‘Blue Eye Samurai’ Wins Animation Award at the 76th Emmys

Following its historic win in 2022 when Arcane became the first streaming series to win the Outstanding Animated Program honor, Netflix returned on top the Creative Arts Emmy Awards animation showdown Saturday night with its revenge drama Blue Eye Samurai. Artists working on the show, produced by Netflix, 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions, also took three of the seven jury-determined awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.

Blue Eye Samurai earlier this year swept the Annie Awards, winning six categories. The series is co-created by Amber Noizumi and Michael Green, with Jane Wu serving as supervising director and producer, and has been greenlit for a second season.

Another Netflix toon, the adult animated comedy stalwart Big Mouth, propelled actress Maya Rudolph to her sixth Emmy Award. She won the Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance Award for her role as Connie the Hormone monster for the fourth time; back-to-back in 2020 and 2021 and again in 2023 and 2024. She was also nominated in 2022, when the award went posthumously to Chadwick Boseman for an episode of Marvel’s What If…? Rudolph is now the first woman to win four Emmys for character voice over, joining a club including Hank Azaria and Dan Castellaneta of The Simpsons and Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy.

Building on its standout recognition with eight nominations, making it the most-nominated documentary project at this year’s Emmys,  the Ron Howard-directed Disney+ project Jim Henson Idea Man scored four wins at the Saturday night ceremony: Outstanding Sound Editing for a Nonfiction or Reality Program, Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program and the crowning honor for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

The 76th Emmys will air live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 15. All category nominees and winners can be found at emmys.com.

Outstanding Animated Program

• WINNER — Blue Eye Samurai “The Tale of the Ronin And the Bride” – Netflix • A Netflix Series / 3 Arts Entertainment and Blue Spirit Productions. Michael Green, Executive Producer/Directed by Amber Noizumi, Executive Producer/Written by Erwin Stoff, Executive Producer Jane Wu, Supervising Director/Producer Nick Read, Producer Michael Greenholt, Animation Director
• Bob’s Burgers “The Amazing Rudy” – FOX • 20th Television Animation
• Scavengers Reign “The Signal – Max • Max in association with Titmouse Animation and Green Street
• The Simpsons “Night of the Living Wage” – FOX • A Gracie Films production in association with 20th Television Animation
• X-Men ’97 “Remember It” –  Disney+ • Marvel Studios

Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance

• WINNER — Maya Rudolph (Connie the Hormone Monstress) Big Mouth. “The Ambition Gremlin” – Netflix
• Hank Azaria (Moe Szyslak) The Simpsons “Cremains of the Day” – FOX • A Gracie Films production in association with 20th Television Animation
• Alex Borstein (Lois Griffin) Family Guy “Teacher’s Heavy Pet” –  FOX • 20th Television Animation
• Sterling K. Brown (Angstrom Levy/Angstrom #646) Invincible “I Thought You Were Stronger” – Prime Video • Amazon MGM Studios, Skybound Animation
• Hannah Waddingham (Deliria) Krapopolis “Big Man on Hippocampus” – FOX • Fox Entertainment and Bento Box Ent.

Awarded on Sunday Night (Sept. 8):

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie

• WINNER — Shōgun – FX • FX Productions
• Ahsoka – Disney+ • Lucasfilm Ltd. Michael Cliett, Overall Visual Effects Supervisor Melody Mead, Production Associate Visual Effects Producer Jed Glassford, Onset Visual Effects Supervisor Cameron Waldbauer, Special Effects Coordinator Philip Engström, Visual Effects Supervisor: ILP Chelsea Mirus, Visual Effects Production Manager: ILP Ed Bruce, Visual Effects Supervisor: SSVFX Nicholas Murphy, Visual Effects Producer: SSVFX Kyle Rottman, Visual Effects Supervisor: Refuge
• Avatar: The Last Airbender – Netflix • A Netflix Series in partnership with Nickelodeon
• Fallout – Prime Video • Amazon MGM Studios and Kilter Films in association with Bethesda Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks
• Loki – Disney+ • Marvel Studios

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode

• WINNER — Ripley – ”III: Sommerso” – Netflix • Showtime and Endemol Shine North America in association with Entertainment 360 and Filmrights for Netflix. John Bowers, Visual Effects Supervisor Jason Tsang, Visual Effects Supervisor Joseph Servodio, Visual Effects Producer Maricel Pagulayan, Visual Effects Producer Christopher White, Visual Effects Supervisor Libby Hazell, Visual Effects Producer Francois Sugny, Visual Effects Sequence Supervisor Gaia Bussolati, Visual Effects Supervisor Pepe Valencia, Visualization Supervisor
• All the Light We Cannot See “Episode 4” – Netflix • 21 Laps Entertainment for Netflix
• The Crown • “Dis-Moi Oui” – Netflix • Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television for Netflix
• True Detective: Night Country  “Part 1” – HBO | Max • HBO in association with Peligrosa, Neon Black, Anonymous Content, Parliament of Owls and Passenger
• Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty “Beat L.A.” – HBO | Max • HBO in association with HyperObject Industries, Steeplechase Amusements, Jim Hecht Productions and Jason Shuman Productions