Vendors for the 75th Primetime Emmys have been told that the ceremony will not air on September 18 — the first time that there has been official word that the date has been pushed, Variety has learned exclusively.
The news was expected, amid Hollywood’s shutdown with the writers and actors on strike. But until now, the TV Academy and Fox have kept the telecast’s originally scheduled Sept. 18 date as a placeholder. However, with that date now less than two months away, vendors, producers and others involved with the event needed to start being informed now that their services will need to be pushed. (Same for the Creative Arts Emmys, originally slated to take place on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.)
This now marks the first time the Emmys have been postponed since 2001. That year, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks pushed the Emmy date, initial military action in Afghanistan pushed the telecast again, into November. At that point, a subdued Emmy telecast took place in a smaller venue (the now-demolished Schubert Theatre in Century City).
While an exact date has not been determined (and isn’t expected to be announced until early August), Variety has previously reported that Fox is aiming to air the show in January 2024, while the TV Academy had been pushing for a November date. January would put the Emmys right in the middle of film awards season, as well as guild awards honoring shows under a different eligibility time frame. But as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue with no resolution in sight, even November may be too soon for this year’s ceremony — which is why January may now be the safer option.
“Like the rest of the industry, we hope there will be an equitable and timely resolution for all parties in the current guild negotiations. We continue to monitor the situation closely with our partners at Fox and will advise if and when there is an update available,” the TV Academy said last week in a statement.
The Television Academy also previously confirmed that it would keep its Phase 2 calendar intact, meaning final-round voting for the 75th Primetime Emmys is still taking place between August 17 and August 28 (ending at 10 p.m. PT). That means that Phase 2 campaigning will have to move forward without the presence of any of the nominated actors or writers.
Nominations were announced on July 12, less than 48 hours before the SAG-AFTRA strike began, effectively halting all production and promotion in the entertainment industry.
Per SAG-AFTRA guidelines, actors are not allowed to promote their shows or movies during the strike; same goes for WGA guidelines. With writers forbidden from working during the strike, a monologue and jokes could not be written for the telecast’s host and presenters.
A host has not been named yet for the upcoming Emmys, but a producer has: Jesse Collins Entertainment.
HBO dominated the nominations with “Succession” taking the lead (27 nominations), followed by “The Last of Us” (24) and “The White Lotus” (23). On the comedy side, Apple’s “Ted Lasso” was the fourth most nominated show was 21 nods and Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” nabbed 14. The hit FX/Hulu series “The Bear” broke into the race with 13 nominations, and Netflix fared well with “Beef” (13) “Dahmer” (13) and “Wednesday” (12). Shows with at least five nominations include HBO’s “Barry” (11), Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” (11), Amazon’s “Daisy Jones and The Six (9), ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” (8), AMC’s “Better Call Saul” (7) and Disney+’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi” (5).