2025 Emmys: Does HBO Max Have Its First Outstanding Drama Series Contender in ‘The Pitt’?

The Pitt is one of the best drama series of 2025. Does HBO Max have a serious shot at Outstanding Drama Series? *spoilers ahead*

HBO Max’s The Pitt has been one of 2025’s most pleasant (and sometimes not so pleasant — poor Whitaker!) TV surprises this season. Set in the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, the drama series offers a fresh and seemingly “original” take on modern medicine, touching upon our post-COVID world in hourly increments accounting for one shift in one day.

When they first announced this show, I’ll be honest, it felt like a stale idea. Noah Wyle returning to the ER? But The Pitt completely surpassed my expectations, and dare I say, I think it might even be better than the original ER, a show I compared all other drama series to for years.

With sustained buzz and a Season 2 pickup, The Pitt is a hit and could be an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy contender. At the 2025 Emmys, Shogun will not repeat (Season 2 is in preproduction) and The Morning Show Season 4 won’t be out in time. Fallout, The Crown, 3 Body Problem, and The Gilded Age are also out. Really, from the 2024 lineup, the only drama series that should return is Apple TV+’s Slow Horses, so The Pitt has a real shot at getting in. Of course, there’s also The White Lotus domination to contend with.

March 6 Episode “4:00 PM”: Here’s Your Emmy Clip

The Pitt feels real, never a soap opera like so many medical dramas in recent years. And sometimes when I think they’re going to zag into melodrama territory (remember that ER dropped a helicopter on a doc — after a helicopter chopped off his arm!), they always zag. Even though Dr. Collins (Tracy Ifeachor) has a miscarriage, the show never implies that the baby was from her former flame, Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle). Meanwhile, Noah Wyle brings serious gravitas and exhaustion to his role, and even though he’s playing another emergency room doctor, Dr. Robby is completely different from Dr. John Carter in every possible way.

The March 6 episode “4:00 PM” ends with a scene I would like to point Emmy voters to. When Santos (Isa Briones) flags drug discrepancies, Dr. Robby discovers his right-hand man Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball) has been helping himself to benzos. For much of this season, Santos appears to be the antagonist. She has a chip on her shoulder, and I think we all thought she was going to be the one grasping at straws. But no. In what might be the most devastating moment of the season, in a show that has devastating moments every episode, Dr. Robby is forced to send Dr. Langdon home.

Both actors play this moment so beautifully, highlighting both our prescription drug problem in this country and the mounting pressures on the medical community.

“You’ve seen what I do, Robby. Could a drug addict do what I do?” pleads Frank.

“Apparently.”

1. Just pointing out that Dr. John Carter also had a pill addiction after he got stabbed on ER so a redemption arc is possible for Langdon!
2. Noah Wyle and Patrick Ball got a very nice Emmy clip out of this moment. pic.twitter.com/lIBsnXlI51

— Brandon Lewis (@blewis1103) March 7, 2025

The Pitt 2025 Emmys Placement

So if The Pitt is an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy contender, where can it show up in other categories?

First off, this cast is stacked. There isn’t a weak link in the bunch, and it’s hard to find room for everyone, but here’s where I could see it landing in the major categories:

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
Noah Wyle (five-time nominee, never won) – Read David Phillips’ analysis on his performance

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Tracy Ifeachor

Outstanding Supporting Actor Drama Series
Patrick Ball

Outstanding Supporting Actress Drama Series
Taylor Dearden
Fiona Dourif
Katherine LaNasa

Outstanding Cinematography in a Drama Series
Johanna Coelho (who worked on all 15 episodes) – Read full interview with her!

Outstanding Direction in a Drama Series (possible submissions)

John Wells – Episode “7:00 AM” (pilot)
Amanda Marsalis – Episode “2:00 PM” (honor walk + child drowning)
Queyn Tran – Episode “3:00 PM” (fights in the waiting room ends in sucker punch)
Damian Marcano – Episode “4:00 PM”

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (possible submissions)

R. Scott Gemmill – Episode “7:00 AM” (pilot)
Joe Sachs – Episode “2:00 PM” (history lesson on Freedom House Ambulance Service)
Noah Wyle – Episode “3:00 PM” (Langdon lashes out at Santos, fatphobia in the ER)
Simran Baidwan – Episode “4:00 PM”

Listen to our podcast on The Pitt here!