2025 Emmy nominations: ‘Severance’ and ‘The Penguin’ lead the pack

REUTERS/DANNY MOLOSHOK/FILE PHOTO

Dozens of Emmy Awards are lined up on the trophy table in the media center at the annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, Calif., in August 2010. The dystopian workplace drama “Severance” picked up 27 Emmy nominations today, the most of any series.

The dystopian workplace drama “Severance” picked up 27 Emmy nominations today, the most of any series.

“Severance” is the early favorite in a best drama race that could be unusually competitive this year. Also landing nominations was the surprise HBO Max hit, “The Pitt,” and another HBO favorite, “The White Lotus.” “Andor,” the Star Wars series that critics fawned over, also earned a nomination, as did “The Diplomat,” “The Last of Us,” “Slow Horses” and “Paradise.”

Noah Wyle, a former star of “ER” whose career is in full comeback mode after his performance in “The Pitt,” was nominated for best actor in a drama — it’s his first nomination in 26 years. He’ll face off against Adam Scott (“Severance”), Sterling K. Brown (“Paradise”), Gary Oldman (“Slow Horses”) and Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”).

Several actors were snubbed, including Diego Luna (“Andor”), Eddie Redmayne (“The Day of the Jackal”) and Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”) who won best actor in a drama just three years ago.

Colin Farrell, who underwent a transformative makeover for his role in “The Penguin,” earned a nomination for best actor in a limited series or TV movie. He will compete against Cooper Koch (“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”), Jake Gyllenhaal (“Presumed Innocent”), Stephen Graham (“Adolescence”) and Brian Tyree Henry (“Dope Thief”).

Kathy Bates scored a nomination for best actress in a drama for her role in “Matlock,” the rebooted CBS series. Bates, 77, is the oldest actress to ever score a nomination in the category. She will face off against Sharon Horgan (“Bad Sisters”), Britt Lower (“Severance”), Bella Ramsey (“The Last of Us”) and Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”).

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Michelle Williams was nominated for best actress in a limited series or TV movie for her role in FX’s “Dying For Sex.” She will compete against Cristin Milioti (“The Penguin”), Cate Blanchett (“Disclaimer”), Meghann Fahy (“Sirens”) and Rashida Jones (“Black Mirror”).

“The Studio,” the Seth Rogen-starring comedy, had a strong showing with 23 nominations and was nominated for best comedy. It will be up against last year’s winner, “Hacks,” as well as “The Bear,” “Abbott Elementary,” “Only Murders in the Building,” “Nobody Wants This,” “Shrinking” and “What We Do in the Shadows.”

Netflix’s out-of-nowhere hit, “Adolescence,” was nominated for best limited series, and forecasters believe it is the favorite in the category. But it will face competition from “The Penguin,” which had 24 nominations, the second most of any series. “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” “Dying for Sex” and “Black Mirror” were also nominated.

The Television Academy unveiled most of the nominations for the 77th Emmy Awards at the academy’s Los Angeles headquarters in an event hosted by Harvey Guillén (“What We Do in the Shadows”) and Brenda Song (“Running Point”). TV series eligible for Emmy consideration had to premiere between June 2024 and May 2025. The prime-time Emmys ceremony will be held Sept. 14.

HBO Max, fueled by “The Penguin,” “The White Lotus,” “The Last of Us,” “Hacks” and “The Pitt,” had a huge day, scoring 142 Emmy nominations in all, a spokesperson for the network said. That’s the highest tally HBO Max has ever recorded, besting its best performance from 2022.It’s a huge rebound after last year, when HBO fell to third place among all networks in total nominations for the first time in decades.

The strong showing from “Severance” and “The Studio” is also a shot in the arm for Apple TV+. The streaming service remains little-watched, ranking below Paramount+, Peacock, HBO Max and free streamers like Pluto and Tubi for viewing time in the United States, according to Nielsen. But its creative team has assembled a lineup in recent years that have proved popular with Emmy voters. “Ted Lasso” won the best comedy Emmy twice already, and other series like “Slow Horses,” “The Morning Show” and “Lessons in Chemistry” have earned top program nominations before.

Shows hosted by Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show”), Stephen Colbert (“The Late Show”) and Jimmy Kimmel (“Jimmy Kimmel Live”) will compete for best talk series. Only three series were nominated this year, leaving “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney” out in the cold.

Late-night TV talk series are struggling these days, with ratings, advertising revenue and even the number of shows dropping fast. In 2019, there were as many as six nominees for best talk show, but that’s back when there were many more series up for eligibility.

For best competition reality series, “The Traitors,” the Alan Cumming-hosted reality show on Peacock, was nominated once again. The show, which won last year, will face off against “RuPaul’s Drag Race” as well as “Survivor,” “Top Chef” and “The Amazing Race.”

The nominations are being announced at a moment when the entertainment industry is still locked in a contraction. Media companies are investing much less into new programming than they did during the so-called Peak TV era of a few years ago. The industry is also still recovering from a pair of strikes that effectively shut down the American entertainment world for much of 2023.

The number of programs that TV studios submitted for Emmy consideration in the best drama, comedy, limited series and TV movie categories declined modestly from last year — at 267 series overall, compared with 271. But that also represents a 33% decline from the number of shows submitted in 2022, when the Peak TV era was thriving.

Drama submissions showed signs of life during the latest eligibility period, increasing 17% compared with the period a year earlier. The number of comedies fell by 5%, and limited series submissions fell off a cliff, declining by a third.

Nearly 100 Emmys, many of them in technical categories, will be given out at a pair of ceremonies in early September. The biggest awards — including best drama, comedy and limited series, and all of the major acting categories — will be unveiled during the live prime-time ceremony on CBS in September. The ceremony will be hosted by comedian Nate Bargatze.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2025 The New York Times Company

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