Shogun was named best television series – drama at the 2025 Golden Globes.
The Day of the Jackal, The Diplomat, Mr. and mrs. Smith, Slow Horses and Squid Game were also nominated in the category.
Though the historical series triumphed at the Emmys last year, co-creator Justin Marks still seemed surprised to take home the trophy.
“They didn't tell you how insane this is. Yesterday, Rachel and I were scouring the ferns of our house looking for a 50-pound tortoise that we adopted for some reason that keeps escaping,” said Marks, referencing his wife and Shogun co-creator Rachel Kondo.
“And now here we are, and Han Solo is looking at us,” he said looking out at the audience where Star Wars icon Harrison Ford Sat.
Katie Yu /FX / Courtesy of FX via Everett Collection
“And nothing about this show has ever been expected,” continued Marks. “Truly, it was made on the backs of thousands of fearless 'yeses' that we received over the years from our East-meets-West cast and crew, extraordinary cast — standing right here — to our writers and our directors and our partners at Disney Television, FX and Hulu, all of you guys said yes so many times over the years to a show that on paper you should, quite frankly, have never said yes to it is a miracle that everyone still has their jobs.”
“It is a miracle that we still have our marriage. And and it is a miracle if we ever find that tortoise again so we will get a GPS tracker soon,” quipped Marks.
Shogun earned several nominations across the board this year, including best performance by a male actor in a supporting role on television for Tadanobu Asano and best performance by a female actor in a television series — drama for Anna Sawai.
The FX series, which released in February 2024 to critical acclaim, is fresh off an impressive run during last year's awards season. At the 2024 Emmy Awards, it led the drama category with a whopping 25 nominations, and star Hiroyuki Sanada took home the prize for best actor in a drama, making history as the first Japanese actor to do so.
He told PEOPLE he “couldn't have imagined” the show earning so many nominations while they were making it, as he said he felt like he was “in a dream of dreams.”
“For me, it was a gamble. Because the show has 70 percent Japanese dialogue and then subtitles. Can people enjoy a 1600s feudal Japan story? But surprisingly, we got a great reaction.”
It was a big year for dramatic television, with several new series debuting in the category and other returning favorites like The Diplomat, Squid Game and Slow Horses continuing to earn nominations.
Marcell Piti/Carnival Film & Television Limited
The Day of the Jackal saw Eddie Redmayne take on the role of the titular assassin for hire in a modern-day retelling of Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel. The former British military sniper found a major target on his back and an international cat-and-mouse chase broke out when MI-6 agent Bianca (Lashana Lynch) began hunting to find him — and uncover his real identity — all while he made every effort to finish his latest job.
Ursula Corberó, Charles Dance and Lia Williams also star, and Redmayne also earned a nomination for best performance by a male actor in a television series – drama for the role.
He told PEOPLE that the nominations were “deeply unexpected, but so thrilling,” as he reflected, “The whole process of acting and producing, this has been my life all-consuming for a year and a half. So the fact that it has been recognized, the fact that audiences seem to be engaging with it, particularly when it came out only recently… It's lovely that people connected.”
Alex Bailey/Netflix
More than a year after season 1 was a smash hit on Netflix, The Diplomat returned for season 2 in October. Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell were back as politics' most complicated couple, as Kate (Russell) and Hal Wyler (Sewell) continued navigating a treacherous global power balance from the UK amid their ongoing relationship troubles.
Allison Janney joined season 2 in a guest role as the vice president of the US — an addition that Russell told PEOPLE made her “nervous” as the veteran actress is “awesome and so good.”
“She's everything you want her to be,” Russell gushed. “She's gracious and funny and smart and cool.”
Amazon Studios
Mr. and Mrs. Smith earned three nominations following its premiere earlier this year, with both Donald Glover and his onscreen partner in crime Maya Erskine earning nominations for best performance by a male actor in a television series — drama and best performance by a female actor in a television series — drama ,respectively.
The Prime Video series, a remake of Brad Pitt and ex-wife Angelina Jolie's 2005 action-comedy of the same name, put a new spin on the beloved story, as Glover and Erskine starred as spies working for the same agency who, instead of hiding their relationship, are assigned identities and married couple John and Jane Smith.
The story earned Pitt's stamp of approval, though, as Glover said that the actor was “very, very sweet and nice” when he reached out about the reboot series.
“He was like, 'Oh, you'll do great kid,'” Glover, 41, told Entertainment Tonight,
Apple TV+
After earning its first-ever nomination for season 3 at last year's Globes, season 4 of Slow Horses brought in three more nominations for the thriller series, as stars Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden were nominated for their roles as Jackson Lamb and River Cartwright, respectively. Oldman, 66, was also nominated in the same category — best performance by an actor in a television series, drama — last year, though he was beat out by Succession's Kieran Culkin.
Playing the leader of a misfit group of British intelligence agent rejects has been the role of a lifetime, Oldman has said. He even went as far as to say that, while he could see himself playing the character “for the next how many years,” he can also imagine retiring after this role.
“To be able to sort of wrap it all up playing Jackson Lamb, I would consider myself very honored and very lucky to be able to do that,” he told. Deadline in 2022.
netflix
Squid Game is back — and the hit South Korean drama has once again earned a slot amongst the year's best dramatic TV shows for season 2.
The Netflix series, which sees hundreds of players face lethal challenges in the hopes of winning a $40 million cash prize, was previously nominated in the category for season 1 in 2022, and stars Lee Jung-Jae and Oh Young-Soo were also nominated for best performance by an actor in a television series — drama and best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television, respectively.
Young-Soo took home the prize at the 2022 ceremony, and while Jung-Jae was beaten out by Jeremy Strong, he won for the role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards that year.
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