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The Emmys are back!
Adrian Horton
Yes, it’s that time of year again, where you realize how much TV you haven’t seen – the Emmys are back! And with a healthy mix of award show veterans and newbies.
With the absence of Shōgun, which basically swept the drama awards last year, the race this year is shaping up to be one of the more interesting competitions this year. Apple TV’s Severance leads the night with 27 nominations for its second season. But the epitome of prestige TV – long-gestating, high-budget, starry cast – is up against HBO Max’s answer to the network medical drama. The Pitt, with 13 nominations and plenty of audience goodwill, could come out ahead. Both face-off against Andor, Slow Horses, Paradise, The Last of Us, the Diplomat and Emmys stalwart, The White Lotus.
On the comedy side, another Apple TV success, Hollywood business satire The Studio, has the momentum, with 23 nominations – breaking the record for most nominations for a show’s first season. It competes with two former winners – Hacks and still-not-a-comedy The Bear – as well as Abbott Elementary, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking, What We Do in the Shadows and the first season of the Netflix hit Nobody Wants This. And like Baby Reindeer last year, another small British production released through Netflix, Adolescence, enters as the heavy favorite for limited series, along with several deserved acting nominations.
The night promises at least a few surprises and memorable speeches, as well as cast reunions for Gilmore Girls and Law & Order – stick with us for all the highlights!
Key events
WINNER: Tramell Tillman (Severance) – supporting actor in a drama series
Adrian Horton
Severance’s Tramell Tillman is a bit of an upset here, considering the power of the White Lotus (perhaps headed for a tough night?). It’s nice to see – he deserves for stealing almost every scene as Mr Milchick in Severance.
Tillman becomes the first Black man to win in this category, the last remaining acting category to not yet award a Black performer. He used his 45 seconds to celebrate his mother: “My first acting coach was tough, y’all, but all great mothers are. Mama, you were there for me when no one else was and no one else would show up … this is for you.”
Adrian Horton
An update from Bargatze on that ticker: presenters are allowed to go over 45 seconds, but not the winners. Yes, “we’re punishing the people who worked the hardest to get here”, Bargatze jokes.
WINNER: Katherine LaNasa (The Pitt) — supporting actress in a drama series
Adrian Horton
We’re rolling fast here, as there are many awards to get through. And finally our first sort-of surprise: Katherine LaNasa wins The Pitt’s first award of the night, for playing beloved nurse Dana.
LaNasa thanked “all the nurses that inspired Dana” and the “incomparable Noah Wyle”, as well as her husband and children. It’s brief and rushed, but they really seem to be serious about those 45 seconds – a ticker in the corner (rude?!) bumps the donation down to $98,000, owing to one prolonged wave toward her husband.
WINNER: Jean Smart (Hacks) – best actress in a comedy series
Adrian Horton
Another expected win, but still a delight – Jean Smart wins her seventh all-time Emmy for playing Deborah Vance, her fourth award for a career-defining character.
The always classy Smart took Bargatze’s brevity message to heart; she briefly thanks her “unbelievable crew” and “beyond brilliant” showrunners, as well as “incomparable” costar (and supporting actress nominee) Hannah Einbinder. Then she signs off with a quick “everybody, let’s be good to each other. Let’s just be good to each other.”
Adrian Horton
Nate Bargatze is back, this time for a more traditional monologue, which he uses to throw the gauntlet down for the Adrien Brodys of the world – ie, people who talk too long. Bargatze admonishes the A-listers in attendance to keep their acceptance speeches under 45 seconds: “If you want to do more than that, do it on social media later,” he says. “More people are going to see it there anyway.”
To raise the stakes, Bargatze announces that he has donated $100k to the Boys & Girls Club of America – but it’s subject to change based on the speeches. For every second someone goes over 45 seconds, Bargatze will deduct $1,000 away from the Boys & Girls club. Every second under adds $1,000.
“It’s tough, but I can’t change it – this is a game I made up and these are the rules,” Bargatze jokes, but he tries to keep the mood light – “relax, let’s have fun, alright?” Good thing Seth Rogen kept it tight! (We’re at $106,000.)
WINNER: Seth Rogen (The Studio) – best actor in a comedy series
Adrian Horton
No surprise here – The Studio is a popular show and Seth Rogen was the expected choice. He still seems surprised, though – “I literally prepared nothing, I’ve never won anything in my life,” he says quickly, seemingly aware that this show is supposed to move at a clip. He thanks his wife, his mother and everyone who worked on the Studio, which is starting off with plenty of momentum.
And we’re live!
Adrian Horton
It’s showtime – comedian and first-time host Nate Bargatze has taken the stage at the 77th primetime Emmy awards, alongside three SNL cast members – Bowen Yang, James Austin Johnson and Mikey Day – in costume as the inventor of television, Philo T Farnsworth.
In the skit, a play on his viral Washington’s Dream SNL skit, Bargatze riffs on the idiosyncrasies and contradictions of modern television by “dreaming” of its future – of the travel channel for travel, the food channel for food and the history channel “for aliens”.
Bargatze ribs streaming as “a new way for companies to lose money” with stars who are “real-life murderers, mostly”, and pokes fun at the newly prestigious Emmys – though not, as he acknowledges, as prestigious as the Oscars. Such awards which celebrate The Pitt, “a heartbreaking look at the emotional toll of trauma” and “laugh-out-loud comedies like the Bear, a heartbreaking look at the emotional toll of trauma”.
It’s a humorous and little off-kilter intro to a show that draws easy, polite laughs from the audience, particularly for lines about a time when a woman will host their own talk show – “not in real life, but on a show called Hacks”.
Adrian Horton
It’s almost guaranteed that at least one of the actors in Adolescence, the gutting four-part British limited series, will win tonight:
Benjamin Lee
Brutally honest Emmy ballots are less of a tradition than the Oscar ones (sadly) but the Hollywood Reporter did manage to snag one from a long-time producer and Emmy voter that offers up some insight/arch criticism.
Here are some choice quotes:
“I’m not a Severance fan. I find it curiously cool, in the Marshall McLuhan sense – I don’t care about the people, and I’m kind of old-school in my William Goldman-like belief that I should.”
“The Bear is brilliant, but it’s not a comedy. Only Murders in the Building is the same show every year.”
“I’m voting for The Late Show because of what Paramount did to Colbert, just so he can get up and give a speech, and because it would be an absolute ‘fuck-you’ to Trump. You saw that he Truth Social-ed the next day and took credit for Colbert getting fired? Fuck him.”
Adrian Horton
An update for Beyoncé watchers – Entertainment Tonight is reporting that she and Jay Z have seat markers and Gayle King says she spotted her “person” scoping out the theater yesterday (though she didn’t pick up Gayle’s call) … it’s looking promising.
Benjamin Lee
Without some surer things in the race like Succession or Game of Thrones and with the comedy race now less Bear heavy (Hacks was the surprise winner last year), there’s potential for some real surprises tonight. Could new shows like The Studio and The Pitt triumph? Or will Severance and The White Lotus come out on top? And will Adolesence pull a Baby Reindeer? Here’s what Adrian Horton is predicting:
Adrian Horton
From Hacks (I will be shocked if Jean Smart doesn’t win for a fourth time) to Abbott Elementary to The Bear, the red carpet is filling up with comedy nominees:
Adrian Horton
I present to you: the inimitable Cate Blanchett, nominated tonight for best actress in a limited series for Apple TV’s Disclaimer.
Benjamin Lee
Will The Studio sweep the comedy awards? It’s a safe bet given Hollywood’s history of supporting art about … Hollywood. The cast is out in force tonight prepping for their moment on the stage:
Adrian Horton
Selena Gomez is here, along with fiancé Benny Blanco. The Only Murders in the Building star isn’t nominated for an acting award this year, but is representing the Hulu show, nominated for best comedy, as a cast member and executive producer; last year, she became the most-nominated Latina producer for a comedy in Emmy history.
Benjamin Lee
As per usual, tonight will not just be a celebration of new shows but it will also remember the older ones. Last year saw surviving cast members from Happy Days, The West Wing and Saturday Night Live on stage.
This year, fans can expect cast reunions for Gilmore Girls and Grey’s Anatomy and a special tribute to Golden Girls.
Benjamin Lee
Jenna Ortega paying homage to Isabella Rossellini in Death Becomes Her?
Adrian Horton
Red carpets have been relatively apolitical of late, but we’re seeing more explicit support for Palestine so far tonight. Wearing a keffiyeh, Javier Bardem has been using his time on the red carpet to call attention the genocide in Gaza and encourage fellow film and television workers to boycott Israeli institutions complicit in the war that has killed more than 200,000 Palestinians so far.
Speaking to Variety, Bardem said he would not work with any film or TV company “who justifies or supports the genocide” in Gaza.
Javier Bardem says “I will not work” with any film or TV company “who justifies or supports the genocide” in Gaza: “It’s as simple as that. We should not be able to that, in this industry or any industry.” #Emmys pic.twitter.com/q1rMBi8H3m
— Variety (@Variety) September 14, 2025
And in an interview with E!, Bardem name-checked a pledge, published by the group Film Workers for Palestine and signed by thousands of actors, directors and other film workers, to not work with Israeli film institutions that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”.
