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\n Keeping pace with Hollywood\u2019s awards horserace. Sign up for the newsletter here<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Amid a poorly received third season, the HBO drama\u2019s Emmy hopes stand on shakier ground than Nate and Cassie\u2019s marriage. Nearly four years ago, Zendaya took the stage at the 2022 Emmy Awards to accept her second Outstanding Actress in a Drama trophy for Euphoria. It was the capper to a tremendous Emmys for Sam Levinson\u2019s harrowing and absurd teen drama, which plunged its characters deeper into the realms of drug addiction, violence, and high-school theater. The season claimed 16 total nominations, including placement in the Outstanding Drama Series category, and five wins at the Creative Arts Emmys. It was the second-most-nominated drama series (after Succession) and had more total wins than any show besides The White Lotus. By any interpretation, Euphoria had established itself as one of HBO\u2019s top-performing awards contenders. So when the series began its long-awaited third season this spring, it was totally reasonable to consider it a lock for multiple statues come September.<\/p>\n Then the episodes started airing. \u201cA shadow of its former self,\u201d said The Atlantic<\/a>;\u00a0\u201cfanfiction of itself,\u201d agreed Variety<\/a>. Time<\/a>\u2019s review noted that \u201ceach storyline comes slathered in the tropes of its own familiar genre.\u201d My colleague Roxana Hadadi called<\/a> the new season \u201cas beautifully lit as it is emotionally hollow.\u201d The Emmys are not the most reactive awards body on earth \u2014 it can take several years before voters stop nominating shows that have long since lost their potency among fans and critics (see This Is Us\u00a0and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, both nominated through their fifth seasons) \u2014 but Euphoria\u2019s third season just might be disappointing enough to deflate everything the show has going for it as a major contender.<\/p>\n Since its beginning, Euphoria has been one of the buzziest shows on TV. Its first season scandalized<\/a> with sex and drugs and dick-pic seminars, but it also drew a ton of praise. The show ended up on \u201cBest of 2019\u201d lists from Vogue<\/a>, Esquire<\/a> (which called it \u201cthe best look at the generation born after 9\/11 we\u2019ve seen on TV yet\u201d), GQ<\/a> (which predicted that Zendaya would EGOT one day), and right here at Vulture<\/a>. Even as Levinson came under increasing fire<\/a> in 2022 for allegedly unsafe and\/or creepy filming conditions, the ratings remained strong. By the end of its second season, Euphoria was HBO\u2019s second-most-watched show<\/a> since 2004, behind Game of Thrones.<\/p>\n What\u2019s striking about the reception to Euphoria\u2019s third season \u2014 and what might be most damaging to its Emmy chances \u2014 is not just that the new episodes have been subpar television;\u00a0it\u2019s that the show no longer resembles its former self. After a five-year time jump, Rue (Zendaya) is a drug mule hauling fentanyl across the Mexican border, Jules (Hunter Schafer) is sugar-babying out in the big city, Lexi (Maude Apatow) and Maddy (Alexa Demie) are hustling in the entertainment industry, and Nate (Elordi) and Cassie (Sweeney) are preparing for a blockbuster bad-idea wedding. \u201cI\u2019m not sure who these characters are in season three, because the show isn\u2019t treating them as characters anymore,\u201d Hadadi tells me. \u201cEveryone now is an avatar for a big idea \u2014 the danger of fentanyl, the crassness of the super-wealthy, the allure of sex work, the evils of the American dream. Levinson has turned these characters into gargantuan concepts that he thinks he\u2019s handling with nuance and singularity. He isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n This kind of criticism, where a once-popular show seems to have lost its identity, is reminiscent of other series\u2019 steep Emmy falloffs. Desperate Housewives went from 15 Emmy nominations (including three for Lead Actress in a Comedy) in 2005 to six nominations (and none for its lead actresses) for a sophomore season that fumbled the introduction of a new family to the cast. In 2015, True Detective\u2019s sensational first season was followed by a critically derided second effort that was all but blanked by the Emmy voters.<\/p>\n But the awards case for Euphoria was always as much about what the show represented off-screen as it was about what happened on it. Euphoria was the \u201cit\u2019s not TV, it\u2019s HBO\u201d version of the teen drama, with all the sex and drugs and moral depravity viewers have come to expect from Home Box Office. In Levinson\u2019s version of the high-school experience, the kids were addicted to drugs and doing sex work. The second-season finale jumped back and forth between the school play and two major characters getting gunned down by the Feds. The ascent of Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi into bona fide movie stars and Oscar red-carpet fixtures over the last five years has only added to Euphoria\u2019s reputation as prestige TV\u2019s youth whisperer.<\/p>\n The industry has faced threats to its own identity in the four years since Euphoria\u2019s season two aired. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes were followed by a decrease in the number of overall productions. The SoCal wildfires scarred both the landscape and psyches in Los Angeles. Warner Bros. \u2014 HBO included \u2014 was sold to Larry Ellison\u2019s kid. AI looms as an immediate threat to industry creatives. Overall, the existential terror in Hollywood is exponentially higher. In some ways, Euphoria represents the \u201chow we got into this mess\u201d version of the TV business: a one-man-band auteurist show where Levinson has written every episode and directed all but two. No writers\u2019 room, long stretches between seasons, a production fraught with delays. In 2022, this was fodder for articles or Twitter threads, but in 2026, it\u2019s a reason for Emmy voters to hate you. As one voter who works in reality TV put it to me, Euphoria hasn\u2019t been good enough in its third season to get voters to overrule those qualms. \u201cAll the buzz has led to ratings that seem totally fine. But I\u2019m not sure anything about this season has given voters the permission to elevate it to a real contender.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a huge part of The Pitt\u2019s winning Emmy narrative last year was about the return of longer seasons (15 episodes!) and an L.A.-based production that provided the kind of steady employment rarely seen in the TV business these days. That appeal is just as strong this year, and it\u2019s a major indicator that The Pitt is still the overwhelming front-runner for the drama Emmys. \u201cThe Pitt is still in the best interests of this business,\u201d says one TV writer who has worked on network dramas. \u201cEveryone is watching it. They\u2019re making lots of episodes of it. It\u2019s John Wells. It is clear that [Emmy voters] see this show as we might be able to get back to TV.\u201d<\/p>\n The acting categories are a bit more open, and that\u2019s where Euphoria retains its most notable advantage. There\u2019s every chance the TV Academy will still be as dazzled by Zendaya as it was when it gave her Lead Actress in a Drama trophies in 2020 and 2022. Her biggest competition appears to be Pluribus\u2019s Rhea Seehorn and The Diplomat\u2019s Keri Russell. Seehorn won at both the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards earlier this year, while Russell is poised to earn her sixth nomination in the category (including three nominations for The Americans). The only other woman with six or more nominations in Lead Actress in a Drama and zero wins is the late Angela Lansbury, who famously never won for any of her 12 nominations. (I can\u2019t decide whether Netflix\u2019s awards-publicity team should be shouting this incredible statistic from the rooftops or treat it like an old European curse and never speak it into existence again.)<\/p>\n In the five years since Euphoria filmed its second season, Zendaya, Sweeney, and Elordi have combined for $4.49 billion in worldwide box office. Yes, that\u2019s mostly Zendaya (the Dune and Spider-Man movies count for a lot), but Elordi (with Wuthering Heights\u2019s $242 million gross) and Sweeney (with $401 million for The Housemaid) are both coming off of their biggest hits to date. Elordi is also an Oscar nominee as of earlier this year, Zendaya has three major tentpole movies releasing between now and the end of 2026, and Sweeney will probably film an advertisement that will sway the next presidential election. The star power is significant, and the voters may want in on that action. \u201cI imagine it will surprise you not at all that this is a town of starfuckers,\u201d the same TV writer told us. \u201cIf you\u2019re cool, this is a town chasing cool.\u201d<\/p>\n While the bulk of Emmy hobnobbing happens in Los Angeles and New York, local displays of appreciation can be good campaign fodder as well. (Yes, for the sake of keeping this blurb cohesive, I\u2019m counting zillennial-hosted podcasts as local to the base of support for Industry. Just go with it.)<\/p>\n This week, the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball club announced a Dr. Robby bobblehead giveaway day for later this summer, when the first 20,000 fans inside the gates will receive a commemorative bobblehead<\/a> of Noah Wyle\u2019s Emmy-winning character from The Pitt. The giveaway won\u2019t be until the Pirates game on July 25, so you have time to make plans for a pilgrimage, and will be part of \u201cYinzerpalooza,\u201d the annual celebration of all things Pittsburgh held at the Pirates\u2019 home stadium. The figurine features Robby decked out in his trademark scrubs, hoodie, stethoscope, and expression of withering contempt for Dr. Samira Mohan, which in full bobble truly resembles the man at his most self-righteous.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the state of Illinois recognized the Italian beef sandwich as its official state sandwich and had The Bear star Corey Hendrix<\/a> (who plays sommelier Sweeps) on hand for the ceremony. The official resolution, which passed unanimously on May 20, declared May 23, 2026, as \u201cItalian Beef Day\u201d in Illinois. After commending the proud beef sandwich as a symbol of Illinois\u2019s culinary heritage and immigrant history, the resolution went on to extend \u201csincere congratulations and gratitude to the creators, cast, and crew of The Bear for their extraordinary portrayal of Chicago\u2019s Italian beef culture, for shining a national and international spotlight on the State of Illinois, and for inspiring pride in the State\u2019s rich culinary and cultural identity.\u201d My instinct was to snark at The Bear for getting Emmy-season publicity via its 12th lead showing up for a beef-sandwich commemoration in Springfield, but that resolution won me over.<\/p>\n Finally, Industry Emmy hopeful Myha\u2019la did the girls-gays-and-theys equivalent of attending a beef-sandwich commemoration ceremony and guested on Jake Shane\u2019s Therapuss podcast<\/a>. She was, of course, deeply charming, and the pair gabbed about New York summers and their respective Saturn returns, but if I\u2019m someone invested in Industry finally making long-awaited headway into the Emmy races, I\u2019m concerned that Myha\u2019la isn\u2019t reaching the audience she needs. Industry already has the permanently online, can\u2019t-sit-in-chairs-normally vote locked down. It\u2019s time to pivot toward Hot Ones, Good Hang, and audiences who don\u2019t know who Tate McRae is.<\/p>\n Sign up for Gold Rush<\/p>\n A newsletter about the perpetual Hollywood awards race.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n
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