Bloom.