Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has some words for Emmy voters.
The mystery of why it is taking so long for George R.R. Martin to finish Winds of Winter, the sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, has officially been solved. It turns out Martin is a major TV junkie, just like the rest of us. In a long and quite frankly adorably nerdy blog post, Martin thanked the Emmys for giving Game of Thrones an astonishing 24 nominations, and then began listing off all of the other great shows that were snubbed.
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His main source of frustration was the total lack of love for Outlander, and fans of the show most definitely feel his pain. “And Outlander, how in the world did they overlook Outlander, with its music and its costumes and its cinematography and the incredible performances of its three leads (especially Tobias Menzies in his double role)?” Martin asked.
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While Martin’s beloved Outlander gets the lion’s share of his pain, the author and Game of Thrones producer also took the Academy to task for overlooking Masters of Sex, The Knick, Halt and Catch Fire, The Vikings, Justified, The Big Bang Theory and Nick Offerman’s final year of playing Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation. Martin’s laundry list of snubs even included his own show, which he pointed out has only won one major acting award (Peter Dinklage nabbed a Best Supporting Actor trophy back in 2011).
His point wasn’t to criticize the Television Academy but rather to urge them to take genre fare seriously by recognizing that the work being done on Outlander is just as amazing as the work being done on more standard Emmy bait. In a perfect world, all the shows Martin championed would have landed nominations, along with Game of Thrones stars Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and Natalie Dormer, all of whom were amazing in Season 5. Sadly, the Emmys are always a few steps behind, but it is heartening to know that an industry insider is as passionate about TV as the fans. Martin is an Emmy voter himself, which means he is likely doing his part to fix the problem.
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Seriously, though, as much as it pains me to say this as a diehard TV junkie myself: less TV, more writing, Martin! Game of Thrones needs some fresh material, and so does my bookshelf. After that, you can start marathoning Penny Dreadful (yet another great genre show that needs all the support it can get).
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