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
Benjamin Lee
Will The Studio sweep the comedy awards? It’s a safe best 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”.
Benjamin Lee
Ben Stiller confirmed Real Housewives fan!
Adrian Horton
The nominees for best drama actor and actress are here:
Benjamin Lee
It’s becoming an Emmys tradition – an under-the-radar British show made for Netflix about a troubling subject matter becomes a surprise ratings hit and then an awards darling. Last year that was Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd’s unsettling series about a stalker, and now it’s Adolescence, a drama about a teenage killer, that’s become an even bigger success.
It’s now the second-most-watched Netflix show of all time (sandwiched between bigger budget blockbusters Wednesday and Stranger Things) and sparked so many conversations that it made its way to the UK parliament and tonight, it’s up for six Emmys. But how many can it win?
Adrian Horton
Beyoncé is already an Emmy winner: a couple weeks ago, her Cowboy Carter NFL halftime show – rightly dubbed the “Beyoncé Bowl” – picked up her first-ever Emmy for costumes for variety, non-fiction or reality programming. (She shares the award with designers Shiona Turini, Erica Rice, Molly Peters, Chelsea Staebell and Timothy White). But tonight could be her first televised Emmy, for live variety special.
The fact that the Television Academy has saved this category for the telecast suggests that maybe, just maybe, the Queen will grace television’s biggest night with her presence. My bet is no. But regardless this is an award to watch, as it pits Beyoncé against collaborator Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime (produced by her husband, Jay Z), as well as the 2025 Oscars, SNL 50: The Anniversary Special and SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert.
Adrian Horton
It’s a White Lotus cast reunion tonight, with most of the third season’s ensemble cast – including a stunning eight nominees! – in attendance.
Benjamin Lee
Tonight’s emcee is comedian Nate Bargatze, a first-timer who has the unenviable task of taking on the job in a year that’s actually been surprisingly great for awards show hosts. Both Nikki Glaser and Conan O’Brien brought the respective Globes and Oscars houses down while Cynthia Erivo’s more old-fashioned, song-and-dance turn gave us everything that Ariana DeBose couldn’t for the three, torturous years prior.
Earlier this week, he sat down with Variety and gave some tips on what we can expect. He’s keen to keep the focus on it being “a fun night” after a dark week of headlines, opting not to prioritise any political jabs.
He also has a plan to keep speeches short by donating $100,000 to a charity and then subtracting $1,000 every time a winner goes over their allotted 45-second time. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “It could cost me a ton of money. It could cost me no money. I just thought of it because everybody brings up, is there a way to kind of keep these speeches down? Nothing really works.”
Benjamin Lee
Because there are so many Emmys and because A-list actors can only be expected to stay in the same seat for so long, the awards are split between two weekends. Last Saturday and Sunday saw this year’s Creative Arts Emmys, where The Studio won nine awards, a sign that we might also be seeing the Seth Rogen comedy dominate tonight’s ceremony.
Here are some of the more notable winners:
Outstanding guest actor in a comedy series: Bryan Cranston (The Studio)
Outstanding narrator: Barack Obama (Our Oceans)
Outstanding guest actress in a drama series: Merritt Wever (Severance)
Outstanding TV movie: Rebel Ridge
Outstanding guest actress in a comedy series: Julianne Nicholson (Hacks)
Outstanding host for a reality or reality competition program: Alan Cumming (The Traitors)
Outstanding original main title theme music: The White Lotus
Outstanding host for a game show: Jimmy Kimmel (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?)
Outstanding guest actor in a drama series: Shawn Hatosy (The Pitt)
Benjamin Lee
Sure
Benjamin Lee
There’s still a lot of understandable outrage over the decision to cancel The Late Show, a long-running institution that’s most recently been in the capable hands of Stephen Colbert. At last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys, the show picked up a directing award and is predicted to win in the talk series category tonight.
But the ceremony is airing on CBS, the same network that pulled the plug, so it’ll be interesting to see how fiery his acceptance speech will be …
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!
