(CNN) "The Handmaid's Tale" executive producer Bruce Miller hadn't yet spoken to star Elisabeth Moss when called by CNN in the hours after the show scored an impressive 13 Emmy nominations.

But, he admitted, they had traded texts -- "that were mostly a lot of emojis."

The exciting news came on a day that highlighted television's influx of fully formed female characters -- from "Feud: Bette and Joan" to "Big Little Lies" to "The Crown."

"It's been a long time coming," said Miller. "It just takes a while for these shows to go through the pipeline and come out the other end."

"The Handmaid's Tale's" Emmy nominations included individual honors for Moss, Ann Dowd ("Aunt Lydia"), Samira Wiley ("Moira"), and Alexis Bledel ("Ofglen"), and a nod for outstanding drama, in addition to several technical categories.

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