HBO Turns 142 Emmy Noms Into a One-Day Spectacle in Los Angeles
- Crazy Staff
- Aug 18, 2025
- 3 min read
What do you do when your network racks up 142 Emmy nominations? If you’re HBO, you throw an all-day cultural flex that looks less like a press event and more like a fan convention for prestige TV obsessives.
On August 17, HBO brought together cast, creators, and artisans from its most celebrated shows—The Last of Us, Hacks, The White Lotus, The Pitt, Somebody Somewhere, and The Penguin—for a stacked day of panels at NYA Studios West in Los Angeles. The energy was half film festival, half Comic-Con, and entirely HBO: intimate conversations, immersive exhibits, and the kind of costume displays that remind you television has quietly outpaced Hollywood red carpets when it comes to style.
“The Last of Us” Still Owns the Room
The morning began with an emotional reunion for The Last of Us, still riding high after its breakout first season. Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann were joined by Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Kaitlyn Dever, and others for a packed conversation about season two.
“It’s about the intimacy in a world that’s falling apart,”
Mazin told the audience, capturing the paradox that’s made the series resonate far beyond the survival-horror genre. Fans may have come for the apocalypse, but they stayed for the tender human core.
The White Lotus Checks Back In
Mike White returned with a Lotus dream team—Carrie Coon, Sam Rockwell, Natasha Rothwell, Parker Posey—plus casting director Meredith Tucker.
White, characteristically droll, teased, “There’s always more bad behavior at the resort.” The laughter in the room suggested audiences wouldn’t want it any other way, while Posey mused that the show is “the rare satire that also makes you want to pack a suitcase.”
Behind the Craft: VFX, Hair, and Costumes
If HBO is prestige TV’s gold standard, its artisans are the engine. Panels spotlighted production designers from Dune: Prophecy and House of the Dragon, makeup teams behind The Penguin and The Righteous Gemstones, and costume designers shaping characters as much as scripts do.
“Wardrobe is often the first line of storytelling,”
Christina Flannery (Gemstones) said, gesturing to a lineup of sequined suits and Southern Gothic frocks on display.
Comedy, Goodbyes, and Gotham
Hacks lightened the mood with Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder trading stories alongside creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky. Later, costume and makeup teams from Dune: Prophecy, The Penguin, and The Righteous Gemstones offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at the textures, palettes, and prosthetics that bring characters to life. “Sometimes the story starts with the eyeliner,” one designer quipped, earning nods from the crowd.
Not everything was celebratory. The Somebody Somewhere panel took on the bittersweet task of closing out the show’s run. “This show gave me a family I didn’t know I needed,” Bridget Everett reflected, her voice catching. For a series built on quiet intimacy, it was a fitting goodbye.
The finale belonged to The Penguin, HBO’s highly anticipated Gotham-set drama. Colin Farrell, buried once again under Mike Marino’s transformative prosthetics, joined Cristin Milioti and the creative team for a two-part conversation on expanding Gotham’s mythology. Production designer Kalina Ivanov summed up the ethos: “We wanted the grit to feel lived-in, not stylized.”
By the time the last panel wrapped, one thing was obvious: this wasn’t about tallying trophies, it was about celebrating obsessions. Emmy night is still weeks away, but with 142 nods and a fanfare to match, the network has already made this season’s loudest statement.