Nominations for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

Earlier this morning, the nominations for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were announced, where HBO's "Watchmen" surprisingly led the way with 26 nominations, easily topping the Limited Series by more than double its closest competitor ("Mrs. America" with 10). "Succession" and "Ozark" lead the way for Drama Series with 18 each, while "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" dominated the Comedies with 20.

As far as surprises go, I'd have to say the biggest was probably seeing both Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks snubbed for "Better Call Saul," where they both usually nab a spot in their respective categories. I would say that perhaps the Television Academy is cooling towards the show, but seeing as how they've yet to award it a single Emmy over its entire run, and only gave it seven nods for the latest season, it's hard to say why they were both suddenly dropped.

It was rather unfortunate to see "The Great" left out of a number of Comedy categories, including Series, Actress (Elle Fanning), and Supporting Actor (Nicholas Hoult). It's particularly strange because the show earned two major nods for Writing and Directing, so they clearly like the show, which only makes it more puzzling as to how it got left out of the other major categories.

The biggest surprise in the Drama section is obviously the inclusion of "The Mandalorian," the outstanding "Star Wars"-based show on Disney+. It racked up an impressive 15 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actor for Giancarlo Espisito (who also got a nod for "Better Call Saul").

Meanwhile, in the Comedies, it's rather interesting to note that "Schitt's Creek," which made a great showing with 15 nods, was the only program to get all of the major nominations (Series, Directing, Writing, and Acting), so it would appear to be the one to beat. Drama appears to be between "Succession" and "Ozark," though with the former having already won several major awards for its most recent season, it would appear to have the edge. Both shows have all of the major nods, but it's worth noting that the excellent "The Crown" does as well, so it shouldn't be counted out. As for Limited Series, the nominations would appear to say that "Watchmen" is by far the most popular pick.

We'll just have to wait until the night of the ceremony (whatever form it may take) on Sunday, September 20th to find out.

In the meantime, please see below for a partial list of the major nominations. You can also find a complete list of the nominations as a PDF here.

Outstanding Drama Series

Better Call Saul

The Crown

The Handmaid's Tale

Killing Eve

The Mandalorian

Ozark

Stranger Things

Succession

Outstanding Comedy Series

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Dead to Me

The Good Place

Insecure

The Kominsky Method

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Schitt's Creek

What We Do in the Shadows

Lead Actor in a Drama

Jason Bateman, Ozark

Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us

Steve Carell, The Morning Show

Brian Cox, Succession

Billy Porter, Pose

Jeremy Strong, Succession

Lead Actress in a Drama

Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show

Olivia Colman, The Crown

Jodie Comer, Killing Eve

Laura Linney, Ozark

Sandra Oh, Killing Eve

Zendaya, Euphoria

Supporting Actor in a Drama

Nicholas Braun, Succession

Billy Curdup, The Morning Show

Kieran Culkin, Succession

Mark Duplass, The Morning Show

Giancarlo Espisito, Better Call Saul

Matthew Macfadyen, Succession

Bradley Whitford, The Handmaid's Tale

Jeffrey Wright, Westworld

Supporting Actress in a Drama

Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown

Laura Dern, Big Little Lies

Julia Garner, Ozark

Thandie Newton, Westworld

Fiona Shaw, Killing Eve

Sarah Snook, Succession

Merly Streep, Big Little Lies

Samira Wiley, The Handmaid's Tale

Lead Actor in a Comedy

Anthony Andrson, black-ish

Don Cheadle, Black Monday

Ted Danson, The Good Place

Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method

Eugene Levy, Schitt's Creek

Ramy Youssef, Ramy

Lead Actress in a Comedy

Christina Applegate, Dead to Me

Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Linda Cardellini, Dead to Me

Catherine O'Hara, Schitt's Creek

Issa Rae, Insecure

Tracee Ellis Ross, black-ish

Supporting Actor in a Comedy

Mahershala Ali, Ramy

Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method

Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Sterling K. Brown, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

William Jackson Harper, The Good Place

Daniel Levy, Schitt's Creek

Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live

Supporting Actress in a Comedy

Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

D'Arcy Carden, The Good Place

Betty Gilpin, GLOW

Marin Hinkle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Kate McKinnon, Saturday Night Live

Annie Murphy, Schitt's Creek

Yvonne Orki, Insecure

Cecily Strong, Saturday Night Live

Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.