HBO kept its place at the top of the Emmy nominations tree with its robot western series Westworld bagging 22 nominations at this year’s event, which saw it tie with the comedy show Saturday Night Live for the most nods.

The haul amounted to one fewer nomination than HBO’s usual Emmy juggernaut Game of Thrones managed last year, and was a shock to some observers who predicted a more modest showing from a series that had a mixed reception upon its release.

The show will battle it out for the top honour, outstanding drama series, alongside Better Call Saul, House of Cards, Stranger Things, The Crown, The Handmaid’s Tale and This Is Us. Homeland and The Americans missed out.

Westworld also had a good showing in the acting categories, with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood nominated for best lead actors and Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright recognised in the supporting actor categories.

Saturday Night Live also received 22 nominations, including a nod for Alec Baldwin and his impression of Donald Trump, while Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Vanessa Bayer, were all recognised in the best supporting actress in a comedy series category.

Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred Miles, Keith Standfield as Darius, and Donald Glover as Earnest Marks. Photograph: null/2016, FX Networks. All Rights Reserved.

On Thursday morning in Los Angeles, the Veep actor Anna Chlumsky and the Criminal Minds star Shemar Moore read out the nominations. It was another diverse list following last year’s showing, in which actors of colour were nominated in all the leading actor categories – a first. That feat wasn’t repeated this year, with no actors of colour nominated in the best actress in a limited series or a television musical.

Donald Glover’s Atlanta received nods for best comedy series and best comedy actor for Glover. ABC’s Black-ish is up for best comedy series, and its lead actors, Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, were both nominated in the best comedy actor and actress categories. Aziz Ansari’s Master of None is also up for best comedy, and Ansari for best comedy actor, while HBO’s The Night Of took 13 nominations.

Viola Davis was nominated again for best actress in a drama series for her role in How To Get Away With Murder, and Sterling K Brown was nominated for best actor in a drama series for his performance in This Is Us.

The only real shocks came in the best talk show category, where Jimmy Fallon missed out and Bill Maher’s Real Talk was nominated despite controversy surrounding the host, who used the N-word on the show recently. Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal was also included, while Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee missed out.

Other shows that missed out were the Leftovers, which didn’t bag any nominations in the main categories, plus Girls and Transparent which both missed out in the best comedy series category. Mr Robot’s Rami Malek also missed out on best actor in a drama series despite winning in that category last year. Carrie Fisher was given a posthumous nomination for her role in Catastrophe.