(Credit: Netflix)

Barack Obama has a habit of making history, but this time it wasn’t on a political stage. Over the weekend, the former US president added another trophy to his collection, aka his third Emmy, and all thanks to Netflix.

Yes, the same man once behind the nuclear codes is now three-for-three when it comes to narrating documentaries. Did you see that coming?

The reason behind thanking the streamer is that the win came for his work on the Netflix documentary Our Oceans. He lent his voice to the Indian Ocean episode of the series and thus won for the third time.

There might be a chance that this series slipped right under your nose, but it’s a good one to watch. A major reason why the 64-year-old won it is that it sweeps through marine life with the kind of calm, commanding tone that Emmy voters clearly couldn’t resist.

And resist they did not. In fact, Obama was up against a lineup so stacked it could have been its own awards special. You had Sir David Attenborough, the voice of nature itself, nominated for Planet Earth: Asia. Idris Elba brought his weight to Erased: WWII’s Heroes of Color, also, Tom Hanks, who feels like he has narrated half of American history already, was there for The Americas. And a fun and a bit unexpected contender in the race was Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who is well known for turning wit into an art form and was recognised for Octopus!

That is the part that makes this story delicious. Obama isn’t just winning Emmys; he is beating legends, the very people whose voices have defined genres. Yet somehow, voters keep handing him the gold.

This win is remarkable, as it also completes a neat Netflix trilogy. Back in 2022, Obama won the first for voicing Our Great National Parks, a sweeping docu-lens on landscapes across the globe. A year later, in 2023, he picked up another for Working: What We Do All Day, a docuseries that spotlighted the rhythms of daily jobs and the consequences of hard labour. And now, Our Oceans makes it three straight years of Netflix projects, and three straight wins.

There’s something about it that oddly fits. After eight years of delivering speeches carrying the weight of world peace or at least cooperation, Obama’s voice has found a new stage. He is now guiding viewers through forests, factories, and the depths of the sea. Unfortunately, he wasn’t at the Creative Arts ceremony to accept this latest Emmy; hence, comedian Jordan Klepper did the honours. Be it whatever, the streak speaks for itself.

People might think it is the gravitas of a former president with the very familiar cadence rousing spirits and delivering outrage over injustices, or maybe it’s just the novelty of hearing ‘the leader of the free world’ narrate the life cycle of a jellyfish, regardless of what gets you going, Netflix has clearly found its not-so-secret weapon.

Three years, three series, and three wins: all narrated by Barack Obama. Attenborough might still be the voice of the planet, Hanks might still be the dad of America, and Elba might still be Hollywood’s most charismatic leading man, but right now, Obama is Netflix’s Emmy king.