LOS ANGELES, USA – Seth Rogen, Harrison Ford, Colin Farrell and Jean Smart are among the stars expected to turn out on Sunday, September 14 (Monday, September 15, Manila time), for Hollywood’s Emmy Awards, where the absurdist workplace tale Severance from Apple TV+ leads the nominations.
Severance, the favorite for the night’s top award of Best Drama, centers around corporate employees who undergo a surgery that separates their work and personal memories. Stars Adam Scott and Britt Lower are nominated for lead acting honors.
The red-carpet celebration in Los Angeles begins at 8 pm Eastern time (8 am, Monday in Manila) and will air live on CBS. Comedian Nate Bargatze will host.
Competitors to Severance include Star Wars series Andor, medical drama The Pitt, and murder mystery The White Lotus.
The Best Comedy race features two shows that explore the tension between art and commerce in Hollywood.
The Studio, also from Apple TV+, stars Seth Rogen as a stressed movie executive trying to make prestige films while generating corporate profits.
Hacks, last year’s comedy winner, tells the story of a septuagenarian comedian (Smart) who clashes with the network running her late-night show.
Smart is expected to win her fourth Best Comedy Actress Emmy for the Hacks role.
The Penguin, starring Farrell as a gangster in the DC Comics universe, will compete for Best Limited Series against Netflix hit Adolescence and others.
Noah Wyle is competing for his first Emmy since 1999 for his role as an emergency room doctor on The Pitt. Wyle was nominated five times for ER but never won.
Ford also is vying for his first Emmy, for his supporting role as a gruff therapist on Shrinking.
Other notable acting nominees include Cristin Milioti for The Penguin, The Bear actors Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri, Kathy Bates for Matlock, and Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, a nominee for Best Talk Series, also may be recognized by Emmy voters. CBS announced in July that it was canceling the show.
Winners will be chosen by the roughly 26,000 performers, directors, producers and other members of the Television Academy.
‘Maybe too weird’
When Adam Scott filmed Severance for Apple TV+, he and fellow cast members were unsure how viewers would respond to a streaming series built around brain chips, a room full of goats and waffle parties.
The psychological thriller, the most-nominated show at the Emmy Awards on Sunday, tells the story of office workers who undergo a surgery that makes them forget their home life at work, and vice versa.
“We all felt it was weird, and maybe too weird,” said Scott, the Parks and Recreation actor who plays a history professor turned manager inside the sterile offices of the fictional Lumon Industries.
Voters for the Emmys, the highest honors in television, have embraced the mind-bending tale. Severance racked up 27 Emmy nominations and won six trophies at an Emmys ceremony last week for technical awards.
The sci-fi series is in the running for more Emmys on Sunday, including the top prize of Best Drama. Competitors include Star Wars series Andor” emergency room tale The Pitt and murder mystery The White Lotus.
Winners will be announced at a red-carpet ceremony televised live on CBS.
Scott was nominated for Best Drama Actor and Severance co-star Britt Lower for Best Drama Actress. Seven other Severance stars received supporting or guest actor nods.
Many of the Severance actors play two characters — an “innie” version who works at Lumon performing tedious tasks and an “outie” variation who lives in the outside world.
Among the show’s unusual touch points, the Lumon building includes a room where caretakers raise herds of goats. One employee is rewarded for good work with a waffle party that provides an opportunity for sexual experiences.
What does all of this add up to?
Severance offers a philosophical take on the work-life balance and the power of corporations, while “poking a stick at it with an absurdist light,” said Chris Rice, co-CEO of Fifth Season, the production company behind the show.
Supporting actor nominee John Turturro, who plays loyal Lumon employee Irving, said the show “poses questions without giving all the answers.”
“I think people find that really participatory,” he added.
Plus, “people have to navigate work life and personal life, and that is an eternal conundrum that people go through.”
Big questions
Severance debuted in 2022 to critical acclaim and gained traction with viewers when Season 2 was released in January 2025. The show landed in Nielsen’s top 10 list of the most-streamed shows.
Stars of the series said they thought it was more than job dissatisfaction that drew people to Severance. They cited loneliness in today’s society as people are glued to technology rather than seeking human connection.
“There’s a certain alienation that we’re all feeling from one another these days,” Scott said.
Zach Cherry, a supporting actor nominee who plays dependable office worker Dylan, said Severance makes people turn inward.
“Beyond the characters connecting to each other,” Cherry said, “it’s also about the characters learning to connect to all the different parts of themselves, which I think is also something that everyone has to deal with.”
Lower, who plays the stubborn Helly, said the show has earned fans among high school and college students who have not yet entered the workforce. She believes the series is prompting people to ask deep questions, such as “what makes us human?”
“To me, that is kind of the most exciting part,” Lower said. “Are the innies human? Are they full humans? And what makes them that?” – Rappler.com
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rappler.com ’
