^{Credit: Julie Andrews (Netflix), Invincible (Amazon Prime Video), The Simpsons (Fox), Big Mouth (Netflix), Andor (Disney+), What If...? (Disney+)}

This year’s Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance went to Julie Andrews, who voices Lady Whistledown on Bridgerton. This was Andrews’ fourth nomination in the category, previously losing once to Chadwick Boseman for What If...? and twice to Maya Rudolph for Big Mouth. Andrews not only beat Rudolph this year, but also Hank Azaria (The Simpsons), Alan Tudyk (Andor), Jeffrey Wright (What If...?), and Steven Yeun (Invincible). Andrews’ win stands out for a few reasons. Aside from Tudyk as K-2SO in Andor, Andrews’ performance was the only other nominee from a live-action production. Most notably, Andrews’ Lady Whistledown is the show’s narrator.

Wright also narrates What If...?, although his character, The Watcher, makes onscreen appearances and occasionally gets directly involved in the stories. Andrews plays a disembodied voice, narrating the hot gossip scribed by Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington. Umm… spoiler if you haven’t seen Bridgerton Season 1. Season 3 was a standout year for Coughlan, although she went overlooked in Lead Actress in a Drama Series. While Andrews’ signature angelic voice is perfectly tailored to Lady Whistledown, does a narrator belong in the same category as Mark Grayson, Moe Szyslak, and Connie the Hormone Monstress?

A similar question was asked in 2013 when Outstanding Voice-Over Performance went to Lily Tomlin for narrating the HBO documentary An Apology to Elephants. This wasn’t the first time a narrator won this award. Christopher Plummer won for narrating the Madeline series in 1994, Peter Macon won for Animated Tales of the World in 2002, and Keith David won twice for Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson and The War in 2005 and 08, respectively. After Tomlin beat Bob Bergen (The Looney Tunes Show), Alex Borstein (Family Guy), Sam Elliott (Robot Chicken), Seth Green (Robot Chicken), and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), though, the Emmys noticed that one of these things is not like the others.

The following year, ATAS introduced a new category for Outstanding Narrator. The voice acting category was revised as Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. For the narrator category, the rules say that entries must be “narration in a documentary/nonfiction series or special.” Bridgerton isn’t a documentary and Lady Whistledown is a character. So, it makes sense for Andrews to submit in the Voice-Over Performance category, which specifies, “Eligibility in this category includes any voice-over performance where a character is portrayed no matter how the visual is produced.”

Still, something feels off about including Andrews in Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. At the end of the day, she’s narrating the series, which feels more in line with the other category. That doesn’t necessarily mean Andrews should’ve been submitted for Outstanding Narrator instead. Yet, it might be time for the Emmys to create another category for Outstanding Character Narration. Andrews isn’t the only one whose performance feels caught between two categories.

Although not nominated this year, Michael C. Hall was submitted for narrating Dexter: Original Sin. Jennifer Aniston provided the main character’s inner voice in the Disney+ movie, Out of My Mind. In the past, Brenda Strong was nominated twice for voicing Mary Alice Young on Desperate Housewives. In both cases, she lost to Maurice LaMarche for Futurama. While LaMarche and Strong both gave iconic performances, one voiced an assortment of colorful characters while the other calmly narrated the juicy drama of Wisteria Lane. Voice acting is voice acting, but these two styles are completely different. It’s like if the Emmys combined comedic and dramatic performances into one category.

There have been many memorable TV narrators over the decades, from Ron Howard in Arrested Development, to Kristin Bell in Gossip Girl, to Bob Saget in How I Met Your Mother, to Jim Parsons in Young Sheldon, to Patton Oswalt in The Goldbergs, to Daniel Stern in The Wonder Years. It’s time that we gave these narrators a league of their own. I’m not at all saying that Andrews is unworthy of her Emmy. She’s an international treasure who deserves every accolade. Just as Tomlin’s win brought about change twelve years ago, though, an Emmy for Outstanding Character Narration seems like the next logical step. If you’re an ATAS member who agrees, make your voice heard.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!