Ahead of the Emmy awards show, which will be broadcast live on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on CBS, here are the inclusions and exclusions sure to get TV addicts hot under the collar. And let’s face it, we live for the arguments.
Emmy nominations 2025: See the full list of nominees
Lisa Respers France
SURPRISE: “Severance”—having only won two Emmys for its first season—and none for best series—comes as a shock to see Season 2 run the field with a wowza 27 nominations. Did the whole creative team suddenly get better? I’d argue not. But Emmy voters, ever the fickle lot, decided “Severance” could do no wrong the second time out of the box. It also took Emmy a year to recognize “Succession.” Maybe the voters are just no good with first dates.
SNUB: The very opposite is the case with “Squid Game,” which initially became the first non-English television series to win any Primetime Emmy Awards. Now Emmy is completely shutting the sequel out of the race. Look, I didn’t like Season 2 very much, but it scored high on rottentomatoes.com and shattered all-time Netflix viewership records. Am I missing something?
SURPRISE: Directing legend Martin Scorsese wins his first acting nomination ever as Best Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for playing a version of himself in “The Studio.” That version of himself—nervous, weepy, self-pitying—is like nothing I’ve ever seen in the man from personal experience. So you know that’s acting. Jeez, he cries, for God’s sake. I’d love to see him win this.
SNUB: Sarah Polley, another great director, was terrific playing a version of herself in “The Studio,” but Emmy decided not to notice her in the Best Guest Actress category. It’s the same old story about women battling for equality on the filmmaking side. Like Scorsese, Ron Howard won a nod for doing a bitter, vindictive version of himself in “The Studio.” Better luck next time, Sarah since this was your first acting role in 17 years.
SURPRISE: Loved seeing Meghann Fahy snag a nomination no one predicted except me for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie (just engraving that on the Emmy stature sounds impossible). But Fahy is a star on the rise. She proved that again as the twisted sister in “Sirens.” She’s up against strong competition from Michelle Williams (“Dying for Sex”) and Cristin Milioti (“The Penguin”), but her day will come and soon.
SNUB: Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face”). That throaty voice! That (un)poker face! That comic timing! Whatever “Poker Face” is as a series is owed to Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a woman with the ability to detect lies, who finds herself solving murders as she travels around the country. This is her baby, so the lack of a nomination here really really hurts.
SURPRISE: Given the totally unjustified poisonous reviews and word of mouth on “The Bear” Season 3, I was expecting a shut out for this sublime series whose only flaw is being submitted in the category of Outstanding Comedy Series. How come I cry so much during it if it’s so funny? Despite my fears, Emmy nominated “The Bear” for 13 awards, including for Jeremy Allen White who we’ll probably lose to movies this year after everyone sees him play Bruce Springsteen on the big screen. No, Chef! Don’t let it happen.
SNUB: “Andor”—Are you kidding me, Emmy? This “Star Wars”-adjacent series, one of the year’s best, comes up empty for acting nominations when the actors make it what it is, which is great enough to be nominated as Outstanding Drama Series. I’m talking Diego Luna, people. This is his career-best acting. Also nothing for Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgård and Genevieve O’Reilly. True, Forest Whitaker was tagged in the Guest Actor category, but the absence of Luna points to a serious fault in the nomination process. Get it fixed, TV Academy and now.
SURPRISE: Harrison Ford, 83, is officially a first-time Emmy nominee. Finally. In “Shrinking,” the screen legend plays Dr. Paul Rhoades, a cranky therapist with Parkinson’s disease and he nails every comic and dramatic note and all shades in between. Shockingly, Ford has only one Oscar nomination, for “Witness” in 1986. Ford would be the last to campaign for a life achievement award. But “Shrinking” hit him hard. “It was like suddenly recognizing what I’ve always wanted acting to be.” It’s time we all saw that as well.
SNUB: Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)— a former Emmy winner for what many believe is the role of her career in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian fable about women being erased from society, Moss ended her run on the series she began in 2017 without even a nomination. Let that sink in when you’re wondering how chilly an Emmy cold shoulder can feel.
SURPRISE: “Adolescence”—nominations were expected of course for this brilliant British series about how the crime of one teen boy could resonate through his family and society as a whole. The series ran the table through the major categories, landing noms for actors Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, Ashley Walters, Christine Tremarco and breakout young star Own Cooper, along with picking one up for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. Co-creator Jack Thorne is in the mix for Outstanding Writing and director Philip Barantino for his skill in shooting each of the four episodes in one continuous take. The series kicked up a global conversation over the impact of social media and toxic masculinity on teenage boys. A true phenom.
SNUB: “Industry”—another British series receiving wide acclaim, this one ran for three seasons on HBO, each season getting better than the last as it follows a group of young graduates competing for permanent positions at a London investment bank. Sadly, “Industry” never captured the ratings or Emmy love it deserved. HBO broke the record this year with 141 nominations, but not a one for the series the cool kids connect with above all others. The moral of the story? Emmys don’t always get it right.
SURPRISE: “The Studio” hit the jackpot like no other series. After scoring the most drama nominations with “Severance,” Apple TV+ broke the records for most Emmy nominations for a freshman comedy with 23 nods for “The Studio.” This Seth Rogen satire exuberantly bites the Hollywood hand that feeds it and all of us clearly like watching it happen, especially Hollywood. That’s how a hit is born and “The Studio” has boldface names lining up to mock themselves for Season 2. Emmys or not, this one has the juice.
SNUB: I can line them up for hours. The megahit “Yellowstone” is a perennial reject. Nothing for Eddie Redmayne in “The Jackal” or anyone but Colman Domingo in “The Four Seasons” or Cate Blanchett for “Disclaimer” (Kevin Kline was robbed). What happens when Martin Short is the sole nominee while costars Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Meryl Streep in “Only Murders in the Building” are given the boot? Nothing. They keep going as long we keep tuning in. Know your power, people. Even “Adolescence” would be nowhere if you didn’t talk it up to your friends.
SURPRISE: Controversy Addressed: Jeremy Allen White and John Bernthal make the Emmy cut again as the Berzatto brothers on “The Bear,” Season 3. It seems odd at first since Bernthal, nominated again as Best Guest Actor, an award he previously won, appears only once a season as Mikey. But his death by suicide is the driving event of the entire series. Chef Carmy, played by two-time Emmy winner Jeremy Allen White, is haunted by guilt for not being there when he thinks brother Mikey most needed him. Though Bernthal and White rarely share the screen, except in brief flashbacks, their connection is what gives “The Bear” its grieving heart. Congrats to Emmy voters for rewarding their acting artistry.
SNUB: Controversy Ignored: Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola were both wrongly given the brush for playing the so-called “incest brothers,” Saxon and Lochlan Ratliff, on “The White Lotus,” Season 3. Say what you will, I believe the snub has nothing to do with their expertly nuanced performances, but with the aversion of Emmy voters, not to mention the general public, toward the taboo of a sexual relationship between siblings. “White Lotus” creator Mike White is infamous for provoking audiences to grapple with uncomfortable topics. Grow up, people. Following White’s lead, Schwarzenegger and Nivola handled the issue with responsibility toward the family trauma at its core. I’m calling for write-in votes for these two courageous actors.
Over the next week till Emmy night, I’ll be polling you on what should win an Emmy, whether it’s nominated or not. Place your bets.