Golden Globe 2021 Nominations: 'Bridgerton' Gets Shut Out While 'Promising Young Woman' Surprises

The 78th annual Golden Globe Awards will broadcast live on Feb. 28

Published on February 3, 2021 10:02 AM

The 2021 Golden Globe nominees are in — and they're full of surprises and some notable snubs.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced this year's nods on Wednesday morning ahead of the annual awards show, which will be held later this month on Feb. 28.

On the movie end, the big surprise and winner of the nominations was all the love showed to Promising Young Woman, the Carey Mulligan-led thriller that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival a full year ago and impressed voters so much it surprised in lead categories, including best motion picture, drama, and best director.

BRIDGERTON; PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN — Liam Daniel/NETFLIX; Courtesy of Focus Features

The Golden Globes have been criticized in the past for not recognizing female directors so this year is cause for celebration. Promising Young Woman director Emerald Fennell, who made her directorial debut with the film, made the cut, as did fellow first-time director Regina King for One Night in Miami, and Nomadland's Chloé Zhao. Spike Lee was a shocking snub in the category as he was expected to be nominated for his critically acclaimed Vietnam war film, Da 5 Bloods, which also failed to net a best motion picture, drama nomination despite several other wins this year.

Leslie Odom Jr., Eli Goree, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Aldis Hodge star in ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI — From left: Leslie Odom Jr. as Cooke, Eli Goree as Muhammad Ali, Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X and Aldis Hodge as James Brown. Courtesy of Amazon Studios

As for major surprises in the movie acting categories, French actor Tahar Rahim landed in the competitive best actor in a motion picture, drama category for The Mauritanian alongside such heavyweights as Anthony Hopkins (The Father), Gary Oldman (Mank), Riz Ahmed (The Sound of Metal), and of course, Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom).

Meryl Streep, a Globes favorite, didn't find love for her performance in Netflix's The Prom, though the film did net a best motion picture, musical or comedy nod. Jared Leto, on the other hand, beat out other prospective nominees to land in the best supporting actor in a motion picture race for his creepy turn in The Little Things, which was far from expected.

(2020) hamilton — Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr. in *Hamilton*. disney +

As expected, Disney+'s Hamilton factored into the nominations, landing a best motion picture, musical or comedy nod as well as one for its creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda. Shockingly, however, the HFPA failed to recognize Leslie Odom Jr., who won a Tony for his role in the musical, which he reprised for the film. He did however find himself in the best supporting actor in a motion picture category for One Night in Miami.

Last-minute addition Music, which marks Sia's directorial debut, surprised by landing in two major categories: best motion picture, musical or comedy, and best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy, for Kate Hudson. The film comes out Feb. 10.

Among the TV contenders, Netflix's Emily in Paris earned a surprise nomination for best television series, musical or comedy — and its star, Lily Collins, also scored a best actress nod. The 10-episode series was mostly well-received by American audiences for its romantic escapism amid a global pandemic, though it did spark debates for its cliché depiction of Paris and its people.

Other surprises included all the love for Ryan Murphy's Ratched, a suspenseful Netflix drama that tells the origin story of asylum nurse Mildred Ratched, of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest fame. The series was nominated for best television drama, and both Sarah Paulson and Cynthia Nixon earned actings nods for their parts.

Also somewhat of a surprise was Jim Parsons' best supporting actor nomination for playing the complicated, real-life figure of talent agent Henry Wilson in Murphy and Ian Brennan's Netflix miniseries Hollywood, though he did also earn an Emmy nomination last year for the part.

Completely excluded from the noms was Bridgerton, Shonda Rhimes' hit adaptation of Julia Quinn's book series of the same name. The period piece — applauded for its color-blind casting — has been making waves since it dropped on Netflix over Christmas, with sales and prices of the books both exploding and fans obsessing endlessly over onscreen lovers Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor.

Other glaring omissions? Though the series earned a nomination for best drama, the stars of HBO's Lovecraft Country, Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett, were both excluded from the honors, as was Michaela Coel, who created, wrote, co-directed, executive produced and starred in HBO's acclaimed I May Destroy You. Also, Uzo Aduba was snubbed for best supporting actress in a limited series category for FX's Mrs. America, despite winning the category at the Emmys last September.