‘Succession,’ ‘Ted Lasso’ win big at the 2022 Emmy Awards

Inertia takes it again: All the presumed winners of tonight’s Emmys — “Succession,” “Ted Lasso” and “The White Lotus” — took home the ceremony’s three biggest prizes (best drama series, comedy series and limited series, respectively). The night wasn’t completely without surprises; “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae’s best drama actor award in an intensely competitive category comprised a mild upset and, at least midway through the night, “Abbott Elementary” seemed poised for an underdog triumph over “Lasso” for the best comedy trophy. Alas.

The Apple TV Plus comedy repeated last year’s victory, triumphing in a category full of favorites.

“The White Lotus,” again? Sure, why not.

The best limited series winner was so popular that HBO decided to renew it for another season. But it still counts as a limited series at the Emmys, apparently. This reminds us of “Big Little Lies” — a classic HBO conundrum!

Going into the Emmys, the most unpredictable category was lead actor for a drama series. Since 2011 — in a shocking bucking of Emmy trends — the trophy has gone to a different winner. (In the last three years, the category went to Josh O’Connor for “The Crown,” Jeremy Strong for “Succession” and Billy Porter for “Pose.”)

This year, it seemed like most of the nominees had a pretty strong chance: Strong and his “Succession” co-star Brian Cox, Hollywood veterans and sentimental favorites Bob Odenkirk of “Better Call Saul” and Jason Bateman of “Ozark,” and potential upsetter Lee Jung-jae of “Squid Game.” (The only real non-contender appeared to be Adam Scott of “Severance.”)

“Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong accepted his third Emmy Award for writing on the HBO series with a message for the writers out there.

“It didn’t feel good always when I was writing it,” Armstrong said of the winning episode, “All the Bells Say.” “It felt wrong.” If you’re a person who is “blind to all the merits and you can only see the faults in what you’re doing,” Armstrong added, “it may just mean that you’re a proper writer.”

“Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae won for his lead performance in the harrowing Netflix series, which swiftly became as much of a water-cooler show as a pandemic-era release can possibly become. He delivered the latter half of his speech in Korean, and an English-language interpreter loosely translated the portion to thanking Korean audiences for watching.

It continues to be a big night for “Ted Lasso”: M.J. Delaney took home the Emmy for best directing for a comedy series (for the Season 2 episode “No Weddings and a Funeral”). She remembered to thank Apple (the show’s streaming network) and Warner Bros. (the production company) in addition to her loved ones. Always important!

Jean Smart was recognized for her lead performance in the HBO Max comedy “Hacks,” her second win for the role.

After issuing her thank yous, Smart noted the wide breadth of people who watch “Hacks” — a range that apparently includes children, as Smart learned after a few kids recognized her while she was shooting the show at a mall.

“Hi!” she recalled saying. “You should not be watching the show.”

Smart concluded her speech by saying that she lost a bet, thanking someone “for the Botox.”

The actress-singer won her second Emmy Award (she first won in 2020) for playing Rue Bennett, a teenager struggling with addiction, on HBO’s Gen-Z drama.

“My greatest wish for ‘Euphoria’ is that it could help people,” the actress said, thanking those who had shared their own stories with her. “I am so grateful for your stories and I carry them with me and I carry them with her.”

The first two hours of the show were pretty quiet for “Squid Game,” Netflix’s enormously popular series about debt-ridden people competing in violent competitions for money, but that all changed when Hwang Dong-hyuk won for directing.

“People keep telling me I made history, but I don’t think I made history by myself,” he said, giving credit to everyone who made the show such a hit, which led to it becoming the first non-English-language show to compete in the best drama category, and 14 nominations overall. “I truly hope ‘Squid Game’ won’t be the last non-English series here at the Emmys. And I also hope this won’t be my last Emmy either.”

Why does ‘Squid Game’ resonate so well in the U.S.? It may be its portrayal of economic despair.

When this year’s Emmys kicked off, the winners of the top three categories — best comedy, drama and limited series — seemed preordained. HBO’s “Succession” and “The White Lotus” still appear to be locks for the latter two, but with Quinta Brunson’s win for best comedy writing — combined with Sheryl Lee Ralph’s crowd-pleasing clinch of the trophy for best supporting comedy actress — ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” may be giving Apple TV Plus’s “Ted Lasso” a run for its money. The trans-Atlantic soccer dramedy has been an Emmys favorite, with 20 nominations for its freshman year and seven wins in 2021, including for best comedy series. Jason Sudeikis and Brett Goldstein won the actor categories for “Lasso” on Monday night, but “Abbott” is turning out to be some tough competition for a once-presumed champion.