Talk about an Emmy buzzkill.
When Prime Video officially pulled the plug on Étoile on June 6, the announcement sent ripples through the entertainment industry. While the cancellation of a freshman series is hardly uncommon, it was the timing of the news, not the decision itself, that may have ended the show’s Emmy aspirations.
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Just one week before Emmy voting began, Étoile was poised for awards consideration. The ballet dramedy marked the return of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Gilmore Girls). The Palladinos are no strangers to Emmy gold, with 10 wins and 24 nominations between them. While Étoile hadn’t toped the streamers charts, it was quietly building momentum and Amazon originally committed to two seasons. FYC events were scheduled, and cast appearances had been lined up. The campaign machine appeared to be just getting into full swing.
Then came the surprising announcement, right in the middle of FYC season, and any momentum the show had seemed to have accumulated came to a halt.
In fact, cast members including Yanic Truesdale, Taïs Vinolo, and Ivan du Pontavice were en route to the SCAD Lacoste Film Festival in France when the news broke, and the team had to shift gears. Truesdale, who played Michel in Gilmore Girls, admitted he was disappointed by the cancellation, telling Deadline, “I was very excited to see the second season because knowing Amy and Dan’s writing, they set things in the first season, and then the second season, once everything is established, is really, when they start to fly with the material,” he said.
Though Amazon continued to support the series with billboards and trade ads, the narrative shift was hard to ignore. A cancellation, particularly one announced before nominations are even secured, sends an unintentional message: this show is done.
In an increasingly crowded awards landscape, perception is everything. Had Étoile been allowed to complete its Emmy campaign with even the illusion of future seasons, it might have captured more than two nominations it received in choreography and cinematography — perhaps in production design, costumes, or direction.
Compare that to Netflix’s The Residence. Also shuttered after a single season, The Residence managed to sidestep the same buzzkill with the streamer strategically timing its announcement. Netflix waited until July 2, after Emmy voting had closed.
That crucial difference allowed the show to sustain its campaign energy and gave its cast and crew plausible hope. The result? The show landed four nods, including a surprise Best Comedy Actress nomination for Uzo Aduba — an outcome that may have played out very differently if the cancellation news had dropped a few weeks earlier.
A similar situation unfolded in 2021 with Lovecraft Country, which received 18 Emmy nominations for its first season. HBO announced the show’s cancellation in July — after voting had ended. Despite the end of the road, the delay in announcing it preserved the show’s award-season momentum.
This contrast highlights just how sensitive Emmy campaigns are to timing.
Now, the industry is watching closely to see how Thursday’s shocking news that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has been canceled just two days after receiving an Emmy nomination will affect voters. Once again, it raises the question at the heart of awards season strategy: When it comes to cancellation, does timing make the difference between an Emmy win and a campaign that fades away?
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