OPINION - Stars collided for night of Emmys award drama

A galaxy of glittering stars were on display at last night’s Emmy Awards in Los Angeles (with Amanda Seyfried taking sparkle very seriously with her sequin-tastic Armani Privé frock), evidently thrilled at the still relatively novel prospect of gathering together in a riot of mutual congratulation.

Even before the ceremony started, the clear frontrunner was inheritance drama Succession, which scooped 25 nominations for its third season. It duly won Best Drama Series for the second time.

Despite the show’s dominance of the pre-Emmy airwaves, the big winner of the night was social satire The White Lotus, which swept the board by bagging all its nominated categories, including Outstanding Limited Series as well as gongs for directing and writing.

Though plenty of Brits were up for awards — Nicholas Hoult, Colin Firth and Jodie Comer among them — few made it onto the stage, though Matthew Macfadyen did win Best Supporting Actor, again for Succession.

The superstars of the night though were the industry’s queens: Jennifer Coolidge hogged the stage as she accepted the award for her role in The White Lotus, to the point where she started dancing as the show attempted to play her off. And let’s not forget Zendaya, who became the youngest person to win Best Drama Actress twice, for her role in teen show Euphoria.

The night’s emotional climax, though, arguably came when Sheryl Lee Ralph of Abbott Elementary won the gong (her first) for Best Supporting Actress. She gave a stunning rendition of jazz song Endangered Species, before adding: “This is what not giving up on yourself looks like.” Naturally, this went down a storm: cue hankies all around.

And, of course, there was Squid Game. The bloody (and, let’s be honest, absolutely bonkers) TV thriller we all lapped up last year broke records last night, as its star Lee Jung-jae scooped the award for Lead Actor in a Drama Series — the first Asian actor to do so — and Hwang Dong-hyuk became the first Asian director to win for directing a drama series.

And in reliable awards season fashion, was there a joke about the age of Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriends? You bet. Viva les Emmys. Hollywood is back.