LOS ANGELES — Pedro Pascal and Melanie Lynskey are up for two of the most coveted Emmy Awards on Jan. 15, but both are also among this weekend's nominees for the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Pascal, nominated for best actor in a drama for “The Last of Us,” is up for best guest actor in a comedy series for hosting “Saturday Night Live” and for his narration of a CNN documentary about the Patagonia.
Lynskey, nominated for best actress in a drama for “Yellowjackets,” is up for best guest actress in a drama for her appearance in an episode of Pascal’s “The Last of Us.” This series and “Succession” are the two best Emmy Award nominees. In fact, all dozen nominees in the Lynskey and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama categories come from both HBO shows.
The Saturday and Sunday ceremonies are a precursor to the main Emmy ceremony which will air at 8 p.m. ET on January 15 on Fox, with “blackish” star Anthony Anderson as host. Like the main show, the creative arts ceremonies arrive four months late due to strikes by Hollywood writers and actors.
This weekend, nearly 100 trophies are awarded during two marathon sessions which are, in general, an opportunity for lesser-known players, from hairdressers to stuntmen, to get on the podium. But a handful of awards each year recognize major names among their nominees.
Among them this year is Barack Obama, who can repeat as best narrator, this time for adding his voice to the Netflix documentary series, “Working: What We Do All Day”, he is part of a category of stars that includes also Morgan Freeman, Angela Bassett and Pascal. (The former president previously won for narrating a Netflix series about national parks.)
Michelle Obama is also nominated for an Emmy alongside Oprah Winfrey. Each is nominated for best nonfiction series or animated special for their Netflix show “The Light We Carry.”
It would be Michelle Obama's first, while Winfrey would add a second primetime Emmy on top of her 18 daytime Emmys. Both “Working” and “The Light We Carry” come from the Obamas' production company, Higher Ground.