Netflix Might Finally Get That Major Emmy It's Been Hoping For

The night of celebrating the very best of television is fast approaching. The Emmy nominations were announced this morning, ahead of the ceremony's September 19 air date.

Some shows that garnered a ton of nods include Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" with 21 (including a whopping nine for the actors alone in their respective roles) and the recently aired — and much talked about — "Mare of Easttown" from HBO with 16 total nominations. Another notable nominee is "I May Destroy You," the highly acclaimed show from HBO which was controversially snubbed by the Golden Globes. From this list alone, Emmy nomination announcement day proved a good one for streaming services.

But of all the streaming services now available to viewers — and there are many — it's Netflix that came out on top this Emmy season, with 129 total nominations (via NPR). It's worth noting here that HBO technically has more nods than Netflix with 130, but only by combining HBO content nominations with those from HBO Max. But it's Netflix that has the better chance of taking home the most coveted award of the night.

The Emmys end the night with the Outstanding Drama Series category, making it essentially the most sought-after award of the ceremony. Furthermore, drama has traditionally been held at a higher standard than comedy, which, while somewhat arbitrary, places Best Drama higher up on the hierarchy than Best Comedy. Netflix has now been nominated for this category a total of 17 times, including the two just announced, but has never won.

Its first nomination in 2013, for "House of Cards," was even the first time ever that a streaming service received a nomination for the Emmys' top category (via Quartz). "House of Cards" went on to receive four more nominations for Outstanding Drama over the course of its run, but never nailed the top prize. Other Netflix originals that have garnered a nomination in the category include "Stranger Things," "Orange Is the New Black," "Bodyguard," and "Ozark." "The Crown" has also been nominated previously, with each of its first three seasons also receiving an Outstanding Drama nod.

The long list of Outstanding Drama nominations is impressive enough, especially considering Netflix was the first streaming service to really break into the realm of critically acclaimed television. Still, we can assume they have their sights set on actually winning the category.

This year, "The Crown" is joined in the category by Netflix's "Bridgerton," "The Boys," "The Handmaid's Tale," "Lovecraft County," "The Mandalorian," "Pose," and "This Is Us." Notably, Netflix is the only streaming service or cable channel with more than one nomination in the category, giving it the highest chance of winning, logistically.

Additionally, "The Crown" is having quite the successful award season so far and could easily be considered the frontrunner. The fourth season of "The Crown" has arguably been its most critically acclaimed so far — and indeed, it has the highest Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes at a near-perfect 96% — so an Outstanding Drama win seems very likely. And throughout awards season so far, the series has won the Best Drama category at two major award ceremonies, the Critics' Choice Television Awards and the Golden Globes. Plus, at both ceremonies, three actors took home trophies in their respective categories — Josh O'Connor, Emma Corrin, and Gillian Anderson — which has yet to happen for "The Crown" at the Emmys.

With all this in mind, "The Crown" sure has a good shot at winning the last award of the night. And with the immediate and massive popularity of "Bridgerton," as well as its own critical acclaim, it wouldn't be a huge surprise either for the new regency drama to take home the award. All in all, it seems Netflix may just finally win Outstanding Drama at this year's Emmys ceremony.