Pedro Pascal Is Heading Up A Stacked List Of Emmy Nominees, And I'm Banging My Head Over Who I Think Could Win

Joel and Ellie patroling the woods in The Last of Us Season 2 Ep 6
(Image credit: HBO)

The Emmy nominations are out, and after watching all the nominated performances for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series on the 2025 television schedule, I’m completely torn as to who I think should win. Pedro Pascal, Sterling K. Brown, Noah Wyle, Gary Oldman, and Adam Scott all put in amazing turns in amazing shows. How to pick just one? I don’t know if I can, but by the end of this story, I hope to have some clarity.

Pedro Pascal as Joel on The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 6.

(Image credit: Max)

Pedro Pascal For The Last Of Us

Pedro Pascal may indeed be the “internet’s daddy,” and a big reason why is his role as Joel in The Last of Us. There is one more season for The Last of Us, but given Joel's limited role in Season 2 (IYKYK), this may be Pascal's final shot at winning an Emmy for this particular role. If I'm honest, I think he deserves this award more for Season 1 of The Last of Us, as his role was much bigger, of course. However, since every scene he's a part of in Season 2 has so much emotional weight, it's not like he's undeserving now.

The last few years have been amazing for Pascal and his fans. He also has Fantastic Four: First Steps coming out this month, and The Mandalorian and Grogu on the 2026 movie schedule. For Pascal to win an Emmy for one of the best video game adaptations ever would be a crowning achievement. An achievement he well deserves. But he’s hardly alone in this category.

Mark in the snow talking to Ms Cobel in Severance Season 2

(Image credit: Apple TV+)

Adam Scott For Severance

Apple TV+ has put out some amazing movies and TV shows in the last few years and at the top of that list has to be Severance. The Emmys have certainly recognized that with an amazing 27 nominations in 2025, leading all shows. Adam Scott, who plays Mark S., leads a fantastic cast that includes fellow nominees Britt Lower, John Turturro, Tramell Tillman, and Patricia Arquette.

I do think, as amazing as Severance is and as fantastic as Scott is, he may be the longshot in this category, which goes to show just how loaded it is. I won’t be surprised by anything when the Emmy is announced on September 14th, but still, if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t be betting on Scott. He’ll surely be nominated again after Season 3 of Severance.

Close up of Noah Wyle as Dr. Michael "Robby" Rabinavitch in The Pitt

(Image credit: Max)

Noah Wyle For The Pitt

HBO Max's fantastic medical drama The Pitt was at first a tough watch for me, at first. It took me a couple of restarts to finally get into it. That’s not because I thought it was bad, in fact, it was quite the opposite, it was so good–and so real–that I had to turn it off. It was literally freaking me out by how real it felt.

The show’s star, Noah Wyle, has five Emmy nominations to his name from his days on that other medical drama he once starred in, ER, but honestly, he hit a new level of performance with The Pitt. Though he never won for ER, and he might not win here, given the competition, his performance is riveting, heartfelt, and most importantly, real.

Sterling K. Brown on Paradise

(Image credit: Hulu)

Sterling K. Brown For Paradise

Hulu’s Paradise is the brainchild of Dan Fogelman, who is also responsible for a little show called This Is Us, for which Sterling K. Brown was nominated for five Emmys in this same category and won the award in 2017 after Season 1. Brown and Fogelman teamed up again for Paradise, and the outcome, unsurprisingly, was another fantastic season of television and a slew of Emmy nominations.

Brown brings his trademark emotional depth to a character, Secret Service Agent Xavier Collins, who might have been two-dimensional in anyone but Brown and Fogelman’s hands. On the surface, the show is a science fiction whodunit, but with Brown leading the amazing cast, it’s so much more than that. A win here would be Brown’s fourth Emmy (he also won for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson and Best Narrator for Lincoln: Divided We Stand), so it’s never a surprise to see him on the stage accepting an award for acting excellence.

Gary Oldman in Slow Horses

(Image credit: Apple TV+)

Gary Oldman For Slow Horses

Finally, we come to what is actually my personal favorite. Slow Horses, which you can stream with an Apple TV+ subscription, has been among the best shows on streaming for four seasons now (with a fifth right around the corner). Gary Oldman, who plays the crusty, smelly, chain-smoking, washed-up spy Jackson Lamb in the thriller, has been outstanding for all of those seasons.

This is only Oldman’s second nomination for Slow Horses, which almost seems criminal. The Oscar winner has never won an Emmy, and while I would be happy to see any of these actors win, I’m quietly rooting for Oldman, because I really love the show, and his performance is so good, I can smell his character through the screen–and I mean that in the best way.

A close up of Sterling K. Brown with a bright light shining on his face in Paradise.

(Image credit: Hulu)

Who Will Win Is Anyone’s Guess

This is the Emmys, so of course there are always going to be five worthy Emmy nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series, but this year just feels different to me. It seems especially hard to predict a winner. While I’m personally rooting for Oldman, as I said, I don’t know that he’ll take it home, and really, nothing would surprise me here.

I’ve been sitting here for almost a day thinking about this, and still have no clue who will win. All five actors put in deserving performances in excellent (and very popular) shows. Even though I said Adam Scott is maybe the longshot, the more I think about Severance and its dozens of nominations, the more I change my mind about that. That’s where we are with this category. I go back and forth between all five. I can’t wait to tune in to CBS in September to find out who wins.

Hugh Scott
Syndication Editor

Hugh Scott is the Syndication Editor for CinemaBlend. Before CinemaBlend, he was the managing editor for Suggest.com and Gossipcop.com, covering celebrity news and debunking false gossip. He has been in the publishing industry for almost two decades, covering pop culture – movies and TV shows, especially – with a keen interest and love for Gen X culture, the older influences on it, and what it has since inspired. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in Political Science but cured himself of the desire to be a politician almost immediately after graduation.

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