Portions of this story about “Stranger Things” also appeared in the Down to the Wire: Drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Fresh off some jaw-dropping viewership numbers, “Stranger Things” Season 4 Vol. 1 scored its fourth consecutive Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nomination, but acting hopefuls Sadie Sink, Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour and Winona Ryder ultimately didn’t make the cut.
The penultimate season of “Stranger Things” received 13 nods in total, shy of the previous record of 18 total nominations in Season 1 and devoid of any acting nominations at all.
It was also shut out in the directing and writing categories, making it the only one of the 16 programs nominated for Outstanding Drama Series or Outstanding Comedy Series without any noms for acting, directing or writing.
Other nominations for Season 4 Vol. 1 include Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Casting and Outstanding Music Supervision — the last of those coming for the episode in which music supervisor Nora Felder used Kate Bush’s ’80s hit “Running Up that Hill,” pushing it back onto the top charts.
Netflix released Season 4 Vol. 1 on May 27, just before the May 31 deadline for 2022 Emmy consideration, so only the first seven episodes were eligible for nominations.
The series also received no acting, directing or writing nominations for Season 3. Past acting nominations include Millie Bobby Brown for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2018 and David Harbour for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2018, both for Season 2. Shannon Purser who appeared as beloved Barbara Holland, Nancy Wheeler’s best friend who falls victim to the Demogorgon in Season 1, was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2017.
The previous three seasons received a total of 38 nominations, winning 7 awards. Season 3 won one award out of eight nominations. Season 2 won one award out of 12 nominations. Season 1 won five awards out of 18 total nominations.
Three of the wins came in sound editing categories, including Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) for the finale episodes of Season 2 (titled “The Mind Flayer”) and Season 3 (titled “The Battle of Starcourt.”) In 2017, the show won Outstanding Sound Editing for a series for its first season’s eighth episode, “The Upside Down.”
In 2017, the show won Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music for Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein’s catchy opening credits, Outstanding Main Title Design and Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. The pilot episode, “The Vanishing of Will Byers,” won for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series.
The fifth season of the sci-fi drama show will be its last, but not the last sign of The Duffer Brothers in their time at Netflix. The filmmakers have recently partnered with Netflix to create Upside Down Pictures, which will back future projects which include a live-action spin-off of the flagship series created and developed by the Duffers; a Curtis Gwinn–led adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s “The Talisman,” which the brothers will produce alongside their hero Steven Spielberg; a British stage play set within the world of “Stranger Things” from director and producer Stephen Daldry (and co-produced by prolific U.K.-based stage producer Sonia Friedman); and a new adaptation of Japanese manga/anime “Death Note” (previously adapted by Netflix into the 2017 Adam Wingard live-action movie).
Steve Pond contributed to this report.
Read more from the Down to the Wire: Drama issue here.
