There's a Simple Reason Game of Thrones Isn't Nominated for Any Emmys This Year

Looking over the nominees for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, you may notice something odd: Game of Thrones, the most awarded scripted primetime show in Emmys history and the Outstanding Drama Series winner the past two years, isn't nominated for anything.

You may be thinking, "Season 7 had a lot of problems, but was it really that bad?"

Well, there's a very simple explanation for why Game of Thrones wasn't nominated: it wasn't eligible. The Emmys eligibility period is from June 1 to May 30 every year (for example, this year's eligibility period was from June 1, 2016, to May 31, 2017). Game of Thrones Season 7 premiered on July 16, 2017. It will be eligible for the 70th Primetime Emmys, and it will surely pick up a lot of nominations then.

Previous seasons debuted in April, which is why it feels like Game of Thrones should be nominated.

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A show is eligible in the timeframe if more than half of its episodes of the season air. This means that critical darling Twin Peaks also isn't eligible this year because although it premiered and aired four episodes within the eligibility period, the majority of its episodes aired in the 2018 eligibility period. So look for it to earn some noms next year.

The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards air Sunday, Sept. 17 at 8/7c on CBS.

(Full disclosure: TV Guide and Showtime are both owned by CBS.)