Riz Ahmed’s ‘Bait’ 21 Category Emmy Entries

Amazon is releasing a number of ‘bait’ to hook Emmy voters.

The streamer’s British six-part miniseries “Bait,” starring Riz Ahmed, is making momentum for Emmy season, with plans to submit in 21 categories, including outstanding limited or anthology series, Variety only learned.

“Bait” ​​follows Shah Latif (Ahmed), a struggling British Pakistani actor who endures an existential crisis while auditioning for the role of James Bond amid cultural adversity, professional pressure and strained family relationships. The Prime Video series, which premiered worldwide on March 25 after debuting earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, has received positive reviews from critics and currently sits at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

On the Emmy front, “Bait” ​​will run a broad campaign spanning major series and craft categories.

An Oscar winner for producing the live-action short film “The Long Goodbye” (2021) and nominated for Best Actor for the intense drama “Sound of Metal” (2020), Ahmed has established himself as a multi-hyphenate in film, television and theater. At the 2017 Emmys, he made history as the first South Asian and Muslim man to win an acting Emmy for his role as Nasir Khan in HBO’s miniseries “The Night Of.” That same year, he earned a second nomination as a guest actor for HBO’s comedy “Girls.” He will be a big focus for the campaign and is going for another nomination for lead actor (limited).

Guz Khan, who plays Shah’s cousin Zulfi, will be nominated for a supporting role (limited), while Sheeba Chaddha, who plays Tahira, will compete for a supporting role. Actors can submit themselves for Emmy consideration, and many final choices regarding episode submissions for Artisans won’t be fully known until nomination voting begins in June.

Director Bassam Tariq will release episode 3, titled ‘House or Home’, which will also serve as the official writing entry for writer Azam Mahmood.

Along with Ahmed, Allie Moore, Ben Karlin and Jake Fuller serve as executive producers of the series, with Chris Sheriff, Karen Joseph Adcock, Dipika Guha, Prashanth Venkataramanujam and Azam Mahmood serving as producers.

This year’s Emmy timeline begins with voting in the nomination round from June 11 to 22, followed by nominations on July 8.

The full list of Emmy entries for “Bait” ​​is below:

All six episodes of “Bait” ​​are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.