While receiving rave reviews from critics, the debut season of The Mandalorian was unfairly snubbed at the Golden Globes with no nominations sent its way, but the Star Wars spin-off series at Disney+ did shake up the annual awards ceremony by spawning a new eligibility rule, according to Variety.
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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced that moving forward, “voice-only performances are not eligible in any acting category,” meaning that even if an actor is physically portraying a character in a scene, their faces must be visible in order to be eligible for a nomination. This rule spawned from The Mandalorian, in which while Pascal was in costume for all eight episodes of the first season, his face was kept hidden under his iconic helmet until the season finale.
Insiders report that the unusual nature of his face being kept hidden led to the HFPA reconsidering its points of eligibility, as the 45-year-old Narcos alum was eligible for a Golden Globe nod last year, but was ultimately overlooked by the group anyway. However, given the revelation of his face in the season finale, he would still have been eligible for a nomination under this new rule.
Another major in the TV nomination world has seen the HFPA add the series classification of anthology to its limited series/TV movie category, following last year’s decision to add programs that fall under this genre, such as Netflix’s Black Mirror and CBS All Access’ The Twilight Zone, to its list of eligible programs.
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Though the announcement arrives today, the new rule changes were reportedly decided by the HFPA prior to Hollywood shutting down due to the global pandemic and is considering additional changes due to said outbreak, including the earlier announcement that films streamed prior to a later theatrical release due to theater closures will be considered eligible.
