Whilst Star Trek always remains a fan-favourite, the franchise has never been one to garner huge award nominations. At the peak of its 90s era, The Next Generation was able to generate Emmy nominations. But for the most part contemporary Trek series like Discovery and Strange New Worlds are recognised more for their technical achievements than their writing, directing and acting.
However the tide is slowly changing. Star Trek: Prodigy has won a slew of awards for its first season and now both Star Trek: Picard and Lower Decks have picked up nominations for the 2023 Hollywood Critics Association Awards.
The critically acclaimed final season of Picard has picked up an impressive seven nominations across acting, directing and writing. Whilst Lower Decks goes up against another of our favourite series, Harley Quinn, in the category of Best Streaming Animated Series Or TV Movie.
The legend that is Sir Patrick Stewart is nominated for Best Actor in a Streaming Drama Series where he goes up against Lower Decks star Jack Quaid who is nominated for his role in The Boys. Other nominees include Antony Starr (The Boys), Diego Luna (Andor), Dominic West (The Crown), Harrison Ford (1923), Logan Lerman (Hunters), and Penn Badgley (You).
Brent Spiner was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Drama Series where he is up against Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid’s Tale), Chace Crawford (The Boys), Edi Gathegi (For All Mankind), Ismael Cruz Córdova (The Lord of the Rings), Jensen Ackles (The Boys), Jonathan Pryce (The Crown), Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale), Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat), and Stellan Skarsgård (Andor).
Fan-favourite Jeri Ryan picks up a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Drama Series. Other nominees are Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Anne-Marie Duff (Bad Sisters), Elizabeth Debicki (The Crown), Emily Swallow (The Mandalorian), Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters), Genevieve O’Reilly (Andor), Lesley Manville (The Crown), Sarah Desjardins (The Night Agent), and Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid’s Tale).
Another returning fan-favourite, Michelle Forbes, earns a nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her return as Ro Laren in the episode “Imposters”. She is up against Aya Cash (The Boys), [Prodigy voice actress] Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Gwendoline Christie (The Sandman), Lizzo (The Mandalorian), Mckenna Grace (The Handmaids Tale), Melanie Lynskey (The Last of Us), Regina Taylor (CSI: Vegas), Tamara Clatterbuck (Will Trent), and Vanessa Kirby (The Crown).
Picard season 3 showrunner Terry Matalas picks up two nominations, firstly for Best Writing in a Streaming Drama Series where he faces off against Taylor Sheridan (1923), Tony Gilroy (Andor), Carla Banks Waddles & Daniela Gaj (Bel-Air), Logan Ritchey & David Reed (The Boys), and Peter Morgan (The Crown). Then Matalas goes up against Ben Richardson (1923), Benjamin Caron (Andor), Nelson Cragg (The Boys), Alex Graves (The Diplomat), and Lee Isaac Chung (The Mandalorian) in the category of Best Directing in a Streaming Drama Series. Both nominations come from the series’ final episode, “The Last Generation”.
Congratulations to all the nominees! Due to the ongoing WGA strike and the potential SAG/AFTRA strike, announcement of the winners of the 2023 HCA TV Awards is TBD.
