FX’s Shogun Just Broke an Emmy Record Before the Main Show Even Airs

The 76th Creative Arts Emmy ceremony happened this weekend ahead of the “main” Emmy Awards telecast on September 15. This event is where a lot of the behind-the-scenes awards are given for categories like casting, costuming, makeup, and sound. These aspects might not be as big of a deal to people outside of the industry, but are crucial to making the TV shows we love as well-rounded as possible.

This year, one show in particular dominated the Creative Arts Emmys, hopefully (at least in this humble writer’s opinion) foreshadowing how well it will do in the big ceremony. The FX drama Shōgun, which has already garnered immense critical acclaim, went home with 14 awards in total out of the nearly 50 awarded, breaking the record set by 2008’s John Adams miniseries. John Adams brought home thirteen awards total that year, a record that Shōgun has broken before any of the best actor or director awards have even been announced.

Shōgun won the following categories:

– Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Néstor Carbonell as Rodrigues
– Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series
– Outstanding Period Costumes for a Series
– Outstanding Period or Fantasy/Sci-fi Makeup (Non-prosthetic)
– Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup
– Outstanding Period or Fantasy/Sci-fi Hairstyling
– Outstanding Stunt Performance
– Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More)
– Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series
– Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie
– Outstanding Main Title Design
– Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)
– Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour)
– Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (One Hour)

If you’ve seen the series, you know that these awards are well deserved. It’s not just the phenomenal performances, writing, and directing that transport viewers to feudal Japan and draw us into this epic story. It’s the costumes and makeup. The production design. The sound. Shōgun wouldn’t be what it is without all of these puzzle pieces coming together to make the full picture.

Comparatively, the next highest awarded series at the Creative Arts Emmys was The Bear, which went home with seven awards – a great showing in its own right, but no match for the might of its FX cousin Shōgun. While many have compared Shōgun to Game of Thrones, the former show is its own unique creation – and some might even say it’s better. Even though this is a fictional story, it’s clear that an immense amount of care went into doing this story and time period of Japanese history justice.

Including these awards, Shōgun was nominated for 25 Emmys total, leaving five awards left for the show to claim, so there’s still plenty of opportunity left to expand its record. And that’s not even to mention what could happen with future seasons…