Severance, The Penguin, The Studio, and The White Lotus Dominate Emmy Nominations

      Apple TV+’s Severance topped the Emmy nominations revealed on Tuesday, earning 27 nominations. It was followed by HBO’s The Penguin with 24 nominations, and both Apple TV+’s The Studio and The White Lotus received 23 nominations each.

      Severance and The White Lotus are competing for Outstanding Drama Series alongside Disney+’s Andor, Netflix’s The Diplomat, HBO’s The Last of Us, Hulu’s Paradise, HBO’s The Pitt, and Apple TV+’s Slow Horses. Shogun won last year and did not have a season in contention this year.

      The Studio received a nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series, competing against ABC’s Abbott Elementary, FX on Hulu’s The Bear and What We Do in the Shadows, HBO’s Hacks, Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, and Apple TV+’s Shrinking. Hacks secured the award last year.

      The Penguin was nominated for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, alongside Netflix’s Adolescence, Black Mirror, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and FX’s Dying for Sex.

      HBO Max achieved the highest total nominations with 142, setting a record for the platform.

      You can view the complete list of Emmy nominations here.

      Severance’s Emmy Nominations Affirm Apple’s Major Investment

      Adam Scott in Severance Season 2. Apple TV+

      The accolades reinforce the success of Severance, which faced scrutiny regarding its rapidly increasing budget, reported by Bloomberg to be $200 million. (Additional validation came from a report that the inaugural season generated $200 million for Apple.)

      Also Read: Ben Stiller Discusses Challenges in Severance Season 2

      Starring Adam Scott and created by Dan Erickson with Ben Stiller as executive producer, the series explores the lives of office workers at the enigmatic Lumen, where a strict separation of work and personal life is imposed: “Innies” at work have their memories erased daily, while “outies” outside of work experience a similar memory wipe.

      The Emmy nominations also mark a significant advancement for Erickson, who not long ago was delivering food for Postmates, awaiting the fate of his award-winning Severance script. (He shared this journey on the MovieMaker podcast.)

      Three years ago, the show garnered 14 Emmy nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, winning in the categories of main title design and musical score. The return of the show for its praised second season was delayed by actors' and writers' strikes, taking three years and navigating through acknowledged production challenges as noted by Stiller.

      He commented to The New York Times in January, “it’s not always perfect. We faced challenges, but I think it originated from everyone’s desire for quality. I believe that the varied perspectives contributed to the show’s final outcome. So, though there were some issues, they weren’t significant.”

      Scott received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, competing against Sterling K. Brown for Paradise, Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, Pedro Pascal for The Last of Us, and Noah Wyle for The Pitt.

      Nominations for Best Actress in a Drama Series include Kathy Bates for Matlock, Sharon Horgan for Bad Sisters, Britt Lower for Severance, Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us, and Keri Russell for The Diplomat.

      For Best Actress in a Comedy Series, nominees include Uzo Aduba in The Residence, Kristen Bell in Nobody Wants This, Quinta Brunson, also the creator of Abbott Elementary, Ayo Edebiri for The Bear, and Jean Smart for Hacks.

      The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series are Seth Rogen, co-creator of The Studio; Adam Brody for Nobody Wants This, Jason Segel for Shrinking, Martin Short for Only Murders in the Building, and Jeremy Allen White for The Bear.

      Brenda Song and Harvey Guillén announced the nominations Tuesday morning from the Wolf Theatre at the Academy’s Saban Media Center, together with Television Academy Chair Cris Abrego.

      The Emmys will be broadcast on Sunday, September 14, at 8 ET/5 PT on CBS.

      Main image: Brenda Song and Harvey Guillén during the Television Academy live feed of the Emmy Nominations.