"Game of Thrones" is seeking to claim the Emmy Awards version of the Iron Throne one last time.
When the Emmy nominations are released Thursday, the HBO fantasy saga could be in the running for television's top honor for its eighth and final season. It's earned three previous top drama series awards and is the defending champ.
"The Masked Singer" judge Ken Jeong and "The Good Place" star D'Arcy Carden are set to announce top-category contenders at the Television Academy in Los Angeles. They'll be accompanied by TV academy chair and CEO Frank Scherma and academy president and COO Maury McIntyre.
This image released by HBO shows Julia Louis-Dreyfus in a scene from "Veep." "Game of Thrones," "Veep" and "The Big Bang Theory," three major series that wrapped last season, will find out with Tuesday's nominations if they have one more chance at Emmy gold. (Colleen HayesHBO via AP)
Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage are among the "Game of Thrones" stars who could make the cut. Clarke is trying for her first best drama actress bid after earning a trio of supporting nominations, while Dinklage is a three-time Emmy winner who's competing again as a supporting actor.
Other drama series vying for top honors include "Killing Eve," ''Pose," ''Bodyguard," ''Ozark" and "This Is Us," the NBC drama that could be the sole broadcast series to earn a top bid.
"Veep," which holds a trio of best comedy series Emmys, is in the hunt for its final trophies after wrapping its seven-season run.
"The Big Bang Theory," which ended this year after 12 seasons, is among its possible competitors, as are "Barry," ''Fleabag" and 2018's winner "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."
Netflix was the most-nominated outlet last year, snapping HBO's 17-year winning streak.
The 71st Emmy Awards will air Sept. 22 on Fox, with the host yet to be announced.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death — which came soon before the Russian president's reelection — or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
Navalny, 47, Russia’s best-known opposition politician and Putin’s most persistent foe, died Feb. 16 in a remote penal colony above the Arctic Circle while serving a 19-year sentence on extremism charges that he rejected as politically motivated.
He had been behind bars since January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.
Russian officials have said only that Navalny died of natural causes and have vehemently denied involvement both in the poisoning and in his death.
In March, a month after Navalny’s death, Putin won a landslide reelection for a fifth term, an outcome that was never in doubt.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the U.S. intelligence determination.
FILE - Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny gestures while speaking during his interview to the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia on Dec. 18, 2017. U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of Navalny, the imprisoned opposition leader, in February of 2024. An official says the U.S. intelligence community has found "no smoking gun" that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny's death or directly ordered it. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
