Forced for a second year to abandon the traditional mass gathering of celebrities and executives, Cedric the Entertainer will host a scaled-back show in Los Angeles on Sunday that has been moved to an outdoor tent because of concerns over the Delta variant.

Despite vaccination, testing and masking requirements, Jennifer Aniston is among those who won’t be attending, citing her personal safety. And many of the cast of drama series favorite “The Crown” will likely take part from London, organisers said.

“We do have some people wanting to dial in, and we understand that,” Maury McIntyre, president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, told “Variety” this week.

“It’s only about 500 in the tent, but 500 is still a lot for some people,” McIntyre said.

Last year, the Emmys was held virtually with celebrities joining remotely from homes, gardens and hotel rooms around the world rather than the usual in-person event for more than 4,000 people.

Television viewing exploded during the pandemic, sending people stuck at home to vast libraries of content on streaming platforms.

“Ted Lasso,” a heartwarming comedy about a fish-out-of-water American coaching a struggling British soccer team, and British royal series “The Crown,” are expected to be some of the beneficiaries this year.

“Ted Lasso” scored 20 Emmys nods, including best comedy series, and nominations for lead actor Jason Sudeikis and six other actors.

“‘Ted Lasso’ is old-fashioned, shamelessly lovable and full of wonderful twists and turns,” said Tom O’Neil, founder of awards website Goldderby.com. “It has unflagging optimism all the time even when things seem really, really bad.”

The show could deliver the Apple TV+ streaming platform its first major win.

Taking home the crown?

After a compelling season that focused on the unhappy marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, “The Crown” nabbed 24 Emmy nods. Awards experts predict it will take home its first best drama series Emmy, clinching a milestone win for Netflix.

“If ‘The Crown’ and ‘Ted Lasso’ both end up winning the best TV series race, it will mark the total conquest of television by the streaming services,” O’Neil said.

Amazon and Hulu previously won the TV series prizes for “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” respectively.

“I would be shocked if ‘The Crown’ did not win,” said Gerrad Hall, senior TV editor at “Entertainment Weekly”.

“It was a stellar season and every single performance on that show is awards-worthy.”

“The Crown” will compete for best drama series, the top award, against “Star Wars” TV spinoff “The Mandalorian” featuring the beloved Baby Yoda, “Bridgerton”, “The Boys”, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, “Pose”, “Lovecraft Country”, and the sole mainstream network series “This is Us”.

Streaming services also dominate the limited series field, which pundits say is too close to call.

“These limited series are prestige TV,” said Hall, referring to “I May Destroy You”, “Mare of Easttown”, “The Queen’s Gambit”, “WandaVision” and “The Underground Railroad”.

“Every single one of the nominated shows are female-driven stories, showcasing such a variety of themes,” Hall added.

The Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on CBS on Sunday, starting at 8pm ET (8am Monday in Malaysia). Here it the full list of nominees:

Outstanding drama series

• “The Boys” (Prime Video)
• “Bridgerton” (Netflix)
• “The Crown” (Netflix)
• “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu)
• “Lovecraft Country” (HBO)
• “The Mandalorian” (Disney +)
• “Pose” (FX Networks)
• “This is Us” (NBC)

Outstanding comedy series

• “black-ish” (ABC)
• “Cobra Kai” (Netflix)
• “Emily in Paris” (Netflix)
• “The Flight Attendant” (HBO Max)
• “Hacks” (HBO Max)
• “The Kominsky Method” (Netflix)
• “PEN15” (Hulu)
• “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+)

Lead actor, drama

• Sterling K Brown, “This is Us”
• Jonathan Majors, “Lovecraft Country”
• Josh O’Connor, “The Crown”
• Rege-Jean Page, “Bridgerton”
• Billy Porter, “Pose”
• Matthew Rhys, “Perry Mason”

Lead actress, drama

• Uzo Aduba, “In Treatment”
• Olivia Colman, “The Crown”
• Emma Corrin, “The Crown”
• Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Mj Rodriguez, “Pose”
• Jurnee Smollett, “Lovecraft Country”

Lead actor, comedy

• Anthony Anderson, “black-ish”
• Michael Douglas, “The Kominsky Method”
• William H Macy, “Shameless”
• Jason Sudeikis, “Ted Lasso”
• Kenan Thompson, “Kenan”

Lead actress, comedy

• Aidy Bryant, “Shrill”
• Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant”
• Allison Janney, “Mom”
• Tracee Ellis Ross, “black-ish”
• Jean Smart, “Hacks”

Supporting actor, drama

• Giancarlo Esposito, “The Mandalorian”
• O-T Fagbenle, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• John Lithgow, “Perry Mason”
• Tobias Menzies, “The Crown”
• Max Minghella, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Chris Sullivan, “This Is Us”
• Bradley Whitford, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Michael K Williams, “Lovecraft Country”

Supporting actress, drama

• Gillian Anderson, “The Crown”
• Helena Bonham Carter, “The Crown”
• Madeline Brewer, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Ann Dowd, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Aunjanue Ellis, “Lovecraft Country”
• Emerald Fennell, “The Crown”
• Yvonne Strahovski, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
• Samira Wiley, “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Supporting actor, comedy

• Carl Clemons-Hopkins, “Hacks”
• Brett Goldstein, “Ted Lasso”
• Brendan Hunt, “Ted Lasso”
• Nick Mohammed, “Ted Lasso”
• Paul Reiser, “The Kominsky Method”
• Jeremy Swift, “Ted Lasso”
• Kenan Thompson, “Saturday Night Live”
• Bowen Yang, “Saturday Night Live”

Supporting actress, comedy

• Aidy Bryant, “Saturday Night Live”
• Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”
• Kate McKinnon, “Saturday Night Live”
• Rosie Perez, “The Flight Attendant”
• Cecily Strong, “Saturday Night Live”
• Juno Temple, “Ted Lasso”
• Hannah Waddingham, “Ted Lasso”

Outstanding limited series

• “I May Destroy You” (HBO)
• “Mare of Easttown” (HBO)
• “The Queen’s Gambit” (Netflix)
• “The Underground Railroad” (Prime Video)
• “WandaVision” (Disney+)

Outstanding TV movie

• “Dolly Parton’s Christmas On The Square” (Netflix)
• “Oslo” (HBO)
• “Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia” (Lifetime)
• “Sylvie’s Love” (Prime Video)
• “Uncle Frank” (Prime Video)

Lead actor, limited series or movie

• Paul Bettany, “WandaVision”
• Hugh Grant, “The Undoing”
• Ewan McGregor, “Halston”
• Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton”
• Leslie Odom, Jr, “Hamilton”

Lead actress, limited series or movie

• Michaela Coel, “I May Destroy You”
• Cynthia Erivo, “Genius: Aretha”
• Elizabeth Olsen, “WandaVision”
• Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Queen’s Gambit”
• Kate Winslet, “Mare Of Easttown”

Supporting actor, limited series or movie

• Thomas Brodie-Sangster, “The Queen’s Gambit”
• Daveed Diggs, “Hamilton”
• Paapa Essiedu, “I May Destroy You”
• Jonathan Groff, “Hamilton”
• Evan Peters, “Mare Of Easttown”
• Anthony Ramos, “Hamilton”

Supporting actress, limited series or movie

• Renee Elise Goldsberry, “Hamilton”
• Kathryn Hahn, “WandaVision”
• Moses Ingram, “The Queen’s Gambit”
• Julianne Nicholson, “Mare Of Easttown”
• Jean Smart, “Mare Of Easttown”
• Phillipa Soo, “Hamilton”