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The Handmaid’s Tale took home the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series tonight, making Hulu the very first streaming service to produce a winner in either the Best Drama or Best Comedy categories at the Emmys. Not only that, but the dystopian drama just about swept all the major categories tonight. Elisabeth Moss won her very first Emmy (after nine nominations!) for Outstanding Lead Actress in the series, while Ann Dowd, writer/creator Bruce Miller, and director Reed Morano were also honored during the evening.
It was a tight race for Outstanding Drama Series. With Game of Thrones out for the year, it seemed thatStranger Things, The Crown, This Is Us, or The Handmaid’s Tale all had a shot — with Netflix’s spooky ’80s series being the odds-on favorite heading into tonight. In fact, it looked like Netflix might finally have a shot at winning its first major honor for Best Drama (or even Best Comedy). Netflix had three shows in contention and John Lithgow’s early win for Best Supporting Actor seemed to signal that it might be a big night for The Crown.
The win is big not only for Hulu, but for the legitimacy for shows from streaming services. Even though both Amazon and Netflix have won multiple Emmys in the past, that Outstanding Drama Series still remained out of reach. Now Hulu has broken that barrier.
While accepting the award, showrunner Bruce Miller brought The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood on stage. Miller then honored the team at Hulu for supporting them throughout the process, by joking, “You guys supported us when we wanted to do horrible things to Rory Gilmore.”
The show’s win also means that all four of the major show honors tonight went to shows led by female characters: The Handmaid’s Tale, Veep, Big Little Lies, and Black Mirror, “San Junipero” all feature female protagonists, if not also female-heavy ensembles.
The Decider team will be watching and reporting on the 2017 Emmy Awards as they air tonight with reactions to wins (and losses), live-blogs, and where you can stream the winners. Check back here for all our Emmys coverage.
