It’s an exciting week for Disney+’s The Mandalorian and Amazon Prime’s The Boys as they’ve both been nominated for the Best Drama award for the Writers Guild of America award ceremony, according to ComicBook. Last year, the winner for Best Drama Series went to HBO’s Succession starring Brian Cox (Agamemnon, Troy) and Kieran Culkan (Wallace Wells, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World). This year poses a stiff competition between The Mandalorian and The Boys due to both series receiving critical acclaim and fan support.
The Boys and The Mandalorian are both shows with dynamic plot points and throughout their second season they managed to manifest evolving tensions. The Mandalorian revolves around a resourceful bounty hunter finding an unlikely friend in a small green child who stems from the same species as Master Yoda (Frank Oz, Star Wars Revenge of The Sith). While The Boys takes a unique twist on the super hero genre by taking a team of seemingly altruistic heroes known as The Seven and making them self obsessed tyrants who only care about public image and wealth. The only thing standing in their way is a group misfits with a vendetta to bring The Seven to justice and make them answer for their atrocious crimes against humanity.
The Boys season two introduced a mysterious new supe with the ability to fly and blast lightning from her fingertips, Stormfront (Aya Cash, The Wolf of Wall Street) was a force to be reckoned with. Among other abilities, Stormfront displayed super strength, invulnerability, and a heartlessness that challenged the most devious supe fans have seen, Homelander (Antony Starr, Wish You Were Here) himself. With undercover plots boiling on all fronts and Billy Butcher (Karl Urban, The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers) using Homelander’s son as a bargaining chip to save his wife Becca, (Shantel Vansanten, The Flash) the finale for season two can only be described as a supernova of dramatic irony.
Season two of The Mandalorian made fans laugh, scream, and cry with the obstacles the writers throw at Mando (Pedro Pascal, Game of Thrones) and Grogu. Season two strides in expanding the live action lore of Star Wars to include the animated lore in the mainstream canon. Most fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars were delighted at the introduction of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson, Rent) to The Mandalorian. Seeing Ahsoka in the flesh was just as momentous as seeing Bo Katan (Katee Sackhoff, Riddick) appear in the series. Ahsoka brings with her an entire encyclopedia of Star Wars fan lore including knowledge of The Clone Wars, The Jedi Order, Order 66, and fighting against legendary Sith such as Darth Maul. She was a perfect addition to the series and played a vital role in reuniting Grogu with the Jedi.
The season two finale of The Mandalorian was a gift that kept on giving for Star Wars fans as the main band of heroes were saved by a welcomed face. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, Batman: The Animated Series) arrives to destroy the Imperial Death Troopers that successfully captured Grogu. With all the technological advancements made in film, the editors were able to use a body double and recreate Hamills face to align with the time period of The Mandalorian.
These two shows will be tough competition for the Writers Guild of America Best Drama Award, they both hit a stride with fans during their second seasons and used compelling narrative to put viewers through the emotional ringer. Considering the shows Better Call Saul and Ozark are also nominated for Best Drama series, fans of The Boys and The Mandalorian can only hope that one of these two shows takes home the prize.