Emmy Voting Opens With 228 Top Series Submissions, One Less From 2024

After weeks of For Your Consideration events and nonstop campaigning from studios, voting for the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations is officially underway. Members of the Television Academy — nearly 24,000 industry professionals divided among 31 peer groups, including directors, producers and artisans — now hold ballots in hand.

Each member votes within their professional field, but all eligible voters may cast ballots in the 15 top program races: outstanding comedy, drama, limited or anthology series, television movie, talk series, variety special (live), variety special (pre-recorded), short form (comedy/drama/variety), short form (nonfiction/reality), hosted nonfiction series, structured reality, unstructured reality, reality competition, scripted variety and game show.

According to Academy rules, the number of nominees in each category is determined by the volume of submissions. However, the drama and comedy series categories are guaranteed to have eight nominees each, regardless of the total number of entries.

In 2024, the Academy saw 229 total submissions across drama, comedy and limited or anthology series — down significantly from 309 in 2023, which had already marked a 33% drop amid industry-wide strike delays. Now, 2025 sees a modest decrease with 228 submissions overall.

In the race for outstanding drama series, only one of last year’s nominees returns: Apple TV+’s espionage thriller “Slow Horses.” But several former power players are back in contention after strike-induced hiatuses, including Disney+’s “Andor,” HBO Max’s “House of the Dragon,” “The Last of Us” and “The White Lotus,” as well as Paramount+’s “Yellowjackets.” Notably, Apple TV+’s “Severance” and Netflix’s “Squid Game,” both nominated in 2022, are back after three-year breaks. Newcomers hope to shake up the lineup, including CBS’ rebooted procedural “Matlock,” Hulu’s suspense drama “Paradise” and the hospital-set “The Pitt.” Together, these shows are among the 126 series vying for the nomination, compared to 107 in 2024, 171 in 2022 and 133 in 2021.

On the comedy side, HBO Max’s reigning champ “Hacks” returns, alongside last year’s nominees “Abbott Elementary” (ABC), “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu), “The Bear” (FX) and the final season of FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows.” They’re joined by buzzy freshman contenders like Apple’s inside-Hollywood satire “The Studio” and Netflix’s rom-com “Nobody Wants This.” The total stands at 69 comedies, compared to 73 in 2024, 95 in 2023, a record 118 in 2022 and 68 in 2021.

Once again, the limited or anthology series category is proving a pressure cooker. With only 33 miniseries submitted — falling short of the 80-title threshold — the category will feature just five nominees this year. That’s down from 49 in 2024, 51 in 2023, 61 in 2022 and 37 in 2021. Among the frontrunners: Netflix’s critically acclaimed British drama “Adolescence” is widely seen as the platform’s best shot at eclipsing its robust winner from last year, “Baby Reindeer.” The streamer is also pinning hopes on Ryan Murphy’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and the anthology sci-fi series “Black Mirror.” If all three land, it would mark Netflix’s first triple-play in this category since Hulu’s 2022 trio of “The Dropout,” “Dopesick” and “Pam & Tommy.” Additional top contenders include HBO Max’s “The Penguin,” a gritty Gotham-set drama starring Colin Farrell, and FX’s emotional “Dying for Sex,” headlined by Michelle Williams. The TV movie race has 39 films in the running, down from 43, 61, 48 and 41 over the past four years.

The talk series and scripted variety races continue their submission freefall. Only 13 talk entries were submitted, meaning just three nominees will be named — a tight field that could leave one of late night’s big players out. Last year saw 14 talk shows. Among the contenders are Sean Evans’ celebrity chicken wing-eating series “Hot Ones” and indie streamer Dropout’s “Very Important People” hosted by Vic Michaelis.

Scripted variety is down to just six submissions, including “Saturday Night Live” and “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” set to face multiple cancelled series such as “After Midnight” and “It’s Florida, Man.” According to Academy rules, this converts the category into a juried award. From June 27 to July 7, peer group jurors will screen entries, and any program earning at least 70% approval (with a maximum of two) will receive a nomination.

Reality competition is packed with ratings giants, including “The Traitors,” “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” with 50 series in contention. Structured reality features staples like “Antiques Roadshow” and “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” among 23 contenders. In unstructured reality, Bravo’s “The Valley” and Netflix’s “Love on the Spectrum” are strong entries among 36 total submissions.

One to watch: the emerging media category, where viral sensation “Crypto: The Game” returns for Season 3. The alternate-reality game show, created by Dylan Abruscato (formerly of HQ Trivia), is drawing global attention.

Nomination voting runs from June 12 through June 23. Official nominations for the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards will be announced on July 15.

Variety’s Emmy predictions and analysis pages will be updated throughout the voting window.