Emmys 2017: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Wins Big, ‘Stranger Things’ Actors Shut Out

Lawrence Yee
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The Handmaid’s Tale was the big winner at the Emmy 2017 Sunday Night.

The Hulu drama — set in a dystopian future where a totalitarian government forces the few remaining fertile women to breed against their will — won eight awards, including the coveted best drama (Game of Thrones was ineligible this year), best director for Reed Morano (the first woman to win in the category in 22 years), as well as acting accolades for Elisabeth Moss (best actress) and Ann Dowd (best supporting actress).

Dowd’s surprise win meant that Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown’s dream to become the youngest Emmy winner went unfulfilled. Brown, just 13, played telekinetic Eleven in the Netflix series, and was an audience favorite at Emmys 2017.

Her costar, David Harbour, who played Police Chief Jim Hopper, lost the supporting actor category to The Crown’s John Lithgow. Another show that got snubbed in the acting categories was FX’s Feud, including veteran actresses Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange.

Outside of The Handmaid’s Tale, another genre show that did well was Black Mirror. The “San Junipero” episode won awards for best limited series or TV movie and writing in a limited series or TV movie. Westworld didn’t win any major awards Sunday night, but picked up five awards at last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys. Expect its fellow HBO series Game of Thrones to clean up next year when it returns to eligibility.

Even without Game of Thrones, HBO was still the biggest Emmys 2017 winner, thanks to Veep, Big Little Lies and The Night Of. The cable network won a total of 29 awards. It was followed by Hulu with 20, bolstered by the success of The Handmaid’s Tale.

It seemed that cable and streaming networks would dominate the Emmys 2017, but NBC’s longstanding Saturday Night Live, which saw renewed focus and audiences during the election, brought home nine trophies. NBC’s The Voice also edged out RuPaul’s Drag Race in the reality TV competition category.

See the complete list of 2017 Emmy winners here.

Lawrence Yee
Lawrence is Editor in Chief of FANDOM. He grew up loving X-Men, Transformers, and Japanese-style role playing games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. First-person shooters make him incredibly nauseous.