Photo by Arnold Turner/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images.
Teddy Perkins may have died a horrific death at the end of his brilliant Atlanta bottle episode last season, but it looks like the guy still managed to somehow make it to the Emmys. The fictional character showed up in all his terrifying, uncanny-valley glory seated in the front row at the 2018 Emmy Awards Tuesday night, presumably ready to storm onstage if the show won one of its many well-deserved nominations.
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Unfortunately, Atlanta's "Teddy Perkins" episode lost out to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, so we'll never get to hear Perkins's acceptance speech. But the internet still collectively lost their goddamn minds when the camera cut to him—especially since no one was quite sure who it was under the make-up and prosthetics.
Donald Glover played the soft-boiled egg-loving shut-in who thoroughly creeped out Lakeith Stanfield's Darius in the episode, so everyone naturally just assumed it was Glover in costume again. But was it? The Perkins at the Emmys looks quite a bit different from Glover's version, and later in the night the camera panned over to Glover in what looks like the same seat, just wearing a completely different suit.
Sure, the fact that they look different might just be the result of whatever radical facial reconstruction would have to take place after the shotgun blast at the end of the episode, but the difference led some to suspect that it was actually Stanfield in costume.
Except, wait.
Photo by Arnold Turner/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images
Well, there you have it. It wasn't Glover, it wasn't Stanfield—the only explanation is that Teddy Perkins is a real person and the Atlanta team was kind enough to coax him out of his secluded mansion and come to an awards show.Now there are two reasons why Atlanta should've won all the Emmys: First of all, it was the greatest show on TV this year, and possibly ever—but more importantly—we would've gotten to see Teddy Perkins accept the award himself, probably thanking his father.Sign up for our newsletter to get the best of VICE delivered to your inbox daily.Follow VICE on Twitter.
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Sure, the fact that they look different might just be the result of whatever radical facial reconstruction would have to take place after the shotgun blast at the end of the episode, but the difference led some to suspect that it was actually Stanfield in costume.