Succession sweeps the board at Emmys 2024: Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin earn top honors while show earns best drama series win… while The Bear mauls competition in comedy categories

Succession and restaurant dramedy The Bear dominated the Emmy Awards on Monday, earning six trophies each as Hollywood handed out its top accolades for television at a glitzy ceremony which featured a star-studded red carpet.

The widely-acclaimed HBO series about the Roy family’s high-stakes battle for control of a global business empire, won the prestigious Best Drama prize for its fourth and final season.

The Bear was named best comedy at a ceremony that was delayed by four months because of last year’s labor turmoil in Hollywood. Road rage drama Beef, starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, claimed Best Limited Series.

Succession was named best drama series for the third time while Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, and Matthew Macfadyen won acting trophies for their roles as part of the wealthy but miserable Roy family.

The on-screen siblings Sarah and Kieran led the highly-popular series to a massive night as the 36-year-old Aussie actress and 41-year-old American actor were crowned in the Lead Actress and Actor in a Drama Series categories, respectively, before the series as a whole earned top honor Best Drama Series in its final season. 

Sarah faced heavy-competition including: ‘Sharon Horgan – Bad Sisters, Melanie Lynskey – Yellowjackets, Elisabeth Moss – The Handmaid’s Tale, Bella Ramsey – The Last of Us, and Keri Russell – The Diplomat.

During her emotional acceptance speech she said: ‘Wow. Thanks to everyone who voted and for loving the show as much as we did as a cast making it and as a crew making it. 

‘We put our all into it and the bar was set so high. I think that’s what spurred us on from every department we all gave it our best, led by Jesse and mark and my cast who I love so much and I’m going to miss.’

The talented actress went on to thank her family and even concluded by credit the child she welcomed in May 2023 as she filmed the final season of Succession while pregnant.

Sarah concluded: ‘ To my family, to my mom and dad, I love you. Thank you for having a dress-up box when I was a kid. This is where it gets you. Also the biggest thank you is to someone who won’t understand anything I’m saying at the moment, but I carried her with me in this last season and really it was her who carried It’s very easy to act when you’re pregnant, because you have hormones raging.

‘It was the proximity of her life growing inside me that gave me the strength to do this and this performance. I love you so much and it’s all for you from here on out. Thank you.’ 

Her character is Siobhan ‘Shiv’ Roy who is Logan’s youngest child and only daughter. A left-leaning political fixer, she worked for a time for presidential candidate Gil Eavis, whose political views clash with Waystar. She eventually leaves politics to focus on building a future at Waystar. 

Meanwhile Kieran beat out some of his castmates including Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong in addition to: Jeff Bridges – The Old Man, Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul, and Pedro Pascal – The Last of Us. 

Kieran dropped his tuxedo jacket on the floor behind him and even got uncharacteristically emotional during his speech as he said: ‘Don’t pick it up. I couldn’t do the button. I wasted all my time hugging everybody. I love you all so much, especially everyone in the cast, every single one. Thank you so much. I love you. I’m not going to have any time. I don’t want to get yelled at. 

‘Got to thank Jesse Armstrong for being a brilliant writer, showrunner and gentleman. Thank you for Succession. Thank you for everything. I have to switch to the personal really fast. I have to thank my mom for giving me life and my childhood, which was great. So thank you for that.’

Kieran’s character Roman Roy is the youngest brother in the family and twin to Shiv and is known for being immature and does not take responsibilities seriously and often finds himself lacking the common sense his father requires of him, however, he also vies to be head of Waystar.

Earlier in the night, Matthew Macfadyen earned the first Emmy win for Succession at the event as he earned Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

He beat out a talented feed including: F Murray Abraham – The White Lotus, Nicholas Braun – Succession, Michael Imperioli – The White Lotus, Theo James – The White Lotus, Alan Ruck – Succession, Will Sharpe, The White Lotus, and Alexander Skarsgård, Succession.

The 49-year-old British veteran actor made sure to thank his on-screen partners Sarah Snook and Nicholas Braun in addition to his real-life wife Keeley Hawes.

He said:  ‘Thank you so much to the television academy and to the entire Succession family, directors, Whiters, producers, cast and crew, our peerless crew, every department often unsung, always brilliant. I must make special mention of my onscreen wife Sarah Snook and my other onscreen wife Nicholas Braun. 

‘Acting with you has been one of the most wonderful things in my career. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Sarah. It’s been a joy. Thank you to my actual wife Keely. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor. Thank you.’ 

His character Tom Wambsgans is the power hungry husband to Shiv Roy, who enjoys the power that comes with being married into the media mogul family, and runs conservative news network ATN. 

Meanwhile, The Bear enjoyed a similar night to Succession as the FX series mauled the competition including the Best Comedy Series prize.

Jeremy Allen White took home Best Actor in a Comedy Series: Jeremy Allen White while castmates Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach earned Supporting Actress and Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively.

 The 32-year-old actor cooked the competition which included: Bill Hader – Barry, Jason Segel – Shrinking, Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building, and Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso.

During his acceptance speech he said: ‘Thank you, thank you. I’m so proud. I’m so full of gratitude to be standing in front of you all. I love the show so much. It filled me up. It gave me a passion, set a fire in me to match the beautiful work. I love you guys. 

‘Thank you, thank you, thank you. The beautiful cast and beautiful crew I get to share a space and stage with. My parents. I love you, thank you for your support, dad. I love you so much.’

Jeremy shed a little bit of light on her personal life as he split with wife of four years Addison Timlin last year as the two share two daughters together; five-year-old Ezer and three-year-old Dolores.

He concluded his speech:  ‘Thank you so much. Thank you to all those who have stayed close to me, especially in this past year. You know who you are. I love you, I love you. Thank you for believing in me when I had trouble believing in myself. I love you. 

‘And Ezer and Dolores, I love you so much. This is for you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, guys.’

Jeremy portrays Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto as a young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop only to turn it into a fine dining restaurant on a quest for a Michelin star. 

Ayo Edebiri was the first person crowned on television’s biggest night as the 28-year-old actress earned the Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series award for her work on The Bear.

She beat out an impressive field including: Alex Bornstein – The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Janelle James – Abbott Elementary, Sheryl Lee Ralph – Abbott Elementary, Juno Temple – Ted Lasso, Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso, and Jessica Williams – Shrinking.

Ayo made sure to note the amount of time for her acceptance speech as she began it by saying: ‘Hi. I have 43 seconds. Okay. I’m so incredibly grateful for this for so many reasons. But the main one, this is a show about family and found family and real family.’

She then dedicated the win to her parents who were in attendance to support her. 

The talented star continued: ‘My parents are here tonight. I’m making them sit kind of far away from me, because I’m a bad kid. But I love you guys so much. Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and black and proud of all of that. 

‘I just love you so much. It’s a dream to emigrate to this country and have your child be like, “I want to do improv.” Thank you so much. This means the world. Thank you.’

In the critically-acclaimed series Ayo portrays Sydney Adamu who is a talented young chef who joins The Bear (formally The Beef) as its new sous chef under Carmy.

She was presented with the award by Christina Applegate who was given a standing ovation amid her multiple sclerosis (MS) battle in a touching moment. 

Meanwhile Ebon Moss-Bachrach won Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series over: Anthony Carrigan – Barry, Phil Dunster – Ted Lasso, Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso, James Marsden – Jury Duty, Tyler James Williams – Abbott Elementary, and Henry Winkler – Barry.

During his acceptance speech the 45-year-old actor said: ‘Wow. Okay. Thank you very much, Emmy academy, television academy. I don’t know. This job is such a gift preponderate it’s such a privilege to work with these wonderful actors. We have the best crew. We have this incredible Chicago crew, led by our amazing — thank you for trusting me with this part. 

‘Thank you Jeannie Bachrach for making this beautiful group that I get to play with all the time. Thank you Stephanie Ritz. Thank you Brian noskoff. Thank you. I love you so much. Thank you Sasha. All right. See you guys. Thanks.’ 

 Ebon’s character Richard ‘Richie’ Jermovich is the de facto manager of the restaurants in The Bear who has a contentious relationship with Carmy due to his relationship with the chef’s late older brother Michael.

Ali Wong and Steven Yeun led Beef to an epic night  as the 41-year-old actress and 40-year-old actor were presented with the Lead Actress and Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie awards, respectively, as their Netflix series also earned top honor Best Limited Series.

Ali triumphed over the likes of: Lizzy Caplan – Fleishman Is in Trouble, Jessica Chastain – George & Tammy, Dominique Fishback – Swarm, Kathryn Hahn – Tiny Beautiful Things, and Riley Keough, Daisy Jones and the Six.

During her acceptance speech she said: ‘Wow. I have to, of course, thank Sonny and Steven and Jake, Maria, Joe, young, the rest of the incredible talented cast and crew of Beef. I wouldn’t be standing here without my amazing parents, my mother and my father, who I so wish was alive to share this moment with me, my hilarious father who loved me unconditionally and taught me the value of failure. 

‘To my beautiful daughters Mari and Nikki, you are my everything. Thank you for inspiring me. This is for you. Thank you.’

Just before that it was Steven’s moment as he won over: Taron Egerton – Black Bird, Kumail Nanjiani – Welcome the Chippendales, Evan Peters – Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Daniel Radcliffe – Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and Michael Shannon – George & Tammy.

He had a very touching acceptance speech as he said: ‘Well, thank you for this. Thank you for this immense honor and blessing. Man, I have a lot of people to thank, a lot of people that looked out for me on my way to even get to be in this business. I want to thank sunny, Ali, Jake, our incredible cast and crew. Thank you to A-24, Netflix. Thank you to Mike and Peter. 

‘I want to thank Andrew Cooper for talking to me one night. Our incredible onset photographer, a legend. There were days when it was difficult to live in Danny’s skin. Sometimes I wanted to judge him. Sometimes I wanted to make fun of him. He pulled me aside and he’s like, never bail on Danny. Thanks. I want to say thank you to Danny for teaching me that judgment and shame is a lonely place, but compassion and grace is where we can all meet.  I’m grateful to my wife Jo. Thank you always. Jude, Ruth, mom, dad, Brian, family, I love you. Thank you.’

 The highly-popular Netflix series was centered around Ali and Steven’s characters who let a road rage incident burrow into their minds and slowly consume their every thought and action.

The twosome led the highly-popular Netflix series to the coveted Best Limited Series award over Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Daisy Jones and the Six, Fleishman Is in Trouble, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Jennifer Coolidge continued her successful run on the White Lotus as she won  Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

The 62-year-old actress beat out: 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, and Simona Tabasco – The White Lotus.

She took to the microphone to say: ‘Wow. Thank you. You know, I just want to say — I have to put this down. I still don’t have the strength. I got the hook last year, this giant hook comes out and takes you away. I’m going to be so fast. Mike White, thank you for this. Mike White. 

‘Thank you for giving me this opportunity to play this incredible character. He says I’m definitely dead, so I’m going along with it. No. It’s running out. I just want to thank all the evil gays.’

Anthony Anderson’s mother had been tasked with keeping the speeches at their allotted time as she interrupted  Jennifer’s speech to tell her to wrap it up.

She concluded: ‘Guess what? One more thing. I love you too. I just want to say one last thing. I had a little dream in my little town and everyone said it was impractical and far-fetched. It did happen after all. So don’t give up on your dream.’

Arguably the most emotional moment of the night came when Niecy Nash-Betts earned  Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie for her work in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

The 53-year-old acting veteran triumphed over Annaleigh Ashford – Welcome to Chippendales, Maria Bello – Beef, Claire Danes – Fleishman is in Trouble, Juliette Lewis – Welcome to Chippendales, and Camila Morrone – Daisy Jones & the Six.

Niecy got the crowd on their feet as she emotionally said: ‘I’m a winner, baby! Thank you to the most high for this divine moment. Thank you, Ryan Murphy for seeing me. Evan Peters, I love you. Netflix. Every single person who voted for me. Thank you. My better half, who picked me up when I was gutted from this work. Thank you. 

‘I want to thank me. For believing in me and doing what they said I could not do. I want to say to myself in front of all you beautiful people, go, girl, with you bad self. You did that. Finally, I accept this award on behalf of every black and brown woman who have gone unheard, yet overpoliced, like Glenda Cleveland, like Sandra Bland, like Breonna Taylor. I’m going to do it until the day I die. Momma, I won!’

In the American true crime anthology series she portrays Glenda Cleveland who is the neighbor to infamous serial killer Jefferey Dahmer. 

Another emotional moment came when Quinta Brunson tearfully accepted the Best Actress in a Comedy Series gong for her work in Abbott Elementary.

The 34-year-old star won over Christina Applegate – Dead to Me, Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, Natasha Lyonne – Poker Face, and Jenna Ortega – Wednesday.

She had tears running down her face and even had to stop to compose herself a few times during her speech which began: ‘Wow. Thank you so much. I don’t even know. I’m so emotional. Like the Carol Burnett of it all. Thank you so much. 

‘I love making Abbott Elementary so much. And I am so happy to be able to live my dream and act out comedy. I say that every time. I just love comedy so much. I’m so happy to be able to get this. I didn’t prepare anything, because I just didn’t think — oh god. I love my mom, my dad, my sisters, my brothers, my entire family so much. I love my husband. I’m so happy. I love my cast. I love Abbott Elementary. Thank you so much.’

The highly-popular ABC sitcom follows a group of teachers brought together in one of the worst public schools in the country, simply because they love teaching.

The 75th Emmy Awards took place at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles on Monday evening.

The strike-delayed ceremony gathers Hollywood’s biggest stars as they celebrate the best of primetime television over the year of 2023.

The awards ceremony normally occurs in September but was delayed because writers and actors were on strike at the time last year.

Due to the industry strikes, the Emmys were postponed to 2024 on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the United States and arrives in the heels of the Golden Globes.

The first Emmy Award was held back in 1949 to celebrate the artistic and technical merit for the television industry.