Major Upset at 2025 Emmys as Best Drama and Best Actor Are Revealed

Television: now more than ever? Emmy viewers were shocked last night after several major upsets.

Not only did Seth Rogen beat out perennial winner Jeremy Allen White for best actor in a comedy, but the real surprise came with the night’s two biggest awards: Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Drama.

For most of the year, it seemed like Apple TV’s Severance was poised to win all the major awards, with 27 nominations at the 77th Emmy Awards—the most by any series. And then this year’s biggest word-of-mouth hit came along.

HBO’s medical drama The Pitt debuted as a lower-budget HBO Max original this past January, typically a slower month for television in general. But as the series progressed, word got out: The Pitt is really, really good. By the finale, the show’s hype had reached a fever pitch, and suddenly the series became one of the biggest of the year.

Unsurprisingly, HBO has renewed it for a second season and now marked the series as a proper HBO original, even before tonight’s Emmy Awards. But no one (well, almost no one) expected the series to take home the night’s two biggest prizes.

Series star Noah Wyle, who was nominated several times for ER in the ’90s but never won, beat out frontrunner Adam Scott for Outstanding Actor. And then, in another surprise, The Pitt took home the whole thing when it beat out Severance for Outstanding Drama.

With those two wins, combined for acting wins for supporting stars Katherina LaNasa and Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt was unexpectedly tonight’s biggest winner.

Season 1 of The Pitt is now streaming on HBO.