Harrowing true-crime drama DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story and bracing dark comedy BEEF were among the most highly lauded titles when the nominations for the 75th Emmy Awards were announced July 12. Dominating the Limited or Anthology Series or Movie categories, the two titles received 13 nominations each, spotlighting the superlative acting, directing, and crafts of both projects. But they weren’t the only Netflix titles to find favor with Emmy voters: Alfred Gough and Miles Millar’s comedy Wednesday and Peter Morgan’s royal prestige drama The Crown also earned multiple nominations and will compete for the top prize in their respective categories.

In all, Netflix earned a total of 103 nominations across 34 titles. Find out more about our Emmy nominees and how it all broke down below.

Simultaneously smart, funny, sexy, and poignant, BEEF is an emotionally astute yet darkly comic exploration of both the relationship between Ali Wong’s self-made entrepreneur Amy Lau and Steven Yeun’s down-on-his-luck contractor Danny Cho, as well as the roots of their individual failings and frustrations. Now, the zeitgeisty series from acclaimed writer and showrunner Lee Sung Jin is officially an Emmy Awards darling, earning nominations for its stars and creator, as well as delivering a strong showing in the below-the-line categories.

Brought together by a road rage incident, the series’ protagonists enter one another’s orbit and develop a relationship that’s increasingly defined by unrelenting obsession and an unwavering commitment to mutually assured destruction. As each attempts to exact revenge on the other, they push one another to ever more outrageous extremes.

“It was so funny because once we started rehearsing, even though we’re supposed to be enemies, after every scene, I was like, ‘This is so flirty,’” says Wong, nominated for Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. “I mean, Chris Rock always says that a great standup special should be able to work as a drama, and I think BEEF is this dramedy thriller that could kind of also work as a romantic comedy.” 

“They can’t let it go,” added Yeun, who earned a nomination for Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. “That connection is so much more alive and so much more vibrant than the regular lives they live . . . I think they’re this weird antagonistic lifeline for each other.”

Nominated for his portrayal of Danny’s younger brother Paul is newcomer Young Mazino, who delivers a breakout turn as a twentysomething, crypto-investing gamer who pursues a woman he meets online. “There’s a lot of myself in Paul,” Mazino tells Queue. “I think that Paul is someone I could have definitely become [if I had] had an older brother figure that was almost like a shadow looming over me and wanting me to stay in his insulated sphere of influence, and if I had never pursued art as a career.”

Also nominated from BEEF were supporting actors Joseph Lee, who plays Amy’s artist husband, George, and Maria Bello, who plays the wealthy Jordan, a businesswoman potentially interested in buying Amy’s company. Jake Schreier was nominated for directing the episode “The Great Fabricator” while Lee Sung Jin was nominated for directing the episode “ Figures of Light” and for writing the installment, “The Birds Don’t Sing, They Screech in Pain.”

Costume designers Helen Huang, Austin Wittick, YJ Hwang, and Mark Anthony Summers all received Emmy nominations for their contributions to the explosive series, helping to reveal the ways in which wealth, or its absence, define the worlds through which Danny and Amy move.

Ever since DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story premiered last September, the 10-episode limited series about the infamous serial killer has been breaking records and racking up accolades. Evan Peters, who delivers a haunting turn in the lead role, and Niecy Nash-Betts, who is captivating as Dahmer’s suspecting neighbor Glenda Cleveland, were recognized for their performances at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. The series as a whole has earned comparable acclaim, with nominations from the PGA Awards, Critics Choice Super Awards, and Golden Globes as well.

Add to that roster Emmy nominations for DAHMER’s stars and the series itself, which was recognized across a wide range of the Limited or Anthology Series or Movie categories. The nominations acknowledged the tremendous passion and commitment on the part of writer-producer-creators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, who worked for a decade to realize their vision for DAHMER, and of Peters and Nash-Betts for their indelible performances in the true crime drama. Additionally, Richard Jenkins was nominated for his supporting performance as Dahmer’s father. 

“It feels amazing to know that you were a part of storytelling that went around the world a couple of times,” says Nash-Betts. “We entered in trying to roll up our sleeves and unpack this work and went home with heavy hearts and tears in the corners of our eyes. Then the next thing you know it was like, ‘Wait, what just happened?’” 

Chronicling the life of the Milwaukee-area murderer — who claimed 17 victims, predominantly men of color, during the 70s, 80s, and 90s — DAHMER focuses on the tension between the deeply deranged killer and Cleveland, who attempted to alert the authorities numerous times about her neighbor’s concerning behavior, only to be routinely ignored. “I studied how he moved,” Peters shared in a roundtable conversation with Murphy and the cast of DAHMER. “He had a very straight back. He didn’t move his arms when he walked. It was important for me to get how that felt . . . I had a cigarette in my hand at all times, just trying to get all of these externals [to be] second nature.”

But the drama goes beyond any superficial retelling of what happened — its modern resonance is impossible to ignore. Notes Murphy: “This show is about a lot of things, but it really is about the power of white privilege. This person got away with this 10 times and counting, because of how he looked, who he was in society. It’s about homophobia. It’s about racism. It’s about all of these things.”

DAHMER was also nominated for Outstanding Casting, Costumes, Hairstyling, Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Picture Editing; and directors Carl Franklin and Paris Barclay earned nominations for their respective work behind the camera on episodes “Bad Meat” and “Silenced.”

Although Wednesday Addams, the staunchly nonconformist character at the heart of the hit series Wednesday, might greet word of the series’ 12 Emmy nominations with cool indifference, the show’s creators and showrunners, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and star Jenna Ortega were in a celebratory mood over the comedy’s strong showing. Wednesday was nominated for Outstanding Comedy, Ortega for Lead Actress in a Comedy, and executive producer Tim Burton for directing the series’ pilot, “Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe.”

That first episode sets the stage for a show that manages to be harrowing, hilarious, and moving as Ortega’s heroine enrolls at her parents’ alma mater, Nevermore Academy, a haven for outcasts of all kinds. There, she promptly finds herself contending with mean girls, brooding boys, and a monster on a murderous rampage, not to mention a meddlesome principal (Gwendoline Christie) and an extroverted werewolf roommate, Enid (Emma Myers), who becomes her best friend. Fortunately, Wednesday has her devoted hand, Thing, to help navigate the unfamiliar territory.

Production designer Mark Scruton (Gravity, No Time to Die), art director Adrian Curelea, and set decorator Robert Hepburn were nominated for the show’s singular sets, which channeled both the classic feeling of Charles Addams’s original New Yorker cartoons and the playful yet eerie visuals so strongly associated with Burton. “The Addams family has enjoyed so many iterations already, and, every time, it reinvents itself,” Scruton told Queue. “You can still keep the Addams family vibe and look, but it gives you the freedom to steer it in different directions.”

Burton’s longtime collaborator Colleen Atwood and her co-costume designers Mark Sutherland, Robin Soutar, Claudia Littlefield, and Adina Bucur also received Emmy nominations for their work on the show, which allowed Atwood to depict the heroine as a stylish adolescent, albeit one who is “allergic to color.” “I felt able to contemporize the character, to associate it with young girls today,” Atwood says. “She’d always sort of been this fixture of a girl — you really didn’t know her.

Wednesday was also nominated in the Stunt Coordination, Visual Effects, Makeup (non-prosthetic), Main Titles, and Cinematography categories. For composing his first-ever television score for Wednesday, the prolific Danny Elfman received his latest Emmy nominations (he has won previously for Main Title Theme Music and Music Direction) for both Original Main Title Theme Music and Outstanding Music Composition For A Series, alongside composer Chris Bacon.

Anyone who’s witnessed actor Elizabeth Debicki’s astonishing work as Diana, Princess of Wales won’t be surprised that the actor is now an Emmy nominee for her supporting performance on Peter Morgan’s prestige drama based on the English royal family. Portraying one of the twentieth century’s most iconic women, Debicki understood that her performance would be carefully examined. “It’s an enormous amount of pressure as an actor,” she told Queue, “because . . . there’s the responsibility that you feel to do this person’s legacy justice. That was, at times, pretty overwhelming."

The Crown was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for its fifth season, which unfolds during the early 1990s and sees Imelda Staunton’s Queen Elizabeth II endure the dramatic fragmenting of her family, a fire at her home of Windsor Castle, and increased scrutiny from the press.

In all, The Crown received six Emmy nominations including several for its stellar below-the-line craftsmanship. Adriano Goldman was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (One Hour) for the episode “Mou Mou,” while Amy Roberts, Sidonie Roberts, Christof Roche-Gordon were nominated for Outstanding Period Costumes for the same episode. Casting director Robert Sterne, hair and makeup designer Cate Hall, and assistant designer Emilie Young Mills were all nominated for their contributions to the stellar series as well. 

Says Hall: “Our philosophy on The Crown is to leave space for the audience to do some work, to believe that they can take the character to the next level. So instead of using prosthetics and building up layers, what we tried to do is to get the silhouette. If an actor turns around and faces the other way, do they look like the person?”

DEAD TO ME

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE

For her supporting role as Jen Harding in writer-creator Liz Feldman’s Dead to Me, Christina Applegate has earned Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild award nominations. The series’ third and final season was no exception, earning the actor her latest Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in the dark comedy. 

Applegate says goodbye to Jen and Dead to Me with a heartbreaking and humorous turn, as her character navigates her best friend Judy’s (Linda Cardellini) cancer scare, an unexpected pregnancy, and a complicated new relationship, all while dealing with the guilt and shame of killing Judy’s abusive fiancé Steve (James Marsden). She delivers the kind of sharp, sensitive, and ultimately singular performance we have come to know and love from the actor.

THE DIPLOMAT

KERI RUSSELL

When creator, writer, and producer Debora Cahn interrupted Keri Russell’s Christmas festivities to pitch her on starring as ambitious foreign service officer Kate Wyler in The Diplomat, Russell immediately jumped aboard. She was excited to discover a character who felt accomplished yet deeply flawed. “I read so many scripts where every time there’s a woman, she’s a brain surgeon and a professional trumpet player and she’s a great mom and she is funny and sassy and you’re like, ‘Shut up,’” Russell told Queue. “I want people to be less strong all the time.” 

Her fearless performance in the breakout hit has now netted the actor her fourth Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro channeled his passion for horror into a bravura anthology series that was recognized for its exemplary craftsmanship with nominations in seven categories. The chilling episode “Dreams in the Witch House” was nominated for the handiwork of costume designer Luis Sequeira and for its Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup courtesy of artists Mike Hill and Sean Sansom — all longtime collaborators of del Toro’s. Also nominated for this episode were assistant costume designer Ann Steel, costume supervisor Heather Crepp, and prosthetic designer Megan Many, as well as special makeup effects artists Shane Zander and Kyle Glencross. 

Production designer Tamara Deverell, whose professional relationship with del Toro stretches back to the director’s English-language debut, Mimic, was nominated for her work on the episode “Double Dare You,” and cinematographer Anastas Michos, who serves as director of photography was nominated for the episode “The Autopsy.” Cabinet of Curiosities also earned nominations in the categories Main Title Design and Original Main Title Theme Music, which was composed by Holly Amber Church. Art director Brandt Gordon and set director Shane Vieau were also nominated as part of the production design team for their work on the episode “Double Dare You.” 

President Barack Obama received his second Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Narrator category with the docuseries, Working: What We Do All Day, which sees Obama and his filmmaking partners interviewing employees in hospitality, home care, and tech to explore the challenges they face. The reigning champion in the category — he won last year for narrating Our Great National Parks — will be joined by fellow nominees Mahershala Ali for Chimp Empire and Morgan Freeman for Our Universe.

Not to be outdone, Michele Obama was nominated in the Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special category for The Light We Carry: Michelle Obama & Oprah Winfrey, in which the former first lady delves into the challenges and life lessons that shaped her second, best-selling book in an illuminating conversation with Winfrey. Also nominated in the category is My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which sees the longtime talk show host journey to Kyiv, Ukraine for an in-depth conversation with the leader of the war-torn country, filmed in a secret underground bunker. Says Letterman about Zelenskyy, “When you first learn about the guy, it seems impossible to not find him appealing, and his story to be astounding. You just don’t see actions and deeds like this, people behaving like this, on the right side of things.”

Netflix entered the live performance space this year with Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, which earned a nod in the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) category. Rock’s first special in five years addressed racist yoga pants, wokeness, and, of course, the Will Smith slap. Comic relief was in high supply, with three stand-up specials from Emmy-winning comedians — John Mulaney: Baby J, Trevor Noah: I Wish You Would, and Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer — nominated for Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-recorded). The Upshaws, which Sykes created alongside Regina Y. Hicks, also received two nominations, both for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Multi-Camera Comedy Series. 

The zany popular short-form comedy I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson was nominated for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series, and its star and creator, Tim Robinson, was nominated for Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series for his hilarious character work on the show, a category he won last year. Laughs and looks abounded on the latest season of Emily in Paris, and the romantic comedy garnered three Emmy nominations this year, including for Outstanding Contemporary Costumes. “It’s a bit of a calling — telling stories with clothes and making everyone feel beautiful,” said costume designer and Emmy-nominee Marilyn Fitoussi. “The challenge is not to repeat ourselves.”