Over the weekend, Sir Patrick Stewart revealed that he’ll return to the beloved role of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in a new Star Trek series for CBS All Access. The show will tell the story of the next chapter of Picard’s life, suggesting that it’s a continuation and not necessarily a prequel or reboot.

However you want to classify it, it’s clear that the small screen has flipped the channel back to the past in order to carve out its future. Stewart’s new Star Trek series is one of many reboots, revivals and returns that populate the airwaves—from ABC’s RoseanneThe Conners and NBC’s Will & Grace to The CW’s new upcoming Charmed reboot and Joss Whedon’s planned inclusive version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It doesn’t matter if you’re a new-age digital streamer or a mainstay of broadcast television, there are upwards of 100 total new series in the works across all of TV that rely on older material.

Some of these efforts are more effective than others—no one asked for a Breaking Bad prequel spinoff or a series inspired by the Coen Brothers’ Fargo, yet both are some of the best shows TV has to offer. So what’s the secret to making a reboot, revival, prequel or sequel actually work on the small screen?

Let’s run through some dos and don’ts.

Do Something Different That Is Still in the Spirit of the Original

The easiest way to get a project greenlit is by connecting it to a beloved piece of IP. It may not be fair, but it’s the reality of the television marketplace as streamers and networks want to minimize risk by sinking resources into a show with a pre-existing fan base. But that doesn’t mean the creatives need to bow down to what came before.

Too often networks feel as if the familiar trappings and name recognition of a throwback are enough to coast on. CBS’ Training Day series was set 15 years after the events of the 2001 film of the same name, and yet it essentially recycled the entire plot of a green officer thrust into the morally ambiguous underbelly of law enforcement. It was cancelled after just one season (though Bill Paxton’s untimely passing played a role) and universally negative reviews.

Audiences want something that adopts the same tone and vibe of the original, but introduces a few new wrinkles. FX’s Fargo very much feels as if it exists in the Coen Brothers universe; from the dry humor splashed with horrific violence and tales of average citizens submerged in a criminal world they do not understand, it fits with the running themes and motifs of their work. It shares the same visual language. But season one is not a shot-for-shot remake of the classic 1996 movie, while seasons two and three go even further to separate themselves from the film. There are clever nods and winks, sure, but Fargo the TV show very much stands on its own.

Creators should absolutely borrow elements from the source material that work, but they should also change up the formula enough that fans feel as if they are building on the legacy of the original and not just co-opting it for ratings.

Don’t Just Pick Something Because It Was Popular Once Upon a Time

Popularity of the original can bode well for interest in a new version, but more should go into the equation than just that. Television tastes aren’t binary.

I don’t care that CBS’ MacGyver is set to debut its third season next month—that show is an albatross to creative thinking. From the wooden acting and clunky dialogue to the unoriginal conceits and sanitized delivery, MacGyver feels like a formulaic relic in comparison to the advancements made in the medium during the Peak TV era. Some concepts, such as a Do-It-Yourself master spy who throws together life-saving contraptions on the fly, just don’t translate well to modern storytelling.

Audiences have developed alongside television over the last 20 years; they can handle much more. That is why some titles that may not have been as embraced by the mainstream during their original air dates are prime for repackaging.

Twin Peaks: The Return kicked off endless debates about the nature of television; Ash vs Evil Dead enjoyed a three-season sequel to the original movie trilogy from the wonderfully weird mind of Sam Raimi (Spider-Man trilogy); Battlestar Galactica transformed from a one-and-done cheesy disappointment in the late 1970s to one of this century’s very best series.

Sometimes, the more unexpected choices can reap the greatest returns as there’s more room for risk-taking and innovation. Rushing out and just grabbing any old piece of IP that drew a crowd way back when is not an advisable strategy.

Do Recruit the Best People You Can

This one is pretty obvious and it’s not as if streamers and networks are actively avoiding top-tier talent. But if you can add that little extra oomph by attracting a big and exciting name in some capacity, you should go for it.

The Twilight Zone is one of the greatest and most influential small screen endeavors in history, and yet it’s been more or less replaced today by Black Mirror, its spiritual successor. So when it was announced that CBS All Access was weighing a reboot of the series—perhaps to compete with Apple’s expensive resurrection of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories?—I wasn’t all that enthused. But when it was reported that Get Out writer/director Jordan Peele might be involved as a producer, the project was cast in a new light. Peele’s focus on self-named social thrillers is just the sort of point of view that mainstream entertainment needs right now, and it also just so happens to fit well with the Twilight Zone brand.

Coming off the blistering and unexpected success of Get Out, Peele is a hot name in the industry right now and his involvement in a potential Twilight Zone return is exciting from a ground-level perspective. It’s the type of move that generates buzz and instills a bit of audience confidence long before the show has even aired.

Don’t Take a Flier on a Flimsy Premise

Remember when NBC thought it would be a great idea to develop a prequel series to Liam Neeson’s Taken? That idea missed the entire point of the Old Man Action Movie—part of the sub-genre’s appeal is its ridiculousness. Taking up with a younger version of the character and stretching it out over the course of an entire TV show that takes itself way too seriously sucks all the fun out of the idea.

It’s no surprise that the Taken series lasted just two mostly uninspired seasons.

There needs to be a foundation in place from which creators can build when making this type of move. That’s why the new Stewart-led Star Trek series works on paper. Jean-Luc Picard is a shining example of leadership, more so than James Kirk ever was. He is compassionate and wise, someone who upholds the ideals of the Federation, which in turn is what humanity today aspires to be. He is both confident and humble, secure in his expertise but always willing to take advice and learn from a mistake. His return couldn’t be more relevant as he represents a polar opposite of our current historical moment.

What happens to a great leader when he’s no longer in command is far more interesting than how Liam Neeson’s character first became a badass with a particular set of skills.

AMC’s Better Call Saul returned for a fourth season Monday night, reminding television viewers what quality storytelling looks like during the relatively empty doldrums of summer. There was subtle humor—Muhammad Ali vs. Bruce Lee—and touching drama, with each character painting a greater tapestry in the Breaking Bad universe. But because this belongs to the Breaking Bad universe, fans and even the showrunners can’t seem to help themselves from speculating on when audiences might catch a glimpse of Walter White or Jesse Pinkman.

This never-ending expectation of a meeting between the two series has become an exhausting exercise in self-serving fandom, like it’s very own small screen ouroboros.

Viewers have already been treated to cameos both big and small—from Tuco Salamanca, his uncle Don Hector, co-star Mike Ehrmantraut and the always entertaining Gustavo Fring. And yet, it seems inevitable that Walt and/or Jesse will eventually pop up in some sort of role, whether large or small, in the near-ish future. But that might actually be more of a detriment to the narrative as Better Call Saul doesn’t need any more help from Breaking Bad to be great. It already is.

Monday night’s season four premiere, “Smoke,” gave audiences all they could handle to start off the new run. The flash-forward to Gene, Jimmy/Saul’s lowly and sad future alter-ego, keeling over and risking exposure at the hospital gives us a taste of danger in the the post-Breaking Bad timeline. In the “present,” the fallout from Chuck’s death and the ways in which Jimmy chooses to handle it speaks volumes about where he’s headed. Then, there’s the Mike Show, in which the resourceful fixer continues to entertain in understated ways. We’re also clued in on Don Hector’s stroke—ding! ding!—and what that means for Gustavo Fring and Nacho.

All of these plots were built out of carefully laid track from the three prior seasons and beyond. The simple existence of Gene is the result of Jimmy’s tragic life choices. Chuck’s death was the culmination of a lifetime of compounding character flaws between the two brothers. Mike’s storyline brings us closer into the criminal underworld, while Gus was always a natural target for expansion following his Hall of Fame turn on Breaking Bad.

All of this pools together perfectly to form one of the very best shows on television; a series that doesn’t need to lean on the looming legacy of Heisenberg.

Breaking Bad creator and Better Call Saul co-creator Vince Gilligan, who largely stepped away from season four to focus on other projects, was asked about the potential involvement of Saul’s future employers in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.

“Maybe. I mean, it would be satisfying to see Walt. Not to see him shoehorned in—that would not satisfy me. But to see the character properly arrive at a nexus point with Better Call Saul,” Gilligan said. “That’d be wonderful… [though] it’s very possible it won’t happen if it doesn’t feel properly arrived at. And yes, I believe that Better Call Saul is so much its own creation now, its own thing. It absolutely stands on its own.”

“Putting a hat on a hat” is an old comedy term that refers to trying to do too much with a joke, adding on inessential bits and pieces that ultimately choke the final punchline. That’s my fear with Better Call Saul drawing closer and closer to the meth-fueled world that perfected the formula The Sopranos fist scribbled nearly 20 years ago. The life and times of Jimmy McGill already nimbly balances two worlds while paying homage to what came before and also effectively paving its own path. The degree of difficulty in keeping all of this compelling when we all know exactly where that path leads is monumental, but the show pulls it off.

Gilligan and co-creator Peter Gould have more than earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to crafting a special narrative. But there’s a danger in getting too bogged down in the weight of the Breaking Bad universe (though I would absolutely watch a spinoff about Skinny Pete’s path to sobriety and his quest to become a concert pianist).

Plot-wise, where would Walter and Jesse even fit into the story? Saul Goodman wasn’t introduced until the second season of the original, where he is already an established criminal lawyer. With Jimmy just beginning his one-year legal suspension, it’s safe to say we’re still a few years away from that point. So what organic plot construction could realistically bring together a down-on-his-luck lawyer, a high school chemistry teacher and a deadbeat drug dealer? There seems to be a lot of logical gymnastics involved in getting at least two out of these three into the same room.

Breaking Bad is great and there’s definitely a part of me that would be thrilled to see Jesse and Walt once again. But there’s a bigger part of me that has become so enamored with Jimmy, Kim Wexler and Mike that any additional legacy additions would leave me feeling overstuffed.

Don’t put a hat on a hat, at least not yet. Better Call Saul can and has stood on its own two feet; like Jimmy, it doesn’t need any more help from its big brother.

Bob Odenkirk, star of AMC’s Better Call Saul, is reportedly in stable condition after collapsing on set Tuesday morning. Odenkirk, 58, is said to have suffered a heart attack while shooting the sixth and final season of the Breaking Bad prequel spinoff.

According to TMZ, who first reported the incident, “Odenkirk went down, and was immediately surrounded by crew members who called an ambulance.”

“We can confirm Bob is in stable condition after experiencing a heart-related incident,” representatives for the actor said in a statement Wednesday afternoon, per The Hollywood Reporter. “He and his family would like to express gratitude for the incredible doctors and nurses looking after him, as well as his cast, crew and producers who have stayed by his side. The Odenkirks would also like to thank everyone for the outpouring of well wishes and ask for their privacy at this time as Bob works on his recovery.”

The actor’s son, Nate Odenkirk, also took to Twitter Wednesday to reassure the concerned public that his father’s health was trending in the right direction.

He's going to be okay.

— Nate Odenkirk (@birthdaynate) July 28, 2021

The well being of the individuals responsible for the entertainment we hold dear is always the top priority in this industry. Yet after confirming that Odenkirk was in stable condition, audiences have understandably asked what this now means for the production of Better Call Saul.

Season 6 began shooting in Albuquerque, New Mexico in April. Production was slightly more than halfway complete on the final season prior to Odenkirk’s heart attack, THR reports. Shooting was immediately halted in the aftermath of the health scare.

“Bob is someone we have known and been lucky enough to work with for a long time,” AMC said in a statement. “The immediate outpouring of affection and concern from fans around the world is a clear reflection of his immense talents and ability to both move and entertain people. Like everyone else, we are so grateful to know he is in stable condition and receiving excellent care. We are holding him close in our thoughts and wishing for a fast and full recovery.”

In situations in which lead actors are injured, such as when Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop shut down production following star John Cho’s knee injury, it is common for the series to suspend production until it’s able to fully resume. In Cho’s case, production on the live-action adaptation was expected to be halted for seven to nine months. When Tom Cruise broke his ankle while filming Mission: Impossible – Fallout, filming was postponed for roughly three months. The severity of each case is going to differ and result in varied timelines for each production.

AMC and Sony Pictures Television both released statements of support for Odenkirk as he recovers. As of this writing, the question of when production may resume is open-ended.

Better Call Saul takes place prior to Breaking Bad, which introduced Odenkirk’s Saul Goodman, a clever and fast-talking criminal defense lawyer. Odenkirk’s prequel spinoff tracks the character’s journey from a low-level scam artist turned well-intentioned public-defender named Jimmy McGill into the slimy and amoral attorney Saul Goodman. Both series are produced by Sony Pictures Television. Better Call Saul Season 6 was slated to debut in 2022.

AMC did not immediately respond to Observer’s request for comment.

This past May, Better Call Saul left its audience on its most shocking cliffhanger yet, with the full weight of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler’s (Rhea Seehorn) misdeeds falling on the head of their chief rival, Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian). Last night, the series returned with the first of its final seven episodes, delivering an absolutely nail-biting resolution to the show’s most urgent storylines. As ever, the creators of Better Call Saul prove themselves masters of suspense, character drama, and dramatic irony, as this prequel nears its inevitable impact with the acclaimed series from which it sprung. And, just as reliably, the triumph of this hour of television is owed to the taught direction of co-creator Vince Gilligan and an outstanding performance from co-star Rhea Seehorn.

Spoilers ahead for Better Call Saul’s mid-season premiere, “Point and Shoot.”

Better Call Saul habitually opens on a teasing, close-up image of some seemingly innocuous object, the significance of which may not be clear until the end of the episode. This week, however, Gilligan selects an image that provides closure to one of the mid-season finale’s lingering questions, showing us the scene of Howard Hamlin’s staged suicide. We already know, of course, that Howard has been murdered, shot dead ever so casually by gangster Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. From the start, we’re shown that the resolution of Howard’s death will not be part of the suspense of this episode, that we’ll be asked to dismiss it as swiftly as Lalo does, but also that we’ll never be able to forget it. Like so many of Better Call Saul’s memorable cold opens, we’ll be reminded of it soon enough when we close on Howard’s true final resting place beneath the secret meth lab of Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito).

It’s teasers like these that amplify Better Call Saul’s sense of inevitable doom, the promise that this story can only end in a worse place than it started. This is a prequel, after all, meaning that some outcomes are inevitable and some are impossible. Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould and company thrive under these storytelling conditions, making careful use of what the audience does and doesn’t know for maximum suspense and emotional effect. This series is speeding towards a rendezvous with the timeline of Breaking Bad, but that foreknowledge brings more dread than excitement. Yes, fans are expecting appearances by Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, but frankly, Better Call Saul doesn’t need them. Their approach raises our blood pressure because we’re all but certain that it means the departure of Kim Wexler, Saul’s sole remaining character whose fate is a mystery. We don’t know how she leaves Jimmy’s life, but we have a good idea when it happens. Just as in the case of Walter White’s unfortunate partner in crime, we can only hope that she makes it out alive. 

The suspense that Gilligan, writer Gordon Smith, and actor Rhea Seehorn build around Kim in “Point and Shoot” is absolute agony, as she is sent on a deadly errand by Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton). Calling Seehorn’s performance here “gripping” would be a criminal understatement; during her scenes of panic in the episode’s first act, it is impossible to center your attention anywhere else. The juxtaposition of Kim’s fear and Lalo’s total calm is shocking, and her voyage of the damned to the home of Gustavo Fring is a sustained heart attack of a sequence. Seehorn brings exactly the right mixture of anxiety and mechanical focus to her performance, at once conveying Kim’s trauma, despair, and determination to keep her husband alive. Aided by piano-wire tense direction and cinematography, Seehorn asserts herself yet again as the cast’s most valuable player. We can only hope that Emmy voters finally take notice. 

Giancarlo Esposito also makes the most of his opportunity to demonstrate both his own brilliance and that of his character during his final showdown with Lalo Salamanca. Better Call Saul has dedicated years to adding further dimension to the already complex Breaking Bad antagonist, portraying him as an endlessly diligent antihero on a decades-long quest for revenge against the cartel that murdered his partner, Max. Both Gus and his adversary are murderous monsters, but even if his survival were not a foregone conclusion, we’d be compelled to root for him against Lalo because Gus has worked so damn hard to get to this point. Better Call Saul has been about Gus building his empire as much as it’s been about Jimmy McGill creating Saul Goodman, and even if you believe that the world is a better place without Gus Fring, it would be unacceptable to see all of this effort go to waste, especially at the hands of a smiling jackal like Lalo Salamanca.

Considering that six episodes remain in the series, “Point and Shoot” puts a surprising number of subplots to bed. Lalo and Howard, the antagonists of Gus and Jimmy and Kim’s respective storylines from the first half of the season, now share a grave beneath Walter and Jesse’s future workplace. While the three of them and stonefaced fixer Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) will no doubt spend the weeks ahead coping with the practical aftermath of these murders, the immediate threat has passed. Now, the emotional fallout takes paramount importance, as Kim copes with her first encounter with the mortal stakes of this series. Kim has spent the past season and a half acclimatizing herself to moral compromise, proving to herself and to Howard that she’s nobody’s patsy. But, is she prepared to live with her participation in his death? What role will it play in her fate at the end of the series? Will she find a way to escape or to cope with the mess that she and Jimmy have made? Or will she, like Howard, become a loose end to be disposed of in an unmarked grave?

We’ll have our answers in six weeks’ time.

It’s been nearly a decade since the acclaimed crime thriller Breaking Bad came to its explosive conclusion. Brilliant as that series is, its ending is a little too perfect, offering its despicable protagonist a Darth Vader-style redemption and wrapping everything up with an incredibly on-the-nose Badfinger song. It’s an example of the thrills and limitations of a storyteller giving the audience exactly what they want: satisfying, but not as exciting or memorable as getting something you didn’t know you wanted. (The ur-example here is the smash cut to black that finished off The Sopranos, which both incensed the viewership and holds up as one of the greatest TV finales of all time.) Breaking Bad’s spin-off, Better Call Saul, has proven to be more than a match for its mother series in every respect, debuting with a level of confidence and stylistic refinement that Breaking Bad took years to achieve. Co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have accomplished something rare in the annals of fiction: a superior prequel. Still, Better Call Saul suffers from the same forgivable flaw as Breaking Bad, tying up a little too neatly with an ending that viewers might just as well have written for themselves.

In a sense, Better Call Saul came to an end three episodes before the finale, in the masterful “Fun and Games.” It’s here that we see the completion of Jimmy McGill’s (Bob Odenkirk) transformation into Saul Goodman, the moment when he gives up on being a human being and lets the cartoon devil on his shoulder take the wheel. Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) gets away with the assassination of Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton), though his revenge against the cartel won’t be complete until Season 5 of Breaking Bad. Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) gets a dressing down from fellow grieving father Manuel Varga (Juan Carlos Cantu), who denies him the validation of being a “good guy” amongst criminals. Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), having seen the human cost of her perfect long con, chooses to exile herself from her home and the man she loves rather than risk hurting anyone else. If not for the black and white epilogue segments scattered throughout the series, a viewer could be convinced that “Fun and Games” is the last episode, and would probably not be disappointed. 

Said viewer would, of course, miss out on a few hours of excellent television, as Better Call Saul pivots fully into the tragedy of Gene Takovic, Jimmy McGill’s new cover identity in Omaha, Nebraska in the aftermath of Breaking Bad. Saul commits to being a different show from this point forward: a new cast of characters, a unique opening title card, a more deliberate pace, and a subdued musical score. This new variant of the series is distinct but no less intriguing than the last, as Gene slips back into the world of heists and cons in order to add some flavor back into his lonely, monotonous life as the manager of a Cinnabon stand. The episode “Breaking Bad” folds Better Call Saul and its ancestor together with remarkable poetry and economy, juxtaposing Gene’s ill-fated last con against flashbacks to Saul Goodman’s first encounters with Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. The penultimate episode, “Waterworks,” ranks among the best of the series, as Gene’s new life falls apart around him and Kim Wexler chooses to face justice for her sins. It’s a heart-wrenching, nail-biting character drama, every bit as artful as the series proper while being comparably (and intentionally) cold and joyless. For both Jimmy/Gene and Kim, this is the world after the end of the world. 

Perhaps this is why bringing the story to a neat conclusion doesn’t feel entirely satisfying. The series finale, “Saul Gone,” offers our lead character the closest thing to a happy ending that he could ever deserve: He’ll spend the rest of his life in prison, but he’s made some measure of amends to his victims and restored the soul of Jimmy McGill. After his capture in Omaha, “Gene” once again becomes Saul (or at least seems to), performing a canned, sob story version of his working relationship with Walter White and negotiating a generous plea deal for himself. When he learns that Kim has confessed to covering up Howard Hamlin’s death, Saul appears to be ready to throw her under the bus to reduce his sentence further, but this turns out to be a ploy to convince Kim to witness his testimony. With victory (in the form of a scant seven years jail time) in his grasp, Jimmy McGill reasserts himself in court and gives a genuine, remorseful confession. He takes responsibility not only for his role in building Walter’s empire, but in the deaths of Howard Hamlin and his brother, Charles McGill. He gets to look Kim in the eyes again and have her see him — the real him, the him who loves her — rather than the ghoul who sat across from her during their divorce proceedings.

He does everything we’d want him to do, for exactly the reason we’d want him to, and it all appears to happen very fast. It may be that Jimmy has had this plan in mind since his arrest, but it doesn’t really read that way. It appears that Jimmy makes the decision to sacrifice himself in the time that it takes his attorney (Peter Diseth) to visit the airplane bathroom. It’s not that this is totally out of character; Jimmy’s devotion to Kim drives many of his choices throughout the series. He can’t save her, and she doesn’t want to be saved, he simply refuses to accept a slap on the wrist for their actions while she faces financial ruin in a civil suit. But, considering that he has spent not only the last four episodes but the entire run of Breaking Bad as a different person, his reversion to Jimmy feels a little easy. Not wrong, just easy. Maybe that’s the idea. It’s a romantic notion that all that Saul Goodman needs to change back into Jimmy McGill is for Kim’s future to be in jeopardy, but that’s more idealistic than we’re accustomed to in Vince Gilligan’s Albuquerque.

Gilligan and Peter Gould (the latter of whom wrote and directed this episode) don’t overplay their hand here. There’s no kiss, no apologies, no plausible happily ever after for either protagonist. Jimmy and Kim’s final scenes together are understated but deeply affecting, as Kim comes to visit Jimmy in prison, posing as his attorney. Kim seems like her confident old self, and her subterfuge honors their past — one last little con. The two share a cigarette, its embers the only pop of color in their black and white world. This could easily be the parting shot of the series (and perhaps should have been), but Kim’s departure from the prison removes any ambiguity that this will be the couple’s final meeting. Jimmy will live out his days in prison, protected by his legacy as Saul Goodman but separated from the love of his life. Kim will likely be sued into oblivion by Howard’s widow, but that’s the only way she can live with herself. Both Jimmy and Kim have chosen to accept judgment, and have been sentenced proportionately. They lose each other, but they keep their souls. 

Punctuating the themes of the episode are a trio of full-color flashbacks, in which Jimmy/Saul encounters departed characters Mike, Walter (Bryan Cranston), and Chuck (Michael McKean). The flashbacks frame the finale (and the series as a whole) as a story about regret, and the value of regret. Jimmy McGill has attempted to live his life regretting nothing, shrugging off his mistakes with the assurance that one day, he’ll simply stop thinking about them. It’s only once he becomes willing to live with regret, rather than dismiss it, that he is capable of changing for the better. In this final episode, Jimmy breaks the cycle he has been trapped in all of his life. It’s unquestionably the right ending, cementing Better Call Saul as one of the great dramas of its time and Jimmy McGill as one of the best television characters of all time. But, as with Breaking Bad, the finale itself is just the slightest bit cheap, not enough to cheapen the entire show, but enough for the series to fall short of perfection. 

The Emmys always serve as a bright spot in the largely awards show-less summer, and this year holds an especially momentous anniversary. The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards are set to take place on Monday, September 18 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox, honoring the best that television has to offer. No host has been announced as of yet, and there is the possibility that the awards show will be postponed as a result of the ongoing WGA strike (not to mention the potential SAG strike). Regardless, the show must go on, and nominations were announced on Wednesday morning to keep this machine chugging along.

The full list of nominees is below.

Outstanding Drama Series

Andor (Disney Plus)

Better Call Saul (AMC)

The Crown (Netflix)

House of the Dragon (HBO)

The Last of Us (HBO)

Succession (HBO)

The White Lotus (HBO)

Yellowjackets (Showtime)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Abbott Elementary (ABC)

Barry (HBO)

The Bear (FX)

Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime)

Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Wednesday (Netflix)

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

Beef (Netflix)

Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (Netflix)

Daisy Jones & the Six (Amazon Prime)

Fleishman Is in Trouble (FX)

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney Plus)

Outstanding TV Movie

Dolly Parton’s Mountain Magic Christmas (NBC)

Fire Island (Hulu)

Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney Plus)

Prey (Hulu)

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (The Roku Channel)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jeff Bridges, The Old Man

Brian Cox, Succession

Kieran Culkin, Succession

Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul

Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us

Jeremy Strong, Succession

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Sharon Horgan, Bad Sisters

Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets

Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us

Keri Russell, The Diplomat

Sarah Snook, Succession

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Bill Hader, Barry

Jason Segel, Shrinking

Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso

Jeremy Allen White, The Bear

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate, Dead to Me

Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary

Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face

Jenna Ortega, Wednesday

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie

Taron Egerton, Black Bird

Kumail Nanjiani, Welcome to Chippendales

Evan Peters, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Daniel Radcliffe, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Michael Shannon, George & Tammy

Steven Yeun, Beef

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie

Lizzy Caplan, Fleishman Is in Trouble

Jessica Chastain, George & Tammy

Dominique Fishback, Swarm

Kathryn Hahn, Tiny Beautiful Things

Riley Keough, Daisy Jones & the Six

Ali Wong, Beef

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

F. Murray Abraham, The White Lotus

Nicholas Braun, Succession

Michael Imperioli, The White Lotus

Theo James, The White Lotus

Matthew Macfadyen, Succession

Alan Ruck, Succession

Will Sharpe, The White Lotus

Alexander Skarsgard, Succession

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown

Meghann Fahy, The White Lotus

Sabrina Impacciatore, The White Lotus

Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus

Rhea Seehorn, Better Call Saul

J. Smith-Cameron, Succession

Simona Tabasco, The White Lotus

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Carrigan, Barry

Phil Dunster, Ted Lasso

Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso

James Marsden, Jury Duty

Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear

Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary

Henry Winkler, Barry

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Ayo Edebiri, The Bear

Janelle James, Abbott Elementary

Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary

Juno Temple, Ted Lasso

Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso

Jessica Williams, Shrinking

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie

Murray Bartlett, Welcome to Chippendales

Paul Walter Hauser, Black Bird

Richard Jenkins, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Joseph Lee, Beef

Ray Liotta, Black Bird

Young Mazino, Beef

Jesse Plemons, Love & Death

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie

Annaleigh Ashford, Welcome to Chippendales

Maria Bello, Beef

Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble

Juliette Lewis, Welcome to Chippendales

Camila Morrone, Daisy Jones & the Six

Niecy Nash-Betts, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Merritt Wever, Tiny Beautiful Things

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Murray Bartlett, The Last of Us

James Cromwell, Succession

Lamar Johnson, The Last of Us

Arian Moayed, Succession

Nick Offerman, The Last of Us

Keivonn Montreal Woodard, The Last of Us

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Hiam Abbass, Succession

Cherry Jones, Succession

Melanie Lynskey, The Last of Us

Storm Reid, The Last of Us

Anna Torv, The Last of Us

Harriet Walter, Succession

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Jon Bernthal, The Bear

Luke Kirby, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Nathan Lane, Only Murders in the Building

Pedro Pascal, Saturday Night Live

Oliver Platt, The Bear

Sam Richardson, Ted Lasso

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Becky Ann Baker, Ted Lasso

Quinta Brunson, Saturday Night Live

Taraji P. Henson, Abbott Elementary

Judith Light, Poker Face

Sarah Niles, Ted Lasso

Harriet Walter, Ted Lasso

Outstanding Talk Series

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)

Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

The Problem with Jon Stewart (Apple TV+)

Outstanding Scripted Variety Series

A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Benjamin Caron – “Rix Road” (Andor)

Dearbhla Walsh – “The Prick” (Bad Sisters)

Lorene Scafaria – “Living+” (Succession)

Andrij Parekh – “America Decides” (Succession)

Mark Mylod – “Connor’s Wedding” (Succession)

Peter Hoar – “Long, Long Time” (The Last of Us)

Mike White – “Arrivederci” (The White Lotus)

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

Bill Hader – “wow” (Barry)

Declan Lowney – “So Long, Farewell” (Ted Lasso)

Christopher Storer – “Review” (The Bear)

Amy Sherman-Palladino – “Four Minutes” (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Mary Lou Belli – “Don’t Touch My Hair” (The Ms. Pat Show)

Tim Burton – “Wednesday’s Child is Full of Woe” (Wednesday)

Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie

Lee Sung Jin – “Figures Of Light” (Beef)

Jake Schreier – “The Great Fabricator” (Beef)

Carl Franklin – “Bad Meat” (Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story)

Paris Barclay – “Silenced” (Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story)

Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton – “Me-Time” (Fleishman Is in Trouble)

Dan Trachtenberg – Prey

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Beau Willimon – “One Way Out” (Andor)

Sharon Horgan, Dave Finkel, Brett Baer – “The Prick” (Bad Sisters)

Gordon Smith – “Point and Shoot” (Better Call Saul)

Peter Gould – “Saul Gone” (Better Call Saul)

Jesse Armstrong – “Connor’s Wedding” (Succession)

Craig Mazin – “Long, Long Time” (The Last of Us)

Mike White – “Arrivederci” (The White Lotus)

Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series

Bill Hader – “wow” (Barry)

Mekki Leeper – “Ineffective Assistance” (Jury Duty)

John Hoffman, Matteo Borghese, Rob Turbovsky – “I Know Who Did It” (Only Murders in the Building)

Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly, Jason Sudeikis – “So Long, Farewell” (Ted Lasso)

Christopher Storer – “System” (The Bear)

Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider – “Cary & Brooke Go To An AIDS Play” (The Other Two)

Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or TV Movie

Lee Sung Jin – “The Birds Don’t Sing, They Screech in Pain” (Beef)

Joel Kim Booster – Fire Island 

Taffy Brodesser-Akner – “Me-Time” (Fleishman Is in Trouble)

Patrick Aison, Dan Trachtenberg – Prey

Janine Nabers, Donald Glover – “Stung” (Swarm)

Al Yankovic, Eric Appel – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Outstanding Structured Reality Series

Antiques Roadshow (PBS)

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Food Network)

Love is Blind (Netflix)

Queer Eye (Netflix)

Shark Tank (ABC)

Outstanding Unstructured Reality Series

Indian Matchmaking (Netflix)

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked (MTV)

Selling Sunset (Netflix)

Vanderpump Rules (Bravo)

Welcome to Wrexham (FX)

Outstanding Reality Competition Program

The Amazing Race (CBS)

RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)

Survivor (CBS)

Top Chef (Bravo)

The Voice (NBC)

Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program

Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Bobby Berk, Jonathan Van Ness – Queer Eye

Nicole Byer – Nailed It!

Padma Lakshmi – Top Chef

Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph – Baking It

RuPaul – RuPaul’s Drag Race