The 2024 Emmy Nominations Make History With Its Record-Breaking Indigenous Representation
'Reservation Dogs' and Native actresses received long-overdue love from the Television Academy.
The 2024 Emmy nominations are out—and Indigenous actors are the breakout stars of the day.
On Wednesday, July 17, the Television Academy announced the series and performers being honored at this year's awards ceremony on September 15—and the nominations included several history-making nominations for Indigenous actors and stories. Reservation Dogs, which was a groundbreaking show for Indigenous representation, also earned overdue praise for its third and final season, which wrapped up in September 2023.
Reservation Dogs, the beloved yet underrated series about four teenagers growing up on an Oklahoma reservation, received nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who played Bear Smallhill on the show. Despite receiving constant praise from critics throughout its run, this marks the first time that the FX on Hulu comedy co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi was recognized by the Academy beyond its one nomination for sound editing in 2023.
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear Smallhill on Reservation Dogs season 3.
Reservation Dogs received a total of four nods this year (also including editing and cinematography), giving the comedy—which was the first American series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors, and a largely Indigenous cast and crew—some long-awaited recognition.
Meanwhile, the Supporting Actress in a Limited Series category sports two history-making nominations. Lily Gladstone picked up an honor for her role as Officer Cam Bentland in Hulu's Under the Bridge. Her nod comes just several months after she also made historical strides at this year's Oscars with her Best Actress nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon.
Joining Gladstone in the category is actress and professional boxer Kali Reis, who was nominated for her co-starring role as Trooper Evangeline Navarro in HBO's True Detective: Night Country.
Lily Gladstone as Officer Cam Bentland in Under the Bridge.
Gladstone, Reis, and Woon-A-Tai all became the first-ever Indigenous actors nominated in their respective categories.
Before this landmark year for Indigenous representation, only one Native American person had ever been nominated for an Emmy in any acting category. In 2007, August Schellenberg received a Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie nom for his performance as Sitting Bull in the HBO television movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Kali Reis as Trooper Evangeline Navarro in True Detective: Night Country.
Those weren't the only diversity wins to come out of the 2024 Emmy nominations.
FX's Japanese historical epic Shōgun received 25 nominations—the most for any program this year—including acting nods for stars Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada. Meanwhile, Sofía Vergara is now the first Latina actress up for Lead Actress In Limited Series for Griselda, and Selena Gomez is the most-nominated Latina producer in comedy ever.
Netflix's surprise-hit miniseries Baby Reindeer also picked up several nominations, including a Supporting Actress in a Limited Series nomination for Nava Mau, who is the first trans woman in Emmy history to be recognized in the category. Mau is the second trans woman nominated in Emmys history after Laverne Cox's nod for Orange Is the New Black in 2014.
The 2024 Emmys, honoring TV from the June 2023 to May 2024 season, airs live on ABC on Sunday, Sept. 15, from the Peacock Theater in L.A.
