The irony that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau would have probably given his right arm for the best supporting actor Emmy handed out in Los Angeles on Sunday night will not be lost on the legions of fans and media who lamented his nomination snub earlier in the summer.
The Danish actor was widely praised for his portrayal of Jaime ‘the Kingslayer’ Lannister in the third season of the insanely popular ‘Game of Thrones’, during which his character lost his upper right arm and very nearly his will to live.
But he failed to even make the shortlist of actors bidding to win the 2012-13 Emmy for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series’, while his co-star and onscreen brother, Peter Dinklage, who plays Tyrion ‘The Imp’ Lannister, was nominated for a third successive year for an award he won two years ago.
“If last season belonged to Tyrion, this season was Jaime’s, and Nikolaj took the gift he was given and ran with it,” wrote Rebecca Martin, the editor of Wetpaint Entertainment. “He had more to work with, and he knocked it out of the park.”
“While we have our pom-poms out rooting for Peter Dinklage to take home the prize, we can’t help but regret the fact that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau isn’t in the running,” continued Martin. “Because as far as we’re concerned, he’s really the most outstanding supporting actor of the season.”
Tim Goodman, the TV critic for the Hollywood Reporter, lamented how the shortlist was “unfortunately” missing Coster-Waldau. He didn’t fault the line-up, but suggested the snub was part of a larger failure on the part of Emmy voters.
“The Emmys needed to expand its list of nominees in every category, but didn’t have the foresight to realise this,” Goodman said. “I guess I was hoping that the plethora of offerings would lead them to make more justifiable exclusions, not more glaring ones.”
Some fans took their anger out on Dinklage.
“I’m so sick of Dinklage. He’s by far one of my least favourites on this show,” wrote a fan on an IMDB message board. “While Tyrion gets to utter catchy things, the emotional arc of the story was carried by Nikolaj this year. This was supposed to be his year.”
But Dinklage ended up being unsuccessful as well – in the end, Bobby Cannavale of ‘Boardwalk Empire’ took home the supporting actor award.
‘Game of Thrones’ was nominated for 17 Emmys in total this year, including nods in the outstanding drama series, supporting actress and writing categories.
Ultimately, however, the show failed to win any of the major categories, taking home only two awards for visual effects and make-up.
Coster-Waldau’s only nomination for ‘Game of Thrones’ so far has been for a Screen Actors Guild award as part of the overall ensemble.
