The Actors Have a Lot to Say About Yellowstone Being Repeatedly Snubbed by Emmys
Yellowstone is far and away the most popular show on television. In fact, the season five premiere recently broke additional records as the debut generated more than 12 million viewers.
Yellowstone frequently overachieves and exceeds expectations in terms of viewership. Unfortunately, it also doesn't translate into the neo-western being popular with critics, namely during award season.
Yellowstone is infamously slept on and overlooked in terms of award nominations. Despite being the #1 show on TV, it rarely generates the same buzz as comparable shows, like Succession. In fact, Succession has garnered nearly 50 Emmy award nominations compared to Yellowstone, which has one.
The disparity has ignited a firestorm of comments. For some, Yellowstone is purposely blackmailed from prestigious awards, like the Emmys, because it's a "conservative" or "red-state" show. Meanwhile, critics argue that Yellowstone suffers from poor writing and execution, despite its incredible cinematography.
Regardless of your personal preference, there are plenty of actors from Yellowstone that have commented on the snub. Yellowstone has been a massive success since arriving in 2018 yet its lack of awards (even nominations) has rubbed some of the stars the wrong way.
Wes Bentley, who portrays Jamie Dutton in Yellowstone, told the Daily Mail: "I personally don't think awards validate anything. It's an honor, as they say, but as far as it saying whether [Yellowstone] is doing something good or not, that's not what that is."
"Many, many shows don't get that recognition that deserve it, and many do get [the award show recognition] that don't deserve it," Bentley expanded, "It's just the matter of opinion of each particular academy. I know [Yellowstone] is a success because the people are watching it."
Gil Birmingham, who plays tribal chairman Thomas Rainwater, added, "Hollywood is a fickle beast. I think that it's more important that [Yellowstone] has captured the hearts and minds of the audience and our fans."
Meanwhile, Jefferson White (Jamie from Yellowstone) is optimistic that the top awards like the Golden Globes and Emmys will begin to take notice in season five.
"I love these actors, and I think they are doing amazing work. I hope that other people recognize that, but also it really is true that the fans' response to it is the recognition that these actors deserve, and we are so lucky to have that."
The season four finale of Yellowstone drew 9.3 million viewers with the season five debut reaching even higher totals. In consequence, the popularity of Yellowstone appears to only be growing which makes the Emmy denial all the more obvious. And, the Emmys are not the only prestigious award show to snub the show. In fact, Yellowstone has yet to receive a Golden Globe nomination, too.
The lack of acknowledgement has transformed the creator of Yellowstone – Taylor Sheridan – into both a nemesis and cultural icon. Sheridan continues to produce more content for Paramount as well as attract some of the biggest names in Hollywood (Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Sam Elliot, etc). Yet he also receives criticism for being difficult to work with as well as dodging remarks about Donald Trump.
Still, that's no explanation for Yellowstone being purposely snubbed at the Emmys.