The Biggest Emmy Nomination Snubs and Surprises of 2025  

The Emmys are beloved among top-tier award shows for announcing their nominations at a reasonable hour, for the most part. Now that all of the nominations are out, this morning there are some initially eupeptic and caffeinated would-be contenders who just didn’t get any love from voters at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

They may be taking a celebration swig or two at AppleTV+’s Severance, the once again HBO Max’s newbie The Pitt, Netflix’s Adolescence and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Mendendez Story, plus Season 3 of HBO’s The White Lotus right now. Those near sure bets heard their names repeatedly among the nominations for the sprawling 124 categories for the 77^th Primetime Emmys just unveiled by Brenda Song and Harvey Guillén – as did Dying For Sex‘s Michelle Williams, The Residence’s Uzo Adudb, and The Studio’s Seth Rogan.

On the other hand, even with the “bit about a bit” banter between the Running Point and What We Do In The Shadows actors, there were certainly some notable absences.

No surprise, Hacks, The Bear, Slow Horses‘ Gary Oldman (now Sir Gary, actually), and Abbott Elementary are back and Succession chief Jesse Armstrong made the cut with Mountainhead, but last year’s big winner Shōgun  isn’t in the running this time round with no Season 2 on offer yet from FX.

For the likes of Andor’s Diego Luna, Poker Face’s Natasha Lyonne and Squid Game, it was pretty clear case of talk to the hand from the  Cris Abrego-led AMTAS. With that, check out our look at those overlooked and a few unexpected nods, and tell us who you think we may have missed.

And remember, hosted by Nate Bargatze, the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards will air live on CBS on September 14 from the Peacock Theatre (which is a bit of unique cross-branding) in DTLA.

Snubs

SQUID GAME – The rules are no game and the fact that one of the biggest and most compelling series of the 21st century isn’t even in the running for the big prize is a crime.

SELENA GOMEZ – There is a lot more than than murder going on in the building this AM.

DIEGO LUNA – The Andor actor literally risked it all to bring down the Empire in Tony Gilroy’s epic and wonderfully dense Disney+ Star Wars series’ final season. There are a lot of quips about the Force not being strong with the TV Academy today to make, but the truth is there is do and do not – and voters foolishly didn’t.  

NATASHA LYONNE – No lie, the Poker Face co-creator and star deserved better after a second season of the old skool is new skool Peacock series that topped the first run. Somewhere James Garner is not pleased.

JON HAMM – Both robbing from the rich to live like the rich in AppleTV+’s Your Friends & Neighbors and truly taking one for the oil baron team in Landman didn’t dig deep for the ATAS crowd. One of the industry’s hardest working, talented and charming actors, and a past Mad Man winner should have broken into those ballot boxes to get the justice he deserved.

ELISABETH MOSS – From its big beginning to this year’s final season, The Handmaid’s Tale was rightly never easy to watch, but its star’s fight for the truly good fight was a thing to truly behold. Unless you are TV Academy voters who want to look away from hard truths that feel less like fiction every day and a great swan song performance.

JAMES MARSEN – Granted, Paradise had a near perfect morning with its nominations haul, but the man who played the privileged POTUS who truly rose to the moment on Hulu’s dystopian political thriller died another death today. Or as Lord Byron’s poem Darkness says: “The winds were wither’d in the stagnant air.” Indeed.

ALLISON JANNEY – Turn away from The Diplomat star and West Wing alum if you will TV Academy voters, but remember the Oscar winner is POTUS now. Next year the white gloves are off.

SETH MEYERS – When it comes to the past nominee Late Being with Seth Meyers being overlooked this morning, my colleague Peter White put it best earlier Tuesday. Getting up before dawn to snag the Reality Competition and Talk Series categories, Deadline’s Executive Editor, TV encapsulated a hard truth: “The tragic reduction of the number late-night shows nominated for Emmys has hit Seth Meyers.

Surprises

HARRISON FORD – The TV Academy put its big-boy pants on and gave the iconic Shrinking star his very first Emmy nomination.

BEYONCÉ  – Queen Bey’s half time show for Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL game may prove more super than the Super Bowl now that it scored an Outstanding Variety Special (Live) nom.

MARTIN SCORSESE – The maestro’s Jonestown flick may be DOA-ish, but the man who is arguably the greatest living filmmaker in the world is green lite for his appearance on The Studio and his first acting nomination ever.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS – FX’s Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement EP’d vampire comedy is gone (the last episode aired on December 16, 2024) but clearly forgotten by TV Academy voters. In a Comedy category full of old favs and young bloods, the gang from Staten Island got a good bite in today.