New Emmy Drama: Seth Rogen, Kaley Cuoco and More Stars Who Still Haven’t Taken Home the Gold

I’m Quinn Parker, and yes I have had one too many coffees, darling, so buckle up while I spill the tea on the Emmy blindsides you forgot to see coming. An over-caffeinated aunt is buzzing with the juiciest truth: plenty of beloved TV legends have racked up nominations year after year without ever clutching the trophy. The 2025 Emmy race is heating up, and the lineup proves the statuette loves a hard-to-predict game. Let’s rewind to the names that have been in the conversation for ages but still await their moment in the spotlight.

First up, Seth Rogen is a certified nomination magnet. He’s racked up nine Emmy nods across a range of projects—from Freaks and Geeks days to modern hits like Pam & Tommy and The Boys. Yet, despite this steady stream of recognition and momentum heading into the 2025 ceremony, a win remains elusive. This season, he’s perched for a potentially transformative haul with four major nominations on The Studio: Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The math isn’t just a numbers game; it’s existential for a performer who has defined edgy, boundary-pushing humor for more than two decades. The question fans are asking isn’t just “Will he win this year?” but “Can any of these nods finally crown him Emmy gold after so many near misses?”

Kaley Cuoco is another marquee name in the “still waiting for the Emmys” club. She’s earned three nominations for her razor-sharp turn in The Flight Attendant, a show that rode a jet-fueled wave through awards season. Yet astonishingly, her work on The Big Bang Theory, a cultural behemoth with 12 seasons, never snagged her a lead acting nomination—though she did land nods for The Flight Attendant. The juxtaposition is deliciously dramatic: a star who defined a generation of sitcoms and then pivoted to a darkly comic thriller lands its own Emmy recognition, while her long-running ensemble failed to land individual nominations in the same era. It’s a classic case of a performer who has star power on both ends of the spectrum, yet the trophy may have teased or teased again.

Steve Carell enters this conversation with an even longer nomination resume. Eleven nominations across his work on The Office, The Morning Show, and beyond. Yet the Oscar-sized moment of Emmy glory still slips away in the end. The Office era alone gave him a six-time individual nomination for Michael Scott, plus a nod for Mitch Kessler in The Morning Show, and yet the Emmy statue remains evasive to this day. With his recent work on The Diplomat earning four more nominations (most recently in 2023), we’re watching as the pendulum might swing, but as of this moment, the trophy hasn’t materialized in his hands either.

Noah Wyle is the wild card in this troupe. The ER veteran finally found a fresh wave of nominations this year for his role in The Pitt, alongside a nod for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and another for Outstanding Drama Series. His recent conversation with People Magazine about receiving first Emmy nominations since 1999 signals a surprising arc: after nearly a quarter of a century, the spotlight may be turning back toward him in a dramatic, career-defining moment. It’s a reminder that Emmy glory can be a late bloom, especially for a performer who has stayed relentlessly relevant across decades.

The widely known Friends core cast members have their own Emmy degrees of separation. Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston both earned Emmys, cementing their place in the pantheon of TV greats. Courteney Cox, by contrast, has never earned an individual Emmy nomination despite a robust career including a long run on Friends and high-profile later work. The narrative around Friends is a reminder that ensemble success does not always translate to individual trophy wins, a dynamic that persists in major awards conversations.

The broader takeaway is that nominations and wins aren’t always perfectly aligned with cultural impact or longevity. Some performers have cemented legacies that translate into reruns and streaming immortality even as Emmy statues slip by. The 2025 Emmys offer a moment for these storied careers to either finally seize the trophy or reinforce the stubborn truth that prestige and recognition don’t always march in perfect step.

What’s next? The ceremony looms on September 14, and fans will be parsing each nod and snub with the same caffeinated fervor this list inspires. Will Seth finally convert four nominations into a win? Will Kaley’s turn in The Flight Attendant finally tip the scales? And could Noah Wyle ride a late-career surge into Emmy immortality? Stay tuned, because the answers may not arrive until the very edge of the telecast, and the afterparty conversations will be just as electric.

What to watch next: keep an eye on the telecast as the envelope reveals and the post-show discussions unfold, because the Emmy landscape loves a surprise comeback story just as much as a glamorous red-carpet moment. And honestly, with this much talent at stake, the drama might outshine the trophy itself.

Sources: Celebrity Storm and People Magazine
E! Online
Entertainment Tonight
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed (GO)