There have been a few unexpected twists with this year's Emmy nominations, but along with the typical snubs came a different type of surprise: a whole new awards category. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which presents the Emmys, will award its first ever statuettes for Outstanding Stunt Performance at the 73rd annual ceremony in September.
The new award is designed to recognize an individual or team of stunt performers, distinguishing it from the stunt coordination categories, first introduced in 2002. This year's nominees are Jahnel Curfman, Julia Maggio, John Cihangir, and Marc Canonizado for their work on Netflix's Cobra Kai; Mens-Sana Tamakloe for his work on AMC+'s Gangs of London; Janeshia Adams-Ginyard for her work on HBO's Lovecraft Country; John Nania, Aaron Toney, and Justin Eaton for their work on Disney+'s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier; and Lateef Crowder for his work on Disney+'s The Mandalorian. This marks the first Emmy nomination for all performers aside from Curfman, who was previously nominated in the Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or a Variety Program category in 2019, also for her work on Cobra Kai.
Industry awards for stunt peformers are rare, with the Screen Actors Guild's Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble categories making up the bulk of the accolades. As television's most prestigious award, the Emmys' new category goes a long way to giving the men and women behind some of television's most memorable stunts their due respect. "This new award will recognize stunt performers themselves; previously, there have only been stunt coordination categories," the Academy told Variety. "The award will acknowledge actual stunt artists whose performances across the global television medium are integral to storytelling each season. Team entries will be capped at four entrants."
With so many television shows relying on stunts to sell drama (and comedy), it's high time the Emmys created such a category. Stunt performers put their bodies through pain and great risk for our entertainment, acknowledging their performance only seems right. The cap of four entrants lends this award added prestige, and helps distinguish it from the Screen Actors Guild's Stunt Ensemble categories, where ensembles often numbered in the dozens (indeed, many of this year's Emmy nominiees shared the 2020 Screen Actors Guild award for their work on Avengers: Endgame). As such a new category, it's difficult to anticipate how the Academy will ultimately bestow the award upon, but with a list of nominees as impressive as this one, they couldn't really go wrong.
The 73rd Emmy Awards will air on CBS on September 19 at 8 PM.