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The Delco-inspired HBO series “Mare of Easttown” fared well at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night and, once again, brought the Philly ‘burbs to a national stage.
Nominated for a whopping 16 awards, the limited-run murder mystery spoofed on SNL took home four awards. “Mare” actors and producers were honored at the ceremony, which overall was widely considered underwhelming — and disappointing because literally zero actors of color won.
Although “Mare of Easttown” didn’t get the nod for Outstanding Limited Series (considered the most prestigious award) it did score tiny gold statues in the following categories:
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a limited or anthology series or movie, won by Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan
- Outstanding Supporting Actor in a limited or anthology series or movie, won by Evan Peters as Detective Colin Zabel
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a limited or anthology series or movie, won by Julianne Nicholson as Lori Ross
- Outstanding Production Design for a narrative contemporary program (one hour or more)
When Winslet accepted her award, she called the show a “cultural moment” that brought people together to talk about something other than the coronavirus.
Winslet praised her fellow nominees and saluted director Craig Zobel for creating an imperfect, middle-aged mom character — which she said was like her in real life, thanking her three kids and calling herself a “winner” because she got to go home with her husband, the man she loves.
She did it all in her British accent, reminding us that her adoption of the Delco accent was extra impressive. To fully immerse herself into the character, Winslet hung out a lot at Wawa during production and called it “a mythical place.”
Character studies at Wawa are pretty effective, apparently. Winslet was recently named to Time’s list of 100 Most Influential People of 2021 for her Mare Sheehan portrayal.
Best Supporting Actor winner Peters gave a Philly-area shoutout when he accepted his statuette. Detective Zabel delivered a perfect Delco pronunciation of “hoagies and homes” while thanking all the fans who tuned into the show. His excited, nervous speech also included a memorable hat tip to Kate Winslet “for being KATE WINSLET!”
Nicholson, who played Mare’s closest friend Lori Ross, took home the award for outstanding supporting actress, also dedicated her award to Winslet.
“Kate Winslet, man, you’re good at acting,” Nicholson said. “But turns out, that you’re good at caring for a whole production. You led all of us every step of the way with such care and intelligence and love. If you hadn’t called and asked me to join you in Philly, I’d have probably read the first two scripts and said, ‘Nah, the priest did it,’ and stayed home. So, I owe this to you.”
Clearly, “Mare”‘s first season was a success. Does that mean we can expect a second? It’s possible. In an interview after the ceremony, Winslet called it an “ongoing conversation.”
“I would love to play her again, I absolutely believe there’s more chapters to her story,” Winslet said. “However, just because the story has touched people that doesn’t necessarily mean creatively we can do it again. But it doesn’t mean closing doors; we’re opening doors, exploring what’s behind the doors.”
If the show does secure a second season, it might mean even more tourists flocking to the small Delaware County town of Wallingford — where the first season was filmed.
After the show first aired, officials installed “Local Traffic Only” signs along filming areas and police warned fans to avoid private property. Some neighbors said they were kinda into all the hype.
“I thought it was great,” Heather Sullivan told CBS3. “We were really happy that it turned out to be a great show, most of the neighborhood got together for the finale and we watched it outside of Mare’s house and really did enjoy it.”
