Emmy Awards 2023 Delayed to January Due to Hollywood Actors and Writers Strikes

Emmy Awards 2023 have been officially delayed to next year. After months of dialogue between the Television Academy and new broadcaster Fox, the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards will now be held on January 16 at 6:30am IST in India/ January 15 at 5pm PT in the US. This marks the first time in two decades that the Emmys are being postponed — the first being in 2001, after the September 11 attacks. This latest delay is owing to the ongoing actors’ and writers’ strikes in Hollywood, which have halted several major film and TV productions. Nominees were revealed back in July, with Succession leading the pack, and a host will be decided upon once the strikes end.

Without the actors/ nominees, the awards show would look rather empty, and with no writers pulling the strings in the background with a proper script or jokes, the show was headed with no vision. As per The Hollywood Reporter, there was a scenario in which the show would’ve been telecasted without writers, but the lack of star power caused the delay unavoidable. You see, members of SAG-AFTRA (Hollywood actors union) are not allowed to star in or promote any film or TV projects they’re in, in addition to accepting awards for struck work until the union meets a fair agreement with major studios. It’s also the reason why several big-budget movies — boasting starry cast lineups — are getting delayed.

The 2023 Emmys were originally slated for September and now see a nearly four-month delay, during which the studios hope the strikes will subside. However, the new date also places it in an already busy awards season. As usual, the telecast also includes the Creative Emmys, which rewards excellence in technical elements in television and some other minor acts — a two-night event scheduled for January 6 and January 7. However, the second night coincides with the Golden Globe 2024 event, which celebrates both movies and TV series, essentially dampening the achievements of the already underappreciated creative department. What I’m trying to say is that all eyes would be on the bigger awards show.

Not to mention, there’s also the 2024 Critics Choice Awards on January 14 (Jan 15 for India), which falls exactly a day before the newly-set date for the Primetime Emmy Awards. So, these are back-to-back awards shows, with the former featuring television alongside film categories. For now, the other award broadcasters aren’t confirmed to be shuffling dates around. As noted before, the Emmy nominees have already been decided and the final voting timeline for Academy members stays the same — August 17–28. Even SAG-AFTRA and the DGA (Directors Guild of America) have their award ceremonies set for the month of February, in the run-up to the Oscars season.

It’s not clear whether the writers’ and actors’ union will be able to reach a fair agreement by January since a Deadline report from July revealed the statement made by an unnamed executive. “The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” they said. Another person deemed it a ‘cruel but necessary evil.’

The 75th annual Emmys are set to stream live from the Peacock Theater, Los Angeles, on early Tuesday, January 16 at 6:30am IST/ January 15 at 5pm PT in the US.