Apple TV+ is celebrating its record-breaking haul for the 2025 Emmys, where it received a total of 81 nominations, including multiple shows in the Outstanding Comedy and Drama series categories.
“Severance” led the Emmys as the most-nominated series with a total of 27 nominations, while Seth Rogen’s “The Studio” made history as the most-nominated freshman comedy with a total of 23 Emmy nominations.
Meanwhile, Bill Lawrence’s “Shrinking” received seven nominations, including firsts for Outstanding Comedy Series and Harrison Ford as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, while “Slow Horses” and “Presumed Innocent” saw five and four nominations, respectively.
“It feels great, especially on behalf of all of the talent. They work so hard on the shows,” Apple TV+ head of programming Matt Cherniss told TheWrap in an interview. “They put their faith in us as a home for those series and to see that leap of faith rewarded and so well deserved for all of the talent on all of the series is just really gratifying.”
The nominations are the latest sign of the tech giant’s growing acceptance in Hollywood since first launching the streaming service in 2019.
“In my mind, we’re still a young service, we’ve been at this five years. A lot of that had been impacted by COVID and the strikes. It’s really taken us a bit of time to get to the place where I think we have the rhythm and the momentum that we had always envisioned,” he added. “We really aim for shows that have a humanity to them, a resonance and an originality and an aspiration to their storytelling and an ambition. I think that has been consistent and the audience has certainly been taking note over the past year or so, as we’ve seen the momentum just continue to grow. And I think that that’s reflected in the nominations.”
When asked about updates on upcoming seasons of “The Studio,” “Shrinking” and “Severance,” Cherniss said their respective futures are “very bright.”
“The Studio” is in the process of “figuring out how to up the ante” in Season 2 and “continuing to find interesting ways to tell stories about the world and Matt Remick and all the other characters,” he said.
Cherniss said he’s seen a “fair amount” of “Shrinking” Season 3 and “couldn’t be more excited about where that’s going.”
“It’s such a heartfelt show and so resonant and timely as it relates to how we care about each other, how we care about ourselves and take care of ourselves and take care of our families,” he said. “Seeing Harrison Ford get a nomination is just the cherry on top for everyone involved in it. I think Bill, Jason and the entire team on that show do an incredible job.”
Additionally, Cherniss praised “Severance” as one of the most ambitious shows on television, which he acknowledged “takes time” to produce.
“Every detail is curated, every plot point is considered and Dan and Ben do an amazing job,” he said. “It does take a little longer than maybe we’d all like for that to all come together, but I think the show has a lot of momentum and I’m excited for the audience to see what they have in store in Season 3 and beyond.”
He added that David E Kelley has a “great plan” for “Presumed Innocent” and said Season 2, which will star Rachel Brosnahan, is in the “early writing stages.”
As for other projects in the works, Cherniss said he’s “really excited” about thriller “Cape Fear,” based on John D. MacDonald’s novel “The Executioners,” adding that it “looks fantastic.” Meanwhile, “Neuromancer” is in its “early days” of production.
“I think it’s incredibly ambitious,” he said. “Like a lot of the shows in that genre and on our slate, [Neuromancer] is really seeking to take a classic story and do justice to the source material and I think they’re well on their way.”
Additionally, he teased that Apple TV+ would have more updates on the untitled sci-fi series from Vince Gilligan soon. “It’s unlike anything on television right now and I’m very excited for you and the audience to see what’s in store.”
