The Covid pandemic meant that a lot of shows had their schedules thrown out of sync, which shook up various Emmy races.
However, after a solid haul of Emmy nominations, HBO expects that new seasons of key awards titles such as Succession, The White Lotus and Barry, will be released in time for next year’s Emmy eligibility deadline.
Succession scored 25 nominations, the most of any show and taking its total Emmy noms to 48, The White Lotus secured 20 noms, and Barry took in another 14 nominations, while Euphoria also brought in another 16 nominations.
Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer at HBO and HBO Max, joked to Deadline that he’s already thinking about next year and whether it can match this year’s nomination success.
It seems that at least Succession, the second season of The White Lotus and Barry, will be.
Succession, which picked up a drama nod as well as casting nods for the likes of Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, J. Smith-Cameron, Sarah Snook, Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin and Matthew Macfadyen, is currently in production for its fourth season.
The fourth season, which will feature ten episodes, will see the sale of Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson move even closer and this prospect provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys.
The third season premiered in October 2021.
Bloys said, “Everybody who works in this industry knows every show represents 1000s of hours of work, and artists pulling their hair out and trying to get it right. When any show is recognized, even a little bit, it’s thrilling. To see 25 nominations for [Succession] is just amazing.”
He said that he would leave whether the fourth season of Succession is the final one, as creator Jesse Armstrong has previously hinted it might be, to the Brit.
“For those conversations, we really tend to leave it with the showrunners. Jesse is obviously figuring out what he wants the fourth season to be and he will decide whether he sees it going beyond that or not. We’ll really leave it to him and let him have his process and figure out what he wants to do,” added Bloys.
On Barry, which scored a main comedy nom and one for Bill Hader, Bloys said the creator and star had been really good about “reinventing” the show. The series was forced to take a big break between seasons two and three because of Covid, launching its second season in March 2019 and the third season in April 2022. It has been renewed for a fourth season, again, not determined whether it will be its last or not. “Bill is not afraid to take risks and push it to places that go dark. I think it’s been really interesting seeing what he can do both as a as a writer as a performer as a director.”
Finally, Euphoria was another big winner in terms of Emmy noms this morning, picking up 16 nods including for best drama and another acting nod for star Zendaya.
In much the same way as Barry was delayed by the pandemic, Euphoria’s first season aired in 2019 and returned in January for its second season, albeit with two special episodes airing at the end of 2020 and start of 2021.
Bloys doesn’t expect any special episodes in between seasons two and three, although it may not be eligible for next year’s Emmys.
Creator Sam Levinson has a busy few months ahead with The Idol as well (which has had its own creative challenges). “They’ve got it all worked out with Sam’s schedule on The Idol, going into writing and prepping season three [of Euphoria]. He’s going to be very busy but they’ve got it all worked out.”
