Lovecraft Country star Courtney B Vance took the opportunity to pay tribute to his co-star Michael K. Williams as he accepted his Emmy award for Outstanding Guest Appearance in a Drama Series at this weekend’s Emmy ceremony. Vance won the award for his performance as George Freeman in the episode “Whitey’s On The Moon” of the canceled series, while Williams, who died last week, is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for playing Montrose Freeman, the brother of Vance’s character.
While he paid thanks to series creator Misha Green, his fellow nominees, which included Don Cheadle, who was nominated for his blink and you miss it cameo in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and his family, Vance ended his speech honoring Williams as someone who “did everything with his full heart open, with his infinite spirit and with way too much style. May he rest in power and let us all honor his immense legacy by being a little more love forward, a little more endless in thought and a little more swaggy in act.”
Vance spoke further about working with Williams in a backstage interview, saying, “I love him. We recently met for the first time,” Vance said of Williams during a backstage appearance with press (via Deadline). “I’ve been following him and he’s been following me for a number of years. We met at an event in New Jersey about three years ago. We were just overjoyed to share the same dias and couldn’t wait to get offstage so we could hug and just say how much we loved each other. And the idea that shortly after that we would be playing brothers in Lovecraft Country. This is his. We were brothers. I died in the series and we said goodbye to each other, so it’s just too painful to really think about so I just honor him everywhere and every way I can.”
Although the series was cancelled, Lovecraft Country picked up 18 Emmy nominations in total, including Williams’ fifth nod from the panel. Creator Green shared details of her plan for Season 2 with fans via Twitter shortly after the cancellation was made by HBO. Green has since been linked to writing the script for DC’s Black Canary movie which is now moving forward for HBO Max and would see the writer reunited with Lovecraft Country star Jurnee Smollett.
Courtney B. Vance said in relation to the show’s early termination, “I’m very, very happy and at the same time, I’m very sad because of Michael and because we’re not still doing the show. In my mind and in my spirit it doesn’t make sense. I’m sad for audiences that we don’t get to see like Game of Thrones we don’t get to see seven years, eight years of following these characters and learning more about that time period and learning about our people and their struggles. And where Misha’s mind is going to go, so that’s very painful for me as an actor.” Lovecraft Country‘s ten episode run is available to watch on HBO Max.