The 2025 Oscar season ended a full month ago, and exhausted fans and pundits are still working on getting some distance from it so they can move forward. But while few want to re-debate or relive the last Oscar race for a while, it is a bit harder right now to get space from some of the stars and nominees of last season, since they are promptly showing up again on television – and perhaps in the next big awards season to come at the 2026 Emmys.
This month alone, very recent Oscar nominees Elle Fanning, Jacob Elordi, and Kate Hudson, along with very near Oscar nominee Chase Infiniti and Best Picture nominee headliner Oscar Isaac, returned to television mere weeks after we last saw them at the Oscars. In this past week alone, “Frankenstein” Best Supporting Actor nominee Elordi was seen returning to the show that launched his career in “Euphoria,” just days before “Sentimental Value” Best Supporting Actress nominee Fanning made her return to television in general for Apple TV’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.”
For that matter, “One Battle After Another” breakout Infiniti was just seen launching the sequel to the Emmy-winning “The Handmaid’s Tale” in “The Testaments,” weeks after being beaten out for the last Best Actress nomination slot by Hudson – who is coincidentally also returning to streaming TV with the new season of her Netflix series “Running Point” on April 23. That comes a week after Netflix released the second anthology season of “Beef” with a new cast led by Isaac, not long after he was top billed in Netflix’s biggest 2025 Oscar season film “Frankenstein,” – where Elordi stole most of the buzz and Oscar season attention, but Isaac still managed a Golden Globe nomination as well.
On top of that, recent “Blue Moon” Best Actor nominee Ethan Hawke already had a notable series released during Oscar season, FX’s “The Lowdown,” which was just renewed for another season. As such, Hawke has a head start as someone who could be right back in an awards race as an Emmy nominee, mere months after being an Oscar nominee this calendar year. But could any other 2025 Oscar nominee join him as well?
There are times when being an Oscar nominee makes it much easier to cross over as an Emmy nominee a short time later. Just last year, Colman Domingo was a 2025 Emmy nominee for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for “The Four Seasons,” months after his second straight Best Actor Oscar nomination for “Sing Sing.” Then again, since Domingo was already an Emmy winner for guest starring on “Euphoria” in 2022, his foot was well in the door with the Emmys before the Oscars.
The same case can be made for Fanning this year, given that her first Oscar nomination in “Sentimental Value” wasn’t her first major nomination altogether. Fanning was also an Emmy nominee in 2022, only in the Best Actress in a Comedy Series category for “The Great.” Between that and her fresh Oscar season breakthrough, her return to streaming television for the star-studded, David E. Kelley-helmed “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” is widely expected to get her right back into Emmy season and the Best Actress in a Comedy Series category. Nonetheless, she would likely once again run into the buzzsaw that is Jean Smart for “Hacks,” just like she did in 2022.
Regardless, receiving an Oscar and Emmy nomination in the same calendar year would still put Fanning in elite company, regardless of winning either of the awards or not. In this decade alone, she would also join Robert Downey Jr and Lily Gladstone for receiving supporting nominations in the miniseries’ “The Sympathizer” and “Under the Bridge” months after their 2023 Oscar nominations, Andrew Garfield for his Lead Actor in a Miniseries nomination for “Under the Banner of Heaven” months after his 2021 Best Actor Oscar nomination for “Tick…Tick…Boom!,” and Olivia Colman winning a Best Actress Emmy for “The Crown” months after her Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for “The Father.” In a way, Emerald Fennell also counts in 2021, as she was a Best Supporting Actress nominee for acting in “The Crown” months following her Oscar win as a screenwriter for “Promising Young Woman.”
Still, an Oscar nomination doesn’t immediately translate into Emmy recognition, as 2021 Best Actress Oscar winner Jessica Chastain missed Emmy recognition for “Scenes from a Marriage” despite her co-star, Isaac, being nominated. And aside from Fanning and Hawke, who already have past Emmy recognition and buzzy new shows to combine with their recent Oscar nominations, the other newly minted Oscar nominees have harder roads ahead with their TV shows this season.
In the case of Elordi, “Euphoria” had already earned Emmy nominations and wins in its first two seasons. Yet, Elordi did not join cast members like Zendaya, Domingo, and Sydney Sweeney in receiving individual nominations at the time. But with “Euphoria” coming back right after Elordi proved himself in movies like “Priscilla” and especially “Frankenstein,” perhaps this newfound validation could boost him among Emmy voters in a way that the last two seasons didn’t.
Yet on the other hand, since “Euphoria” Season Three is even more divisive and outright panned by critics than the last two seasons were so far, Emmy voters might have less tolerance for it this time around – or might only recognize past “Euphoria” nominees Zendaya, Sweeney, and Domingo again instead of branching out for new ones. Ironically, “Frankenstein” co-star Isaac may have better luck in this particular awards cycle than Elordi, as he, too, joins a decorated Emmy-winning series in “Beef” and aims to return to the Best Actor in a Miniseries category.
Hudson is a far longer shot, since Emmy voters already passed over her for the first season of her Netflix comedy “Running Point.” But after receiving her first Oscar nomination in 25 years for “Song Sung Blue” since then, she and the show might be on the radar a bit more now. However, a Best Actress in a Comedy lineup consisting of Smart, Fanning, and past nominees such as Kristen Bell, Quinta Brunson, and Lisa Kudrow, among others, might be too hard to break into.
It would be ironic if this time around, Infiniti had better luck than Hudson in getting a major nomination, although they are obviously in different Emmy categories. Emmy voters did take their eye off “The Handmaid’s Tale” after its first few seasons, aside from original star Elisabeth Moss, so that might make it harder for them to get back into the Gilead-universe with “The Testaments.” But maybe recognizing Infiniti for Best Actress in a Drama could be a roundabout “make-up” nomination for her Oscar snub, despite her category already sure to be crowded with the likes of Zendaya, Rhea Seehorn, Keri Russell, and more.
By the time Emmy nominations are unveiled in mid-July, fans and pundits will have truly long since moved on from the 2025 Oscars – especially since by then, the 2026 Oscar season will have fully started to rev up thanks to Cannes, “The Odyssey,” and the looming lineups at Venice, Toronto, and Telluride. At that point, if the Emmys announce nominees like Fanning, Hawke, Elordi, Hudson, or even Infiniti immediately after they headline the Oscars, it will sound more like a distant memory than instant déjà vu.
Although an increasing number of people complain about burnout from a very long Oscar season, they aren’t always burned out by every star in it. At the least, they weren’t burned out by the likes of Fanning, Hawke, Elordi, Infiniti, Isaac, or Hudson on the Oscar circuit – which might mean seeing them again in very short order at the Emmys may not feel like total overkill either.
Have you watched any of these shows yet? Which ones do you think will come back for this year’s Emmy Awards? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account and check out their current Emmy nomination predictions here.
You can follow Robert and hear more of his thoughts on the Emmys & TV on X @Robertdoc1984
