The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series is an award presented since 1951 by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). The award goes to the producers of the series. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the Emmys ceremonies.

Since its institution in 1951 the award has changed names many times in its history. It was first called Best Dramatic Show from 1951 to 1954, then Best Dramatic Series in 1955 and 1956. In 1957, no specific award for drama was given, but in 1958 the category was split into two separate categories, Best Dramatic Anthology Series, and Best Dramatic Series with Continuing Characters with a winner selected from each category. The following year, the category was differently split into two separate categories, Best Dramatic Series – Less Than One Hour. In 1960, the name was changed yet again to Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Drama; this name was kept from 1960 to 1964. In 1966, it had its sixth name change to Outstanding Dramatic Series or Outstanding Series-Drama; this was used from 1966 until recently, when it became Outstanding Drama Series.

In 1988, Rumpole of the Bailey (PBS) was initially nominated in the Outstanding Miniseries category but the Academy ruled that the nomination was not valid a few days later and later allowed the program to compete in the Outstanding Drama Series category.

Since 2000, every single winner has been a serial drama: The West Wing (2000–2003), The Sopranos (2004, 2007), Lost (2005), 24 (2006), Mad Men (2008–2011), Homeland (2012), Breaking Bad (2013–2014), Game of Thrones (2015–2016, 2018–2019), The Handmaid's Tale (2017), Succession (2020, 2022-2023), The Crown (2021), Shōgun (2024) and The Pitt (2025). Since the advent of Hill Street Blues in 1981, every winner has had some serialized arcs with the exception of Law & Order.^[A] The majority of these shows have won between their first and fifth seasons. Only one show have been exceeded with more than sixth seasons onwards who have won multiple times is Game of Thrones with sixth, seventh, and eighth; the remaining shows within more than sixth seasons who also won one are The Sopranos with sixth and Law & Order with seventh.

Since 1967, they are the only non-US series or television series from outside the United States to be nominated including The Avengers, The Forsyte Saga, The First Churchills, Elizabeth R, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Upstairs, Downstairs, Rumpole of the Bailey, Downton Abbey, Bodyguard, Killing Eve, Squid Game, and Slow Horses; most non-US series are entirely United Kingdom, Squid Game is the only Asia and South Korea to do so. Elizabeth R and Upstairs, Downstairs are the only two to win, while the latter is the only one to win multiple times.

Game of Thrones, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Mad Men, and The West Wing share the record for most wins in the category with four. Law & Order holds the record for most nominations in the category with eleven, while Better Call Saul holds the record for most nominations without a win with seven.

Since 2022, Squid Game (Korean) and Shōgun (Japanese) are the only non-English language series to be nominated in that category; Shōgun being the first to win.

Since 2023, The Last of Us and Fallout are the only series based on their respective video games to be nominated in that category.