Hulu Wins the Drama Emmy for Handmaid's Tale
Hulu just became the first streaming service to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, following the 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony.
The popular service won the award for the first season of its original drama series, The Handmaid’s Tale . The first season of the critically-acclaimed dystopian TV show, based on Margaret Atwood’s classic novel of the same name, also nabbed Emmys for writing and directing, as well as Elizabeth Moss’ leading actress performance and the supporting performance from Ann Dowd. Handmaid’s Tale season 1 took home a total of eight Primetime Emmys overall, with additional wins coming in categories like production design and cinematography.
In an official statement in response to the show’s Emmy wins, Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said that “When we set out to make this series, we were dedicated to the vision and passion of Bruce Miller and Warren Littlefield to pay tribute to Margaret Atwood’s original masterpiece.” He also said that the historic win for Hulu is a “true testament to the incredible cast and creative team of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale” and expressed his continued enthusiasm for the show’s impending second season:
“We are happy beyond words to receive this recognition from the academy and even happier to continue our partnership with this incredibly talented team for season two.”
Hulu ended up winning a total of ten Emmy awards at the 2017 ceremony, between The Handmaid’s Tale season 1 taking home eight prizes and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years securing an additional two awards for the streaming service. In addition, Hulu took advantage of the Emmy awards show to promote some of its most buzzed-about upcoming original series, including its Marvel comic book adaptation Runaways (which premieres this November) and the sci-fi comedy series Future Man (also premiering in November) from Preacher producing duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
As for Hulu’s streaming service competitor Netflix, it didn’t go home empty-handed on Emmy night either. Netflix’s original historical drama The Crown was recognized in the Supporting Actor category (for John Lithgow’s turn as Winston Churchill), while season 3 of Black Mirror won multiple awards for its critically-acclaimed episode, “San Junipero”. However, season 1 of Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things did lose out in the Best Drama category, to the debut season of The Handmaid’s Tale.
