When season seven of "Game of Thrones" pushed its premiere date to the summer of 2017, it wasn't just messing with viewers' schedules: It also missed that year's Emmys cutoff, and thus was absent from the awards ceremony for the first year in its history. But voters didn't forget about the hit HBO fantasy series, which received plenty of love -- and made some history -- when the 2018 Emmy Awards nominations were announced on Thursday.

That one-year gap allowed for "Thrones" to come roaring back into the awards season conversation as not only the most-nominated series of the year (with 22 nods), but also another chart-topping accolade:  It now stands at 129 total Emmy nominations throughout its run, making it the most-nominated primetime series ever. (It's already broken the record for most wins by a primetime series with 38.)

"GoT" moved up from its previous post at third place, passing "Cheers" (whose 117 nods still make the beloved sitcom the most-nominated comedy series ever), and previous primetime Emmy nomination king "ER" (124 nods). As TheWrap notes, however, "Saturday Night Live" is still the most-nominated show in any category, sitting pretty with a seemingly untouchable 252 noms.

What the show's record-breaking achievement doesn't include, however, is recognition for two of the show's biggest stars: Neither Emilia Clarke nor Kit Harington could crack into their respective leading actress and actor categories. Guess their campaign to switch up their submission strategy (they'd previously competed in the supporting races) didn't pan out.

Don't feel too bad for those two, though: With "Thrones" set for its final bow next year, we have a feeling the Emmys will want to send off the series with a flurry of additional nominations.

[via: TheWrap]