Emmys 2015: Is the TV Academy finally warming to genre series?

Amid the usual cries of snub that followed Thursday’s Emmys nominations announcement -- where was “Empire” or “Jane the Virgin”? -- were some audible sighs of relief. Finally, Tatiana Maslany had been nominated for her virtuoso performance on “Orphan Black,” a possibility most fans and even the most optimistic prognosticators had written off after back-to-back snubs by the TV Academy.

In the inventive drama about a streetwise young woman who discovers she’s the result of a top-secret cloning experiment, Maslany plays something like 10 different characters (depending on how you count), each with wildly different accents, mannerisms and personalities. Though she’s assisted by a fantastic wig collection, Maslany gives the kind of obviously dazzling performance you’d think even stodgy Emmy voters could understand.

So what took them so long to come around? Though it eludes easy categorization, “Orphan Black” is, at least broadly speaking, science fiction, a genre that tends to attract rabid fans but little awards recognition. The list of sc-fi, fantasy and horror shows slighted by the TV Academy includes “Battlestar Galactica” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”; even “The X Files,” though honored for its writing and acting, never won the series crown.

FULL COVERAGE: Emmy nominations

“Game of Thrones” is consistently one of the most-nominated series at the Emmys, but its wins -- outside of an Emmy for supporting actor Peter Dinklage in 2011 -- have largely been relegated to technical categories, an outcome consistent with the academy’s “cool costumes, but we’ll never take you seriously” attitude to anything with a whiff of geekery about it. And even though unlike many of its drama rivals, it’s both a huge ratings hit and -- until this season, anyway -- a critical darling, “Game of Thrones” has never taken the series title.

Nor have show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss won for their writing, despite three previous nominations for what is undoubtedly one of the most daunting jobs in the TV business: condensing thousands of pages of George R.R. Martin’s novels into just 10 episodes a season and, now, moving ahead of the source material.

Still, the show’s tally has, like its body count, grown each year. On Thursday, “Game of Thrones” racked up four acting nominations, the most in its history. One of those nods went to Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen, a character whose dragon-riding story line sits on the extreme end of the fantasy spectrum.

Emmy Nominations: Complete list | Snubs/Surprises | Social media reaction | Diversity | Drama | Comedy | PHOTOS: Nominees | Reactions

Add the nominations for “Game of Thrones” and “Orphan Black” to the huge haul each year for Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story,” and it looks as if Emmy’s institutional resistance to genre fare is melting like an army of white walkers stranded in Dorne.

Whether this attitude shift is permanent remains to be seen, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Starz’s ambitious time-traveling romance/adventure “Outlander” was well-received by critics and fans alike but scored just one nomination Thursday for its music. As our critic Mary McNamara has lamented, AMC’s megahit “The Walking Dead” barely seems to register with Emmy voters, who could also stand to spread some more love around the sprawling, consistently excellent cast of “Game of Thrones.”

Come on, guys. The Internet will thank you.

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