Owen Cooper joined his Adolescence co-stars Erin Doherty and Ashley Walters at the 2025 Emmy Awards as the Netflix limited series emerged as a major contender across acting and creative categories.
Adolescence received nominations in several top categories for the Television Academy awards, including Best Limited or Anthology Series. The show also secured multiple acting nominations: Stephen Graham was nominated for Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie; Erin Doherty was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie; Ashley Walters and Owen Cooper were both among the nominees for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie; and Christine Tremarco earned a supporting actress nomination as well. Philip Barantini received a nomination for Best Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and Jack Thorne shared a writing nomination for the series.
The 2025 ceremony featured a wide field of nominees across drama, comedy and limited series. In the Best Drama Series category, nominees included Andor, The Diplomat, The Last of Us, Paradise, The Pitt, Severance, Slow Horses and The White Lotus. Severance was among the high-profile contenders in drama, while The White Lotus and The Penguin were also heavily represented across categories; The Penguin finished as the second most-nominated series with 24 total nominations and The White Lotus accumulated 23 nominations.
Individual acting nominations in drama included Sterling K. Brown for Paradise, Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, Pedro Pascal for The Last of Us, Adam Scott for Severance and Noah Wyle for The Pitt. Kathy Bates, at 77, was the oldest acting nominee this year for her work in Matlock and was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series alongside Sharon Horgan for Bad Sisters, Britt Lower for Severance, Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us and Keri Russell for The Diplomat.
Severance and The White Lotus garnered multiple supporting nominations. Among the Best Supporting Actor nominees in a drama series were Zach Cherry and Tramell Tillman for Severance, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, James Marsden and Sam Rockwell for The White Lotus, and John Turturro for Severance. The Best Supporting Actress category featured Patricia Arquette for Severance, Carrie Coon, Parker Posey and Natasha Rothwell for The White Lotus, Katherine LaNasa for The Pitt, Julianne Nicholson for Paradise and Aimee Lou Wood for The White Lotus.
In guest acting categories, Shawn Hatosy won Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series for The Pitt, while Merritt Wever won Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her work in Severance. Other guest actor nominees included Giancarlo Esposito for The Boys, Scott Glenn for The White Lotus, Joe Pantoliano and Jeffrey Wright for The Last of Us, and Forest Whitaker for Andor. Guest actress nominees included Jane Alexander and Gwendoline Christie for Severance, Kaitlyn Dever and Catherine O’Hara for The Last of Us and Cherry Jones for The Handmaid’s Tale.
The limited and anthology categories also reflected strong industry attention. Colin Farrell was nominated for Best Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for The Penguin, with Jake Gyllenhaal, Brian Tyree Henry and Cooper Koch among other nominees. Best Actress nominees included Cate Blanchett for Disclaimer, Rashida Jones for Black Mirror and Michelle Williams for Dying For Sex. The limited-series supporting categories included Javier Bardem, Bill Camp and Peter Sarsgaard, with Owen Cooper and Ashley Walters recognized for Adolescence and Erin Doherty among the supporting actress nominees.
Comedy categories showcased a competitive field. Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking and The Studio were nominated for Best Comedy Series. Jean Smart won Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Hacks, and Seth Rogen won Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in The Studio. Best Supporting Actor nominees included Ike Barinholtz and Colman Domingo, while Best Supporting Actress nominations featured Liza Colón-Zayas, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle James and Catherine O’Hara.
Guest acting honors in comedy included a win for Bryan Cranston for a guest appearance on The Studio, while Julianne Nicholson won Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Notable guest acting nominees included Jon Bernthal and Dave Franco, and the year saw prominent filmmakers taking guest roles, with Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese among nominees for appearances on The Studio.
Reality, variety and non-scripted categories saw Alan Cumming win Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program for The Traitors. Queer Eye won Structured Reality Program and Love On The Spectrum won Unstructured Reality Program. Outstanding Variety Special (Live) nominees included high-profile events such as the Beyonce Bowl and the Oscars, while the pre-recorded variety special category featured stand-up specials from Adam Sandler, Ali Wong and Bill Burr.
The nominations and early wins reflect a television season marked by franchise entries, prestige limited series and high-profile guest turns, with streaming platforms and legacy broadcasters both well represented. The presence of the Adolescence cast on the red carpet underscored Netflix’s investment in limited-series prestige, and the show’s multiple nominations placed it among the most-watched contenders of the night.
The Television Academy’s 2025 Emmy Awards continued into the evening with additional category winners announced throughout the ceremony and in adjacent creative and technical awards. The event maintained its role as the year’s primary gauge of industry recognition for television storytelling, performance and production.