Chernobyl was named best limited series at the 2020 Golden Globes on Sunday night.
The program beat out fellow nominees Catch-22, Fosse/Verdon, The Loudest Voice and Unbelievable.
The HBO and Sky TV five-part retelling of the aftermath of the worst nuclear reactor disaster in history dominated the Emmys last fall, winning 10 awards.
While some pundits expected Netflix’s Unbelievable to win in the category, the actress nominees for the show — Toni Collette, Kaitlyn Dever and Merritt Wever — failed to win the awards for which they were nominated.
Meanwhile, Chernobyl actor Stellan Skarsgard was tapped as best supporting actor in a TV series earlier in the kudocast.
Chernobyl star Jared Harris was quick to thank HBO and called out host Ricky Gervais’ monologue claim that “the best actors” are working with Netflix: “See, Ricky? It’s not all about Netflix. Sorry, Netflix.”
After thanking the companies behind the series, cities where they filmed and foreign crews, Harris touched on the show’s present-day relevance by saying that creator Craig Mazin’s script “posed the question, ‘What is the cost of lies?,’ and that question becomes more relevant with each passing day’s news cycle.” He said Chernobyl is dedicated to the “courage and sacrifice” of those who shielded others from the worst effects of the disaster.
Mazin elaborated on the timeliness of the show speaking to Kristin Dos Santos and Chris Gardner during The Hollywood Reporter‘s official Golden Globes aftershow. “We’re living in a time when there’s a global war on the truth,” he said. “I think we all know that the world is struggling now and the Soviet Union, that system, didn’t just appear out of nowhere, it’s a human system. Humans have a problem with this. And we wanted to show people that there is a cost to it and if we cannot learn from something like Chernobyl, it’s going to happen again.”
Harris was also nominated for best actor in a limited series but lost out to the absent Russell Crowe, who won for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in The Loudest Voice.
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