‘The Studio,’ ‘The Penguin’ and ‘Severance’ Dominate Night One of the Creative Arts Emmys

The first night of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards was full of big wins, surprises, and a few funny moments at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Apple TV+’s The Studio was the top winner of the evening with nine awards. Close behind was HBO Max’s The Penguin with eight wins, while Apple’s Severance picked up six. Other strong performers included Disney+’s Andor and Netflix’s Arcane and Love, Death + Robots, each collecting four trophies. The Boys on Prime Video and Netflix’s Bridgerton both won three, and The Pitt on HBO Max along with Netflix’s Adolescence each earned two.

The acting categories saw some big names on stage. Julianne Nicholson was recognized for her role in Hacks. Bryan Cranston scored for The Studio. Merritt Wever’s work in Severance also earned a trophy, and Shawn Hatosy picked up a win for The Pitt.

Beyond the acting prizes, several shows dominated in technical fields. The Penguin claimed awards for hairstyling, makeup, costumes, sound work, and visual effects. Andor earned recognition for its design, costumes, editing, and visual effects. Rebel Ridge was honored as the top TV movie, while Arcane won for Outstanding Animation.

The show started with energy when Maya Rudolph told the audience, “This is the real Emmys. This is the Emmys for the people who make all the magic happen … this is a room full of talented baddies.”

Not every moment was glamorous. Bridgerton’s costume win came with an awkward scene when designer John Walter Glaser struggled with his pants on stage. Over in comedy, The Daily Show’s Desi Lydic accepted her award with a laugh, admitting she had to watch “too much Fox News” and jokingly thanked “the Deep State.” And in another unexpected twist, Hacks writer Robby Hoffman sparked chatter by vaping right before announcing the winner for cinematography.

The first half of the Creative Arts Emmys is now done, but the celebration isn’t over. Another 49 awards will be handed out on Sunday in categories like writing, casting, and picture editing. The event will not be shown live, but it will air on FXX on September 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Viewers will also be able to stream it on Hulu until October 7.

This year’s Creative Arts Emmys really showed how much shows like The Studio, The Penguin, and Severance are shaping television right now.

What stood out most was how much recognition technical teams got, which is great because they often don’t get enough spotlight. I think these wins set the tone for the Primetime Emmys. What do you think about the results? Which win surprised you the most? Share your thoughts in the comments.

• Guest Actress in a Comedy Series – Julianne Nicholson, Hacks
• Contemporary Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) – The Penguin (Martha Melendez, Kim Collea, Maria Maio)
• Prosthetic Makeup – The Penguin (Michael Fontaine, Michael Marino, Crystal Jurado, Diana Choi, Claire Flewin, Jerry Constantine, Yoichi Art Sakamoto, Bobby Diehl)
• Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Makeup (Non-Prosthetic) – House of the Dragon (Amanda Knight, Sara Kramer, Harriet Thompson, Bonny Monger, Helen Currie, Natalie Wickens, Vickie Ellis)
• Period Costumes – Bridgerton (John Glaser, Amanda McLaughlan, Dougie Hawkes, George Sayer, Anthony Brookman)
• Contemporary Costumes for a Series – The Studio (Kameron Lennox, Betsy Glick, Tyler Kinney)
• Contemporary Costumes for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie – The Penguin (Helen Huang, Kate Smith, Austin Wittick, Rebecca Freund, Esther J. Han)
• Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes – Andor (Michael Wilkinson, Kate O’Farrell, Richard Davies, Paula Fajardo)
• Period or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Hairstyling – Bridgerton (Erika Ökvist, Farida Ghwedar, Grace Gorman, Laura Sim, Emma Rigby, Hannah Forbes)
• Contemporary Hairstyling – The Penguin (Brian Badie, Jenn Vasilopoulos, Mariko Miyagi)
• Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More) – Severance (David Schlesinger, Chris Shriver, Ann Bartek, David Schlesinger)
• Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour) – The Studio (Julie Berghoff, Brian Grego, Claire Kaufman)
• Production Design for a Narrative Period or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More) – Andor (Luke Hull, Toby Britton, Rebecca Alleway)
• Casting for a Drama Series – The Pitt (Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, Erica Berger)
• Guest Actor in a Comedy Series – Bryan Cranston, The Studio
• Casting for a Comedy Series – The Studio (Melissa Kostenbauder, Francine Maisler)
• Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie – Adolescence (Shaheen Baig)
• Stunt Coordination for Comedy Programming – The Righteous Gemstones (Cory DeMeyers)
• Stunt Coordination for Drama Programming – The Boys (John Koyama)
• Stunt Performance – The Boys (Jennifer Murray, River Godland, Alec Back, Moses Nyarko)
• Animated Program – Arcane
• Character Voice-Over Performance – Julie Andrews, Bridgerton
• Individual Achievement in Animation (juried) – Arcane (background design, color), Love, Death + Robots (production design, character animation, character design)
• Choreography for Scripted Programming – Étoile (Marguerite Pomerhn Derricks)
• Picture Editing for a Single-Camera Comedy Series – The Studio (Eric Kissack)
• Picture Editing for a Multi-Camera Comedy Series – Frasier (Russell Griffin)
• Guest Actress in a Drama Series – Merritt Wever, Severance
• Picture Editing for a Drama Series – Andor (Yan Miles)
• Picture Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie – Monsters: The Lyle & Erik Menendez Story
• Special Visual Effects in a Season or a Movie – Andor (Mohen Leo, TJ Falls, Luke Murphy, Neal Scanlan, Scott Pritchard, Joseph Kasparian, Sue Rowe, Paolo D’Arco, Jean-Clement Soret)
• Title Design – Severance (Oliver Latta, Teddy Blanks)
• Special Visual Effects in a Single Episode – The Penguin (Johnny Han, Michelle Rose, Alexandra Prod’homme, Erin Sullivan, Goran Pavles, Emanuel Fuchs, Ed Bruce, Nathaniel Larouche, Adrien Saint Girons)
• Motion Design (juried) – Octopus! (Phoebe Waller-Bridge)
• Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series – The Last of Us (Michael J. Benavente, Chris Terhune, Joe Schiff, Christopher Battaglia, Mitchel Lestner, Jacob Flack, Odin Benitez, James Miller, Randy Wilson, Justin Helle, Ron Mellegers, Maarten Hofmeijer, Stefan Fraticelli, Brandon Bak, Jason Charbonneau)
• Sound Editing for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special – The Penguin (Rich Bologna, Lawrence Zipf, Michael McMenomy, Angela Organ, Tony Martinez, Wyatt Sprague, Diego Perez, Matthew Haasch, Ben Holiday, Luke Dennis, Gareth Rhys Jones)
• Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) – The Studio (George Haddad, Borja Sau Razquin, Stuart Martin, Randy Wilson, Justin Helle, Lorena Perez Batista, Jason Charbonneau, Stefan Fraticelli)
• Sound Editing for an Animated Program – Arcane (Brad Beaumont, Eliot Connors, Stephen P. Robinson, Janet Pascual, Dan O’Connell, John T. Cucci)
• Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie – The Penguin (Andy Kris, Rich Bologna, Christof Gebert, Julien Pirrie)
• Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One Hour) – Severance (Bob Chefalas, Jacob Ribicoff, David J. Schwartz, George A. Lara)
• Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation – The Studio (Lindsey Alvarez, Fred Howard, Buck Robinson, Ron Mellegers)
• Performer in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series – Desi Lydic, The Daily Show
• Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) – Severance (Theodore Shapiro)
• Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score) – The Penguin (Mick Giacchion)
• Original Main Title Theme Music – The White Lotus (Cristobal Tapia de Veer)
• Music Supervision – The Studio (Gabe Hilfer)
• Original Music and Lyrics – The Boys (Christopher Lennertz, “Let’s Put the Christ Back in Christmas”)
• Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour) – The Studio (Adam Newport-Berra)
• Cinematography for a Series (One Hour) – Severance (Jessica Lee Gagné)
• Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie – Adolescence (Matthew Lewis)
• Guest Actor in a Drama Series – Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt
• Television Movie – Rebel Ridge

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!