As noted in our coverage, Dying for Sex was completely shut out from any Emmy wins, sigh. It was my favorite show of the year and perhaps the most spiritually profound, life-affirming, and hysterically funny (yes, really!) series I’ve ever watched, nay experienced… but to each her own. I’d been bracing myself for this outcome for weeks now. You may recall my saying once or thrice that Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie would be a tight race between Michelle Williams for this show, and Cristin Milioti for The Penguin. Obviously, Cristin won, and she’s a delight and a real one and damn fine actress so I’m thrilled for her. But that was the one category I thought Dying for Sex had any real shot at winning. While I adored the supporting performances from Jenny Slate (best work she’s ever done and she knows it, good for her!) and Rob Delaney, once again I correctly predicted they would each lose to someone from Adolescence. I think Rob knew the win for him was in the nomination, if not simply getting the chance to be part of the show full stop. On the red carpet he talked about big emotions while filming:

Rob Delaney found making the FX miniseries Dying for Sex with Michelle Williams emotionally difficult.

When Delaney, 48, spoke with PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly’s Red Carpet Live show ahead of the 2025 Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 14, the actor said watching Williams’ heavy performance as a woman dying from cancer affected him off-set, when asked whether he explored any new elements in his life after making the series.

“It was hard, you know, because I got to know Michelle Williams the person in addition to the character she played,” Delaney, who plays a character who has a sexual relationship with Williams’ Molly in the show, says. “Watching her get sick and deteriorate and die was very painful because she’s an amazing actress, as we all know. So it was super painful, honestly, and we cried a lot, on and off camera. It was heavy.”

When Delaney was asked how he would decompress from filming heavy sequences, he adds, “I would swim and run and call a friend and be like — I remember I called Nick Offerman one time and I was like, ‘Nick, what do you do when acting is hard and real and it’s not just silly comedy?’ And he would talk me off a ledge.”

…Delaney also spoke about the reality of filming sex scenes while on the red carpet. “It’s really funny, because it’s intimate appearing on the screen, but then of course when you’re shooting it there’s a grip and a guy with a boom mic and everything and you’re making crazy noises and doing all kinds of stuff,” he says. “So frequently, cut would be yelled and then we would laugh and then me and the grip would be like ‘Sorry, sorry you had to see that.’”

[From People]

Rob was pitch perfect as Neighbor Guy, and I gotta say, I loved that among scenes of high drama, his clip in the nominees reel was of him messily eating that huge taco in the elevator. Simply glorious. As for the series being heavy and emotional to film, I can only imagine, given Rob’s personal history. His son Henry died from cancer in 2018, he was only two years old. I have no doubt that the memories and emotions were right on tap for Rob during filming. Rob wrote a book, A Heart That Works, that’s his account of the loss of Henry and dealing with grief. Much like the tone of Dying for Sex, A Heart That Works has been praised for its humor in the midst of life’s bleakest moments. I’m glad this role found him, and hope it was a cathartic experience. And selfishly I hope this Emmy exposure leads to us seeing more of Rob! Also, I bet Nick Offerman is a fantastic, stalwart friend to pick a guy up when he’s feeling low. Here’s to the friends who are the great loves of our lives; that’s ultimately what Dying for Sex is about.

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