Emmy nominations: 'Game of Thrones' leads with 22 nods

The nominees for the 70th Emmy Awards were announced Thursday morning by actors Samira Wiley (The Handmaid's Tale) and Ryan Eggold (The Blacklist) at 8:30 a.m. PT. "We are pleased to have these two talented performers join us to announce this year's Emmy nominees and to celebrate television excellence". She earned a nomination herself for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series previous year.

It's returning to face formidable competition: "The Handmaid's Tale", the dystopian sci-fi series that claimed top drama honors past year, drew 20 bids, with "Westworld" close by with 21.

HBO awards darling "Veep" was ineligible this year and its crown passed to "Atlanta", the FX comedy created by and starring Donald Glover, which amassed 16 nods.

The revival of "Roseanne", cancelled because of star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet, drew only one major nomination, a supporting actress nod for Laurie Metcalf.

The show about noble families vying for the Iron Throne faces tough competition from perennial favorite comedy sketch show "Saturday Night Live" and HBO stablemate "Westworld" with 21 nominations each.

"The Handmaid's Tale, " the dystopian sci-fi series that claimed top drama honors last year, drew 20 bids, including one for last year's best actress victor, Elisabeth Moss, and supporting bids for Alexis Bledel, Ann Dowd, Yvonne Strahovski and Joseph Fiennes. The Creative Arts Awards this year are September 8-9, with the Primetime Emmy Awards set for Monday, September 17 at 8 AM ET/5 PM PT at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.