5 ways ‘Severance’ Season 2 can build upon its 14 Emmy nominations for Season 1
- Severance Season 2 received 14 Emmy nominations for Season 1, winning two, and is expected to secure 13 nominations for the upcoming season.
As Severance fans continue debating the innies and outies of Friday's watercooler Season 2 finale , the Apple TV+ show is in a strong position to grow like a black diamond watermelon at the 2025 Emmys.
Three years ago, for Season 1, the sci-fi show about office drones who separate their workplace memories from their normal memories received 14 Emmy nominations and won two (Best Main Title Design and Best Music Composition). Succession and Ozark (which have been put out to pasture) and Squid Game (which recently had a muted Season 2 return) bested Severance in all the above-the-line categories.
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Severance 's 2022 bids were for drama series , lead actor Adam Scott, supporting actress Patricia Arquette, supporting actor John Turturro, supporting actor Christopher Walken, director Ben Stiller, writer Dan Erickson, casting, main title theme music, main title design, music composition, picture editing x2, and production design.
Assuming it nabs those same nominations again (it's presumably eligible for all but Best Main Title Theme Music, since the opening tune remained the same), the show would make do with 13 citations. But we think there are at least five ways for Severance Season 2 to build upon Season 1's Emmy nominations. Let's break down those contenders:
1. Best Drama Actress
This is the perfect example of a category in which Season 2 of Severance is newly competitive. Britt Lowerwas snubbed three years ago, but she's now receiving significant attention for her dual roles as the rebellious Helly R. and the machiavellian Helena Eagan. Lower is currently in fourth place in the lead actress race, according to the Gold Derby odds, behind frontrunners Kathy Bates( Matlock ), Keri Russell( The Diplomat ), and Bella Ramsey( The Last of Us ). As with Scott, who negotiates opposite himself in the finale as the innie and outie versions of Mark Scout, this style of Acting — with a capital A — is something that has always wowed Emmy voters because it allows them to see a performer's true range. Just look at past winners like Sally Field, who exhibited dissociative identity disorder in Sybil , Toni Collette's multiple personalities in United Shades of Tara , and Tatiana Maslany's various clones in Orphan Black .
Apple TV+
2. Best Drama Supporting Actor
Assuming at least Turturro is nominated again as Irving, Severance could find itself with another supporting actor (or two) in the lineup. Our odds peg Tramell Tillman, who plays the new Severed Floor manager Seth Milchick, as the likeliest to receive a first-time Emmy bid. Tillman's role was greatly expanded this year, as viewers saw Seth become more of a thorn in the side of Mark and his team. Speaking of that team ...
3. Best Drama Supporting Actor, Take 2
... Emmy voters could easily go full Macrodata Refinement and reward Zach Cherry(who plays Dylan) with a nomination. Cherry reached new acting heights during his poignant scenes with Merritt Wever, who plays his outie's wife, Gretchen. In the finale, Cherry delivers an emotional moment the whole season had been building toward. More good news for Tillman and Cherry: there will likely be eight nomination slots again this year in the supporting races, up from seven last year when there weren't as many overall submissions due to the strikes. Then there's always Walken again, who could be a return nominee for playing Burt.
Apple TV+
4. Best Drama Guest Actress
While most of Severance 's cast members appear in too many episodes to be eligible for guest (they have to appear in fewer than 50 percent of the total episodes, so in this case, that's one to four episodes), Gwendoline Christiedoesn't have that issue. The former Game of Thrones Emmy nominee has a relatively minor, though key, role in two episodes as a severed goatherder named Lorne. Shorter appearances have been nominated and won before, so don't count out Christie because of her screen time. She's somebody the acting branch has recognized recently and could easily make it in if there's a Severance vote-sweep situation.
Apple TV+
5. The Crafts Categories
The list of below-the-line races in which Season 1 was not nominated is quite head-scratching. Blame incredible competition from dramas like Succession , Squid Game , and Ozark that year. Severance missed bids for cinematography, costumes, hairstyling, makeup (non-prosthetic), makeup (prosthetic), music supervision, sound editing, sound mixing, stunts, and visual effects. Assuming it's eligible in all of those crafts categories for Season 2, Severance could experience a double-digit jump in nominations. From the get-go, this program has been a technical marvel — those never-ending hallways, the ear-pleasing music scores, the unique camera angles and lighting, etc. Last year, Shōgun was the drama to beat with its leading 25 nominations, while the record holder for a single year was Game of Thrones, with 32 bids in 2019. Could Severance Season 2 be entering record territory?
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