Emmy nominations voting opens tomorrow — and for the first time in the award's history, a horror limited series has a lead actress ranked among the top contenders. Camila Morrone, who earned a supporting Emmy nomination three years ago for Daisy Jones & The Six, is now on the ballot as lead actress for Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, Netflix's atmospheric wedding-horror limited series that has been streaming since March 26. Her campaign arrives at a structural crossroads: no horror series has ever won Outstanding Limited Series at the Emmys, and the Television Academy's willingness to place a horror lead actress in its top acting category would mark a genuine shift in how the genre is valued.
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen was created and showrun by Haley Z. Boston, who previously wrote for Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities and Netflix's Brand New Cherry Flavor. The series is executive-produced by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer under their Upside Down Pictures banner. It holds an 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes across 65 reviews — strong enough to be competitive, though a divided critical response on pacing has made its awards ceiling a live debate.
Morrone's Lead Actress Bid Challenges Horror's Emmy Barrier
For Morrone, the nomination campaign represents more than personal recognition. Her prior Emmy nod — for Outstanding Supporting Actress in Daisy Jones & The Six in 2023 — placed her in the lower-stakes supporting category. A lead actress nomination for Something Very Bad would be her first time competing at the top acting level, and it would come in a genre that Emmy voters have historically kept at arm's length. According to the Hollywood Reporter's Feinberg Forecast, updated June 9, Morrone ranks sixth overall in lead actress — a "Major Threat" — though the series itself sits lower in the Outstanding Limited Series field, a reflection of that genre ceiling.
"That sounds scary!" Morrone told Gold Derby about the prospect of being on the Emmy ballot. "There are some incredible women who are going to be on that ballot. There are going to be actresses that I've watched all of my life."
The distinction between acting recognition and series-level recognition matters for the broader industry. Horror programs have previously won below-the-line Emmys and acting awards — American Horror Story and The Last of Us both broke through in those categories — but no horror production has ever claimed the Outstanding Limited Series trophy. Netflix, however, has won that category in four of the past five years: Adolescence (2025), Baby Reindeer (2024), Beef (2023), and The Queen's Gambit (2021). The streamer's dominance in the category is the most significant counterweight to the genre's historical disadvantage.
About the Series: Wedding Dread, Family Curses, and Practical Blood
In Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, Morrone plays Rachel Harkin, a bride-to-be who travels with her fiancé Nicky Cunningham (Adam DiMarco) to his family's secluded home in the snowy woods of Upstate New York for their wedding week — only to become entangled in a generations-old family curse. The eight-episode series also features Jennifer Jason Leigh and Ted Levine in supporting roles, with a score composed by Colin Stetson. Director Weronika Tofilska, who received an Emmy nomination for directing Baby Reindeer, helmed four episodes including the pilot and the finale, which she is submitting for Emmy consideration in the directing category.
"Horror doesn't have to be just blood and guts and gore," Morrone told Emmy Magazine. "It's elaborate, with so many different tiers and levels. I think some of the best filmmakers are working in the genre."
Tofilska's finale required crew members to wear protective shoes and raincoats to shield themselves from the volume of practical effects used in what she described as "the big bloodbath" scene. In a June 10 interview with Awards Radar, Tofilska described the finale as having "an operatic quality" — a blood-soaked culmination that she framed as a full-series payoff. About 90% of the blood in the finale is practical rather than computer-generated.
The series was shot in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, between January and May 2025.
Fighting for the Role, and for the Genre
Morrone — who alongside Something Very Bad also stars in the second season of The Night Manager on Prime Video, playing cunning intelligence asset Roxana Bolaños opposite Tom Hiddleston — has spoken openly about the competitive audition process for the role. "I definitely had to fight for it, but I think that's the most rewarding way of booking a job," she told Netflix's Tudum. The production left a lasting emotional mark. "I think of myself as being really good at letting go of characters," she told Emmy Magazine, "but living in this state of life and death really creeps up on you."
"The most challenging part for me in playing Rachel was trying to understand her headspace and her inner world," she added. "She's someone who's very skeptical, very wary of the world, very mistrustful. It was a departure from me and who I am."
The show's creative origins trace partly to Northwestern University's School of Communication, where creator Haley Z. Boston (class of 2016) and writer Isaac Sims (class of 2017) developed their craft before entering the industry. Boston was greenlit by Netflix in July 2024 and entered a two-year sprint from commission to premiere. "I was so excited and scared, and from the second that call came, my life just changed immediately," she told The Daily Northwestern.
What Critics Said About the Series
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen earned an 85% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes across 65 professional reviews. RogerEbert.com awarded 3.5 out of 4 stars, calling it a production that "drips with a sense of dread." Bloody Disgusting praised its ambition and the casting of Ted Levine — familiar to audiences from The Silence of the Lambs — as an added layer of horror credibility. Variety's Alison Herman and Time's Judy Berman both noted that the series takes too long to build tension in its middle episodes. The Wall Street Journal called it "10 gallons of horror in a 5-gallon vehicle." Those mixed reviews have not dampened the FYC campaign.
Does Netflix's Emmy Track Record Help Horror?
The platform angle may prove to be as consequential as the genre question. Before The Queen's Gambit in 2021, no streaming service had ever won Outstanding Limited Series. Netflix's five-year run since then has redefined voter expectations in the category. The question entering the June 11–22 voting window is whether that institutional credibility extends to a genre that has historically been treated as a technical showcase rather than a prestige acting vehicle. If Morrone lands a lead actress nomination — and if the series itself earns a spot in the Outstanding Limited Series field — it would be the first time voters sent an unambiguous signal that horror has arrived as a peer to prestige drama in the limited-series space.
Emmy nominations voting runs June 11–22, 2026. The full nominations slate will be announced on July 8, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen worth watching on Netflix?
The series holds an 85% Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes across 65 critic reviews. Reviewers praise its atmosphere and lead performance but note it takes several episodes to build momentum. If you enjoy slow-burn supernatural horror, the finale has been widely described as a standout.
Did Camila Morrone get an Emmy nomination for Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen?
As of June 10, 2026, Emmy nominations voting has not yet opened — the voting window runs June 11–22, with the full nominations announced July 8. The Hollywood Reporter's Feinberg Forecast, updated June 9, ranks Morrone sixth among lead actress contenders, classifying her as a "Major Threat."
Has a horror limited series ever won the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series?
No. As of 2026, no horror limited series has ever won the Outstanding Limited Series Emmy. Horror programs have won technical and acting awards in the category, but the top series prize has gone to prestige dramas and relationship narratives. Netflix's four wins in five years in the category — including Adolescence, Baby Reindeer, and Beef — give the genre's best-positioned entry an unusual structural advantage.
Who created Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen and who is behind it?
The series was created and showrun by Haley Z. Boston, who previously wrote for Netflix's Cabinet of Curiosities and Brand New Cherry Flavor. It is executive-produced by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer under their Upside Down Pictures banner. Director Weronika Tofilska, an Emmy nominee for Baby Reindeer, helmed four of the eight episodes.
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