How ‘The Crown’ Broke the Netflix Curse, Winning Their First Emmy Award Ever
Netflix completely dominated the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. The British royal family series The Crown took home the award for Outstanding Drama Series, marking a historic win for the streaming giant. The platform has never won a major category like this at the Emmys. But, The Crown proved that anything is possible.
‘The Crown’ dominates the 2021 Emmys
The Crown delves into the reign of the British royal family. Created by Peter Morgan, the first season starts in 1947, where Queen Elizabeth II marries Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Then, the narrative shifts to the modern-day Buckingham Palace and follows Prince Charles’s marriage to Princess Diana Spencer. The fifth and six-season tie the story together, ending with the Queen’s reign into the 21st century.
Although the drama series consists of four seasons, The Crown dominated the 2021 Emmy Awards. Olivia Colman, who played Queen Elizabeth II, won the Best Actress award in a Drama Series. Secondly, Gillian Anderson (Margaret Thatcher), Josh O’Connor (Prince Charles), and Tobias Menzies (Prince Philip) won an Emmy for their outstanding performance in the series.
“I’m very proud, I’m very grateful, we’re going to party,” said The Crown creator Peter Morgan during his acceptance speech. He also won the award for Best Writing.
The drama series wins the most prominent category at the Emmys
For Netflix, taking home the award for the Outstanding Drama Series was a big win. According to The New York Times, the streaming service received 30 Emmy nominations for the Best Drama, Comedy, and Best Limited Series from 2013 to 2020. But, the platform has never won an award in those categories. They often lost to HBO, who is a massive powerhouse at the Emmys.
The only streaming platform that won the Best Drama category is Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The dystopian drama took home the award four years ago. Now, Netflix is the second platform to do some. Also, before The Queen’s Gambit, no streaming service had ever won the award for Best Limited Series.
The seven-episode drama series followed chess-wielding mastermind Beth Harmon (Anya-Taylor Joy). While grappling with her tragic past, the young prodigy embarks on a journey to become the greatest chess player in the world. In addition, The Queen’s Gambit creator Scott Frank won Directing for a Limited Series.
Toward the end of the event, Netflix received more Emmy awards than HBO for the first time, taking home 44 trophies. HBO and its streaming service, HBO Max, won 19 Emmy awards.
How to watch ‘The Crown’?
The long-running period drama is only available to stream on Netflix. The Netflix app is available on Apple devices, Android phones/tablets, and Windows. Subscribers can access the streaming platform from the internet browser by visiting the official website. Most devices have Netflix pre-installed, including Samsung TVs and gaming consoles like Playstation/Xbox. However, the membership fee for streaming is $13.99.
All four seasons of The Crown are streaming now on Netflix.
