The nominees for the Emmy Awards were announced last week. The record holder for the number of nominations is the series “Descendants” from HBO. We’ll tell you why this show is so successful, what audiences and critics are talking about, and whether it can win the prize race.
The plot of the series “Heirs”
The story follows the wealthy Roy family, owners of Waystar Royko, one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. The head of the family, Logan Roy, is deteriorating in health. At this time, his four children – Connor, Kendall, Roman and Shiv – begin to share the father’s legacy even before his death. Each of them leads his own struggle for a dominant position in the family and company.
At the moment, 3 seasons of the series have been released, with a total of 39 episodes. During this time, Logan Roy never died. Although his death was planned by the writers in the first season, his character turned out to be so charismatic that it was decided to leave him to continue the story. In the last episode for today, all Roy’s children unite against the power of their father, and in retaliation he deprives them of the right to run the company.
Who played the Roy family
For a drama series, the choice of cast is almost as important as the script itself. Luckily, Descendants did a great job here too.
The role of the stern head of the family Logan Roy was played by British actor Brian Cox. He could be remembered by the audience thanks to his supporting roles in the Jason Bourne film series and Troy (2004). The place, in fact, the main character Kendell Roy went to Jeremy Strong, who recently became famous for the films The Gentlemen (2019) by Guy Ritchie and The Big Game (2017) by Aaron Sorkin. Roman Roy was played by Kieran Culkin, brother of Macaulay Culkin, who became no less famous actor than his brother, thanks to the filming of the cult film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010).
The rest of the Roy family was played by Alan Ruck, the star of the classic film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), and Sarah Snook, an obscure supporting actress.
The place of the showrunner of the series is taken by Jesse Armstrong, who had a hand in several seasons of the popular Black Mirror.
Feedback from viewers and critics
The series quickly gained worldwide popularity, and with each new season, its fame only grew.
Viewers call The Heirs one of the best TV shows of all time. Many people really liked the drama around the children of the family, each of whom is trying to get his father’s love, but never achieves it. Commentators also write that they were pleasantly surprised that the series turned out to be not only a serious drama, but also a very funny comedy about arrogant rich people. Finally, almost all viewers noted how amazingly all the characters were played, which, it would seem, is impossible to empathize with.
The profile press was also delighted with the series. Many of them, following the audience, noted a rare combination of serious drama and a fairly good comedy, and even created on such a difficult topic as relationships in rich families. Just an excerpt from one of hundreds of positive reviews from critics: “The show touches a nerve despite its melancholy setting. It is families like Roy and others like them who are increasingly accused by the public of all the sins of the world. But by some miracle, HBO managed to create a show that the viewer actually wants to watch, about the anxieties of people they hate.
Will the show win an Emmy?
Yes, it is quite likely.
“Heirs” was nominated in 8 categories, including the main one for itself – “Best Drama Series”. In 2020, they have already won in 2 nominations, so obviously the judges like the series. Also hinting at the victory is the excellent performance of the series at the Golden Globe, where the show was nominated in 5 categories and won in 3, including the main one.
Although nothing guarantees the victory of the actors of the series in acting nominations, since the competition there develops a little according to other laws, but now we can say that “The Heirs” is the most likely contender for this year’s Emmy.
Descendants season 4 release date
At the moment, work on the 4th season of the series is confirmed, but there is no concrete information about the release date or anything else yet. All that is known for certain is that its filming has already started at the end of June this year in New York and that it will have 10 episodes. But in general, too little time has passed since the end of season 3 for the creators to share more significant information.