Game of Thrones wins best drama, shatters Emmy record 

The 67th Annual Emmy Awards crowned HBO’s fantasy hit with its highest honor Sunday night, with 

 snap its drama category runner-up streak, but the series picked up Emmys for outstanding supporting actor (Peter Dinklage), writing (David Benioff and Dan Weiss) and direction (David Nutter) on Sunday night. With a total of 12 Emmys this year (including eight won at the previously held Creative Arts Emmys), 

 to take home more TV Academy awards in a single year than any other show. 

 easily beat the White House drama’s 2000 record of nine wins in one year.

EMMYS 2015: Winners | Red carpet arrivals | Creative Arts winners | Best & worst moments | Best speeches | Nominees by the numbers | Quotes quiz | Live blog

Nominated for outstanding drama for each of its five seasons, 

. This year, many bet AMC’s other critical darling and four-time previous winner 

 would reclaim the throne for its final season. Yet 

 managed its first drama series win after racking up more nominations than any program, and only lost one major category for which it was nominated (Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke each lost best supporting actress to Uzo Aduba for Netflix’s 

). Previously, the only top category won by the show was Dinklage’s 2011 supporting actor victory for the show’s first season. 

 team’s speeches were low-key. Accepting the award for outstanding drama series, Benioff and Weiss thanked the show’s cast and crew and HBO for taking a chance on them and “believing in dragons.” Dinklage said he didn’t have anything prepared (and genuinely seemed like it), and gave a shout-out to the other nominees — particularly 

’s Jonathan Banks, who was the odds-on favorite to win. 

finally won this year. “We knew that there would be some resistance at first to a show set in this genre … we knew it would take a while,” Benioff said. “But we’d hoped if we did our jobs and if we were fortunate enough to be blessed with the cast and crew that we were blessed with … and if we got lucky, that we’d get there eventually.”

 team given the controversy surrounding season 5. 

 has raised eyebrows and generated pundit protest every year for its brutal depiction of a world inspired by Medieval Europe, but complaints reached a fever pitch during season 5 after a young likable character was raped and another was burned alive (a U.S. senator famously declared she was quitting 

But showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have remained stalwart throughout the saga that they’re going to remain true to creator George R.R. Martin’s world and not adjust their narrative based on fandom reactions. The producers also declined to make the Hollywood media rounds during Emmy voting season to drum up support for their show, as is customary for nominated producers, and instead remained focused on making season 6. So despite drawing more controversy than any program this year and refusing to play the “game of Emmys” with the press, 

Fellow showrunner Damon Lindelof, who produces HBO’s 

to take the top prize. “As someone who makes television, I watch that show and I do not know how they do it,” Lindelof told EW in a discussion of the show’s fifth season. “When I was watching [episode 8] “Hardhome” this season, I was just like, “That’s one of the most excellent hours of television I’ve ever seen. It’s excellent for different reasons than ‘The Suitcase’ episode of 

Here is a complete list of 2015 Emmys won by 

— Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (David Benioff and Dan Weiss, “Mother’s Mercy”)

— Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series (David Nutter, “Mother’s Mercy”)

— Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series 

— Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) (“High Sparrow,” “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken” “Hardhome”) 

— Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Scripted Series (“Hardhome”)

— Outstanding Special Visual Effects (“The Dance of Dragons”) 

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