HBO's Westworld, NBC's Saturday Night Live lead 2017 Emmy nominations

Mumbai: HBO's new ‘Westworld’ sci-fi drama and NBC's long-running ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch comedy led the nominations on Thursday for the 2017 Primetime Emmy awards, the highest honours in the television industry, with 22 nods each.

‘Westworld’ earned key nominations, including best actor for Anthony Hopkins, best actress for Evan Rachel Wood and best drama series.

Also nominated for best drama are AMC's ‘Better Call Saul’; Hulu's ‘The Handmaid's Tale’; Netflix's ‘The Crown,’ ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Stranger Things’; and NBC's breakout family drama ‘This Is Us.’

The nomination for ‘This Is Us’ was the first time since 2011 that a major network has been in the Emmy drama series contest.

Among networks, HBO had the highest overall tally, with 110 nods, followed by Netflix at 91 and NBC at 60.

‘Saturday Night Live,’ which has enjoyed a boost in ratings with its skewering parodies of U.S. President Donald Trump and key figures in his administration, will compete for best variety sketch series.

Its stars, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Vanessa Bayer, landed nods for supporting actress in a comedy, while Alec Baldwin's portrayal of Trump earned him a nomination for supporting actor in a comedy.

In the comedy series race, the new FX show ‘Atlanta’ will face off with returning contenders ‘black-ish’ from ABC, ‘Master of None’ and ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’ from Netflix, ‘Modern Family’ from ABC, and ‘Silicon Valley’ and ‘Veep’ from HBO.

The Emmy awards will be presented at a ceremony hosted by Stephen Colbert in Los Angeles on Sept. 17.