‘The Last of Us’ and ‘Wednesday’ Among Creative Arts Emmys Winners

In the midst of awards season, we’ve seen the lack of Latinx representation in nominations. The 2024 Golden Globes saw only three Latinx actors—Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo and Selena Gomez—nominated, in addition to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which centers on a young Afro-Latino who takes on the role of Spider-Man, get a nod.The lack of nominations for Latinxs is a reminder of the continuing need for representation and recognition of Latinx talent. We have seen great successes and wins for Latinxs in television most recently with shows like Lopez vs. Lopez and Wednesday and we continue to see these actors and creatives make strides for representation in their work, even if they aren’t recognized by these awards shows. With that said, the Creative Arts Emmys also took place this weekend and we saw many Latinx-led television series and work awarded. While the Latinx talent involved weren’t awarded as the Creative Emmy recognizes artistic and technical achievement in prime time television, it’s important to recognize how the shows themselves are also being awarded. With many Latinx-led shows oftentimes canceled, to be able to instead say these shows are award-winning is still a rarity but some progress is being made.

Following 24 Emmy nominations, The Last of Us took home eight awards at the Creative Arts Emmys. The Max series starring Chilean actor Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller earned acting awards for actors Nick Offerman and Storm Reid for Outstanding Guest Actor and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama respectively. The series also won Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie, and Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie among their many wins that night.

Another Latinx-led show that took home mulitple awards was the hit Netflix series Wednesday, starring actress Jenna Ortega who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent. Among them were Outstanding Contemporary Costumes for a Series, Outstanding Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) and Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music as they ended the night with four total wins from 12 nominations.

Celebrated Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s series Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities won the Emmy for Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More). While del Toro himself wasn’t awarded, seeing a series he created be awarded was refreshing especially in the fantasy genre.

A Latino creative who stood out was Chilean composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer who took home Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) for his work on The White Lotus, “In the Sandbox”. The “White Lotus” composer created the opening theme for both seasons of the series—the second theme becoming viral online with multiple remixes