Horror In Awards Season: Scary TV Shows Take The Gold At The Creative Emmys

Horror TV series are not only popular but they are being nominated for industry awards left and right. THE LAST OF US, WEDNESDAY and more!

By Dolores Quintana · @doloresquintana · January 10, 2024, 8:00 PM EST
THE LAST OF US (2023)
Image Credit: IMDB

Yes, horror at the Creative Emmys has won this year's top prizes and did wonderfully well at this entertainment industry showcase of creative talent. At the ceremony, which lasted over two nights, the 75th annual Creative Emmys, which honors outstanding artistic and technical achievement in television, five different series or TV movies won Emmys for creative achievement. The Last of Us, the critically acclaimed dystopian series from HBO based on the hugely popular Naughty Dog video game series, won eight awards in technical or performance categories. Netflix's Wednesday and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, Hulu's TV movie Prey, and perennial favorite The Simpsons yearly Halloween treat The Treehouse of Horror scored Emmys this year, too. The Last of Us won the most awards during the Creative Emmys with eight wins and was nominated for 24 Emmys this year. That's a lot. Read more: Kaitlyn Dever Will Play Abby In The Last of Us Season 2.

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series - Winner: Nick Offerman, The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time”

THE LAST OF US (2023)

Image credit: IMDB

Actor Nick Offerman won Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as the survivalist misanthrope Bill. He finds happiness and love with the man Frank (Murray Bartlett), whom he meets during the apocalypse. The touching episode is about a man finding out who he is only after civilization has ended in a long-term gay relationship and gaining trust in another human being. The episode showed a love so powerful that it was stronger than death, which brought tears to viewers' eyes. Bartlett was also nominated in the same category for his performance.

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series - Winner: Storm Reid, The Last of Us, “Left Behind”

THE LAST OF US (2023)

Image credit: IMDB

Storm Reid won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Riley, Ellie's best friend in the FEDRA military school who runs away to join the resistance group, The Fireflies. Riley finds Ellie after she disappears and takes her to a ruined mall to explain that she is leaving forever the next day, and the two girls finally confess their feelings for each other. It's another touching LGBTQ+ episode that caused viewers to hold their breath and weep. Read more: The Last of Us Part II Will Be Adapted Into More Than One Season.

Outstanding Contemporary Costumes for a Series - Winner: Wednesday, “Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe”

Wednesday_S1_E1_00_02_28_14R

Image credit: IMDB

The Netflix series Wednesday took home four awards, including Outstanding Contemporary Costumes for a Series. The craftspeople who worked on the show are: Colleen Atwood, costume designer, Mark Sutherland, co-costume designer Robin Soutar, assistant costume designer Claudia Littlefield, costume supervisor, and Adina Bucur, costume supervisor.

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup - Winner: The Last of Us, “Infected”

the-last-of-us-clicker-header

Image credit: IMDB

It's not too much of a surprise, but the chilling makeup that transformed humans into Cordyceps-infected zombies on The Last of Us won the Creative Emmy for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup. The artists are Barrie Gower, Prosthetics Designer; Sarah Gower, Prosthetics Makeup, Co-department Head; Paul Spateri, Key Prosthetics Makeup Artist; Nelly Guimaras Sanjuan, Key Prosthetics Makeup Artist; Johnny Murphy, Key Prosthetics Makeup Artist, Joel Hall, Key Prosthetics Makeup Artist, Lucy Pittard, Key Prosthetics Makeup Artist. Read more: The Last of Us Museum "Clicker" Chats Mushrooms And Movement.

Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) - Winner: Wednesday, “Woe What a Night”

WEDNESDAY (2022)

Image credit: IMDB

Wednesday took another award for Outstanding Contemporary Makeup at the ceremony. The category awards makeup that does not include prosthetics obviously, but still has an emphasis on makeup to create fantasy and horror effects. The artists are Tara McDonald, Makeup Designer; Freda Ellis, Key Makeup Artist; Nirvana Jalalvand, Makeup Artist; Tamara Meade, Makeup Artist; and Bianca Boeroiu, Makeup Artist.

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More) - Winner: Wednesday, “Wednesday’s Child Is Full of Woe”

WEDNESDAY (2022)

Image credit: IMDB

Wednesday's second award is for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program, which makes sense because of the series' gothic aesthetic. The artists who won are Mark Scruton, Production Designer; Adrian Curelea, Art Director; and Robert Hepburn, Set Decorator. Read more: Production On Wednesday Season 2 Heads To Ireland.

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) - Winner: Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES (2022)

Image credit: IMDB

Horror director Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities won the Creative Emmy for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program, another award that is not shocking because of the detailed and gorgeous look of the Netflix series. The artisans who won the prize are Tamara Deverell, Production Designer, Brandt Gordon, Art Director, and Shane Vieau, Set Decorator. Cabinet of Curiosities is a wonderfully scary anthology series that deserves more eyes on it. You should watch it if you haven't already.

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie - Winner: The Last of Us

THE LAST OF US (2023)

Image credit: IMDB

The Last of Us also won the Creative Emmy for Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie. With the scenes where you see the ruined skyscrapers of the cities and the giraffe that befriends Ellie and Joel, you can see why it did. The team members behind these stunning effects are Alex Wang, Overall Visual Effects Supervisor; Sean Nowlan, Overall Visual Effects Producer; Joel Whist, Production SFX Supervisor; Stephen James, Visual Effects Supervisor, DNEG; Nick Marshall, Digital Effects Supervisor, Dneg; Simon Jung, Visual Effects Supervisor, Weta FX, Dennis Yoo, Animation Supervisor, Weta FX, Espen Nordahl, Visual Effects Supervisor, Storm Studios, and Jonathan Mitchell, Visual Effects Supervisor, Distillery FX.

Outstanding Main Title Design - Winner: The Last of Us

THE LAST OF US (2023)

Image credit: IMDB

One thing that a hit series cannot do without is a memorable opening sequence, and the Creative Emmys deemed the title design of The Last of Us as the most outstanding of the year. The title sequence was created by Andy Hall, Creative Director; Nadia Tzuo, Creative Director; Gryun Kim, 3D Artist; Min Shi, Designer; Jun Kim, 3D Artist; and Xiaolin (Mike) Zeng, Designer.

Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie, or Special - Winner: Prey

PREY (2022)

Image credit: IMDB

Fan and critical favorite Prey took the prize for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie, or Special. Sound is an essential part of films and series that is just starting to get its due as a technical category. The scares aren't the same without the proper terrifying sounds to accompany them at the correct times. The sound artists who edited the sound for Dan Trachtenberg's Prey are Chris Terhune, Co-supervising Sound Editor. William Files, MPSE, Co-supervising Sound Editor; Jessie Anne Spence, MPSE, Dialogue/ADR Editor; James Miller, Sound Designer; Diego Perez, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor; Lee Gilmore, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor; Christopher Bonis, Sound Effects Editor, Daniel Diprima, Music Editor, Stephen Perone, Music Editor, Leslie Bloome, Foley Artist, and Shaun Brennan, Foley Artist.

Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) - Winner: The Last of Us, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness”

THE LAST OF US (2023)

Image credit: IMDB

The Last of Us episode, "When You're Lost in the Darkness," was awarded the Creative Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour). Again, you can't have horror without the proper sound editing, like the clicking of the Cordyceps zombies in just the right places. The artists who created the sound are Michael J. Benavente, Supervising Sound Editor; Joe Schiff, Dialogue Editor; Christopher Battaglia, MPSE, Sound Designer; Chris Terhune, Sound Designer; Mitchell Lestner, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor; Jacob Flack, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor, Matt Yocum, MPSE, Sound Effects Editor, Maarten Hofmeijer, Music Editor, Randy Wilson, Supervising Foley Editor, Justin Helle, Foley Editor, Davi Aquino, Foley Editor, Stefan Fraticelli, Foley Artist, Jason Charbonneau, Foley Artist and William Kellerman, Foley Artist.

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) - Winner: The Last of Us, “When You’re Lost in the Darkness”

THE LAST OF US (2023)

Image credit: IMDB

Many of these awards go to craftspeople who are integral to the filmmaking process but do not often get the credit they deserve. Sound mixing is essential to the overall effect of the show or film, as the proper sound levels affect the audience in different ways. Louder isn't always better. For the episode of The Last of Us, "When You're Lost in the Darkness," these craftspeople won the Creative Emmy for their work: Marc Fishman, CAS, Re-Recording Mixer, Kevin Roache, CAS, Re-Recording Mixer, and Michael Playfair, CAS, Production Mixer.

Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music - Winner: Danny Elfman, Wednesday

WEDNESDAY_105_Unit_05238RC2

Image credit: IMDB

In the Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music category, Wednesday won the Creative Emmy for Danny Elfman's original composition. Wednesday's title theme was also nominated with the title themes of these other series: Andor – Nicholas Britell (Disney+), Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities – Holly Amber Church (Netflix), The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power – Howard Shore (Prime Video), and Ms. Marvel – Laura Karpman (Disney+) which is a great list of talent.

Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series - Winner: The Last of Us, “Endure and Survive”

THE LAST OF US (2023)

Image credit: IMDB

For the episode “Endure and Survive”, the series The Last of Us won the award for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series. The episode is intense and filled with action and another category that doesn't get the credit it deserves is picture editing. Without the proper editing, a film or TV series cannot be as entertaining or heartfelt as it could be. It is not possible to make the films and shows that we love without the craft of editing. It's about putting all of the action in exactly the right places. The artists who edited the episode and won the Creative Emmy are Timothy A. Good, ACE Editor and Emily Mendez, Editor.

Outstanding Animated Program - Winner: The Simpsons: "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" (Fox)

THE SIMPSONS: TREEHOUSE OF HORROR XXXIII (2022)

Image credit: IMDB

Every year, fans of The Simpsons wait for the latest "Treehouse of Horror," and the latest "Treehouse of Horror XXXIII" does not disappoint. The Simpsons' audience isn't a horror-specific audience, but judging by the fact that this is the 33 installment of the segment, "Treehouse of Horror" might be another gateway into horror for fans of the show. The creators who won the Creative Emmy award for Outstanding Animated Program are James L. Brooks, Executive Producer, Matt Groening, Executive Producer, Matt Selman, Executive Producer/Written By; Al Jean, Executive Producer, Carolyn Omine, Co-executive Producer/Written By, John Frink, Executive Producer, Tim Long, Co-executive Producer, Rob Lazebnik, Co-executive Producer, Joel H. Cohen, Co-executive Producer, Brian Kelley, Co-executive Producer, Michael Price, Co-executive Producer, Ryan Koh, Co-executive Producer/Written By, Dan Vebber, Co-executive Producer, Christine Nangle, Co-executive Producer, Richard K. Chung, Producer, Richard Raynis, Produced By, Tom Klein, Animation Producer, Mike B. Anderson, Supervising Director, Rob Oliver, Directed By, Dane Romley, Assistant Director, and Carlton Batten, Lead Animation Timer.