Netflix's 'The Queen's Gambit' claims top prize, wins Emmy for outstanding limited series
Sep 20, 2021
Los Angeles (California) [US], September 20 : That's checkmate for Netflix's popular series 'The Queen's Gambit'. The show, which features actor Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead, bagged the ultimate prize -- the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.
It was the show's 11th Emmy win this year, including Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, which director Scott Frank took home earlier in the ceremony.
'The Queen's Gambit' beat out 'WandaVision', 'I May Destroy You', 'The Underground Railroad', and 'Mare of Easttown'.
'The Queen's Gambit' was already leading at the Creative Emmys with a total of nine wins, making the chess drama's nabbing of the top trophy a no-brainer.
Taking the mic alongside the cast and Frank, 'The Queen's Gambit' EP William Horberg, said, "The one thing that no algorithm can predict, that no billion dollar budget can manufacture is word of mouth. This award is for the fans who told their friends and who became fans who told their friends, 'Dude, you gotta watch the orphan girl chess drama.'"
As per Deadline, Horberg also gave a shoutout to Netflix, "You did the rarest thing of all these days, you took a chance on risky material and you trusted the filmmakers."
And to Anya Taylor-Joy, Horberg said, "What can I say? You brought the sexy back to chess, and you inspired a whole generation of girls and young women to realize that patriarchy has no defense against our queens."
One of the breakout series of the pandemic, 'The Queen's Gambit' is an adaptation of Walter Tevis' 1983 novel and starred Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, an orphan with a prodigious talent for chess.
The seven-episode series followed Beth as she fought her way up through the male-dominated world of chess, and was Netflix's most-watched miniseries to date.
The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Event Deck at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles, California. The nominations were announced on July 13 this year by Ron and Jasmine Cephas Jones during a virtual event.
The ceremony was hosted by Cedric the Entertainer.
