It’s the morning after the Emmys, and Casey Bloys can exhale. The chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content is feeling good after the combination of HBO and HBO Max landed 30 Emmy wins this year, including nine for limited series “The Penguin” (which could always still make a comeback — more on that in a moment) and five wins for freshman drama sensation “The Pitt.”
Those wins for “The Pitt” — including drama series, drama lead actor (Noah Wyle) and drama supporting actress (Katherine LaNasa) — were particularly sweet, given the narrative behind the success of the show and what that might mean for Hollywood productions overall.
“Having ‘The Pitt’ break through is a really big deal for a lot of reasons,” Bloys told Variety on Monday morning. He gave a shout out to exec producers John Wells, R. Scott Gemmill and Wyle for accomplishing what they set out to do: “It’s a big deal when any show breaks through,” he said. “But a show that kind of is embracing the the principles of television, I think, is that much more gratifying.”
Variety spoke to Bloys about what’s next for “The Pitt,” as well as whether “Hacks” is truly ending after Season 5; his take on this year’s disappointing “The White Lotus” Emmys haul (and confirming where next season will be set); the biggest surprise on Emmy night; when “Euphoria” might return and a month to expect the new “Game of Thrones” series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” — and how 2026 is shaping up.
Could you start to sense a groundswell of support for “The Pitt” in predicting that they were going to pull this off?
I never count on anything walking in, because you never know. I think it was pretty clear people felt that it was “Severance” versus “The Pitt.” You just never know how it’s going to turn out. But I’m really happy with how everything worked out.
When Katherine LaNasa won early in the evening, it must have felt like, “Oh yeah — this is going the right direction.”
You could see, “This is a possibility.” You could start to see that.
What does the success of “The Pitt” symbolize to you? It’s a show doing these traditional TV beats of doing 15 episodes. Also, it’s a local Los Angeles production.
It’s hard to make any good show, regardless of whether it’s comedy, drama or documentary. But what John and Noah and Scott wanted to do going in was to do a high quality show, but also one that was set up in a way that you could do 15 episodes. So, the the concept of the show being on essentially one set made the budget manageable. And you have a group of people who understand how to make 15 episodes, but also how to bring it back on an annual basis. That is the one thing I think that we’ve gotten away from in television, that ability to bring shows back on an annual basis. It’s understandable, as we have shows that are huge and to do sometime like “The Last of Us” or “House of the Dragon,” the reason people love them is they’re huge spectacles with special effects and amazing locations. That’s great. But I think maybe as an industry we’ve focused a lot on those — and the bread-and-butter shows churning out high-quality episodes, week after week, is a really tough thing to do. For “The Pitt” to be recognized for what it’s done is especially gratifying. It’s always great to win awards, but it’s especially gratifying for the show that’s trying something that can be really hard.
Are we ready to talk about the spinoffs yet? A night shift version of “The Pitt”?
No! Listen, when we decided to move forward with “The Pitt,” the idea was we’re going to try this, and we’re going to develop other shows in this model. They don’t have to be a spinoff. But that model, I think “The Pitt” showed that it could work for us. So we’ve been developing other types of shows: a cop show, a family show, etc. We will be developing those and trying to do it again. But as I’ve said, “The Pitt” is lightning in a bottle. So the idea that we’re going to do another one, that it’s going to work out, you never know. But it did prove that the model could work in streaming.
Let’s talk about some of your other big wins. “The Penguin” had the most overall, with nine. Cristin Milioti won limited lead actress. But were you disappointed Colin Farrell didn’t get the Emmy?
I was really hopeful. And obviously he had won many awards leading up to that, so that’s usually a good sign. But again, you never know. Whether it’s recognized or not doesn’t affect that the performance was fantastic. But Stephen Graham — “Adolescence” was a really, really powerful show. So tough competition, and it doesn’t always break your way. For Colin, I think his performance was pretty extraordinary.
Matt Reeves has said that discussions are ongoing about a potential Season 2 of “The Penguin.” What can you say about that?
They’re kicking around ideas. Obviously, Matt’s got to get the [next “The Batman”] movie going. That is underway, I believe. So I think he and Lauren [LeFranc] are talking about ideas. So I’m hopeful that there will be another story to tell.
“Hacks” was last year’s Emmy comedy series winner. Obviously, it was up against the steamroller that was “The Studio” this year, but still performed well with three wins, including Hannah Einbinder finally getting that comedy supporting actress Emmy.
Yes, I think it was great that Hannah was recognized. And of course, I think Jean [Smart] is amazing, incomparable, so I always love to see her work recognized. But it was really nice to see Hannah break through.
On the red carpet, Hannah did say that the upcoming Season 5 was the final season of “Hacks.” Can you confirm?
We usually leave that up to the creators, so I will wait to hear from them. But obviously, we’ve had conversations about it. Ultimately, it will be their decision.
They’ve said in the past that they had a five-season story. Are you braced for them saying, “We’re ready to land this plane?”
Oh yeah, I will be good with their decision. But I think they’ll end up in the right place.
Probably the biggest surprise of the night was Jeff Hiller winning in comedy supporting actor for “Somebody Somewhere.” How shocked were you?
That was was probably the sweetest moment of the night. For a show like “Somebody Somewhere,” which is a beautiful show, I was thrilled that anybody got nominated. Jeff winning is great for him, and it’s great for the entire cast and for the show. It’s a little bit of validation for everybody.
Does it feel like more people are discovering the show now?
Having Jeff with that win, that’ll give it a nice little boost. If people haven’t watched it, it’s a really nice surprise to experience it. I hope more people find it.
Is there a way to elevate it?
Any time on the Max platform, they will highlight all the winners.
“The White Lotus” has been a big Emmy darling in the past. It was a little tougher this year, with just one win, for main title theme music. What do you make of that?
I would say it was a victim of its own success, in that there were so many multiple nominees in categories. That’s hard. If you like the show, and you have to decide between two or three actors that you really like, vote splitting is a real thing. The good news is, Mike is off writing Season 4, so I’m sure he will be back, and we will be back. Maybe not the 2026 Emmy cycle, but probably the next one.
By the way, several the cast members were on the carpet yesterday, basically confirming that the next season is in France. What more do we know about that?
We know that it will likely be in France. City and details still to be determined.
Upcoming, do we have a Season 3 premiere date yet for “Euphoria”?
It’ll be the spring, but we don’t have a date confirmed yet.
Same question with “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” I know we’ve been hearing early 2026 but is that first quarter, second quarter? Pushing it to summer?
I’m going to say January. How about that?
We like a month. What else stood out to you in terms of this year’s Emmy haul?
“The Pitt” winning was a nice surprise, “Hacks” winning was a nice surprise, Jeff Hiller winning was a nice surprise. There have been more surprises in general lately. As a viewer of the Emmys, and with somebody who participates in it, it’s more exciting because you really don’t know, going in, what to expect.
You also did well with docs this year. “Pee-wee As Himself” won three and “100 Foot Wave” won two.
And “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” first time we won in that category.
Beyond all this, a look ahead to next year. How you feel about 2026?
People ask me this question, and I immediately panic, like, oh my God, I got to do this again. However, somebody reminded me we currently have the front runner in drama coming back in January. So that’s a good feeling. I’m hoping “Task,” the Brad Ingelsby follow up to “Mare of Easttown,” gets some recognition. We’ve got “Euphoria” coming back. We’ve got “The Gilded Age,” which I hope gets some love. We’ve got “Hacks” coming back, “The Comeback” coming. We’ve got a new Bill Lawrence-Steve Carell comedy coming. We’re going to have, I’m hopeful, another good year. But it’s a long ways off. And Netflix usually comes around with a couple of really great limited series that nobody saw coming. So who knows what they’ve got in store.
And like you said, you have the incumbent winner now in drama immediately coming back. What’s your preview for Season 2 of “The Pitt”?
I would say, from my point of view, they haven’t missed a beat. It’s what you want a second season to do. The producers know what the show is. The actors have all settled in, so haven’t missed a beat, and everything is kind of smooth sailing.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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