Given the three-year wait in-between the first and second seasons of Severance, I honestly thought that the show would be a major awards contender. Like, it was a long wait for such a major show. Severance, like the White Lotus, is also a huge pop-culture conversation, with tons of people memeing and chatting about the show online. It just goes to show that they rarely give Emmy Awards to those kinds of big pop-culture/super-online shows though. I’m still haunted by how many times Downton Abbey won, you know?
All of which to say, while Severance picked up eight Emmys out of 27 nominations. Britt Lower won for Best Actress in a Drama and Tramell Tillman won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama. Adam Scott lost! Which is pretty crazy, given the work he’s doing on that show. Severance picked up other Emmys for Title Design and Cinematography, but it lost Best Drama to The Pitt. I was super-pleased to see Lower and Tillman win though – Lower is doing absolutely incredible work, and I worried that she would be overlooked because she doesn’t have a huge profile as a celebrity/actress. Tillman is the first Black actor to win a supporting actor Emmy! Tillman’s speech was lovely. Lower decided to do a thing for her speech, which was written on a small slip of paper. The audience could see that “LET ME OUT” was scrawled on the paper – an Easter egg from Season 1.
Britt wore Calvin Klein. Tramell wore Dolce & Gabbana. I’m including pics from the Emmys and the AppleTV after-party!
ICON EMMY WINNER BRITT LOWER pic.twitter.com/QoyYcrj7bG
— Zo 🍁🥢🦔 (@icetowncalzone) September 15, 2025
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.
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- West Hollywood, CA Celebrities attend the Apple TV+ Prime Time Emmy Party at Ysabel in West Hollywood, California. Pictured: Adam Scott, Naomi Scott BACKGRID USA 14 SEPTEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- West Hollywood, CA Celebrities attend the Apple TV+ Prime Time Emmy Party at Ysabel in West Hollywood, California. Pictured: Britt Lower BACKGRID USA 14 SEPTEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- West Hollywood, CA Celebrities attend the Apple TV+ Prime Time Emmy Party at Ysabel in West Hollywood, California. Pictured: Tramell Tillman BACKGRID USA 14 SEPTEMBER 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I was hoping for a win for Adam and Best Drama, and I have not seen The Pitt, but I remember everyone raving about it when it was airing and saying Noah Wyle felt like a lock for the Emmy, so I’m not mad at this.
Honestly though, that scene in the finale where the Marks are arguing with each other through the camcorder is amazing, and I hope if the quality for Severance doesn’t drop off, that Adam Scott will eventually win for this role. He’s absolutely killing it.
Saw both Severance and the Pitt. Honestly thought Severance and Adam Scott were better (the Pitt was very good but it’s one in a long line of medical procedurals and for a show hailed for its realism way too much happened in 24 hours for it to be realistic). I thought the voter’s nostalgia for Dr Carter put Wyle and the Pitt over the top. Then I remembered that the Wire, one of the best television shows of all time, was only nominated for two Emmys (just two!). Yeah, sometimes the voters go for the very good but familiar and given how weird some people find Severance, the fact that received as many nominations as it did is actually pretty amazing.
I watch both Severance and the Pitt and I have watched Adam Scott since at least Party Down, so I did want him to win, but Noah Wylie anchors the Pitt and without him the show wouldn’t work the way it does. Also him not having an Emmy after all the years with ER was a driving factor that I suspect Scott knew himself.
Hoping Severance films soon so we don’t have to wait as long for the next season.
Tillman as Milchick has been spectacular and so I was very glad he won. It’s such a unique character and he’s both funny and scary at the same time.
I was so thrilled and surprised Tillman won that I clapped and cheered at the TV. I really thought John Turturro would get it for his S2 performance. Same for Britt Lower! She’s so good but I worried she might be overlooked.
I believe I heard Adam Scott say they were already (?) filming S3, so hopefully not a years-long wait this time.
While I was sad that Adam Scott didn’t win, I was thrilled that both Britt Lower and Tramell Tillman did. They deserved those wins. I knew they were unique talents instantly. (And it also turns out that Britt Lower can sing and can draw and paint.)
Lower and Tillman are both 40 now, and they were around 35/36 when they got these roles. These two exceptionally talented people have been knocking around the entertainment industry for years–Lower a bit longer, as Tillman worked in the nonprofit sector (he worked for the Children’s Defense Fund) for years before deciding to pursue acting professionally, despite the fact that he was the first Black man to obtain an MFA from the University of Tennessee.
It always ticks me off when I think about how people like Tillman and Lower have to spend so long getting a job worthy of what they can do when less talented people get jobs because of who their parents are. Almost everything I watch now has a nepo baby in it. Some of them are worth casting–Jack Quaid has charm and stellar comedic timing–but most aren’t. Patrick Schwarzenegger was OK in White Lotus, but he’s nothing special. Dakota Johnson, West Duchovny, and Billie Lourd are the epitome of those “go girl give us nothing” memes.
At any rate, I was worried that Tramell Tillman and Britt Lower would be overlooked this year because both seemed to spring out of nowhere and neither had industry attachments. I was glad to be wrong.
I had no idea about Tillman’s background, thank you! He (and Lower, and the rest of them) are just extraordinary.
And I read that Tillman was the first Black man to ever win in that category. In 2025! Double cheers for what was an extraordinary performance.
Yay Milchick!
The first black actor to win a supporting actor Emmy . . . in 2025? This is why I don’t take these awards seriously, but Tramell Tillman is a next level actor. Just give him all the awards now.