It’s easy to see why Severance is an awards season favorite. Its second season especially broke big after years of toil and trouble behind the scenes, delivering the next chapter in one of the best (and most enigmatic) dramas of its generation. Severance almost defies categorization: it’s got juicy drama, awkward workplace comedy, and elements of existential horror, all wrapped up in a heady sci-fi premise. At the end of the day, though, it’s largely a platform for some of the greatest performances of the era — and at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards, one of those performances won big, all while making history.
Despite stiff competition from fan favorite drama The Pitt, Severance took home eight awards at the 2025 Emmys. The most gratifying win was for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, secured by Tramell Tillman. As Seth Milchick, the eerily chipper middle manager of Luman’s severed floor, Tillman has long been one of Severance’s biggest scene-stealers. His Emmy win acknowledges not only his deft comedic work, but also the new season’s somber turn into issues of race and identity, all of which the actor juggled brilliantly as Milchick. His victory is well deserved, and — as the first Black man to win the Emmy for supporting actor in the big year of 2025 — long overdue.
That the Emmys are still finding new frontiers in which to make history, especially after over 70 years of celebrating television, is a truth as disappointing as it is predictable. Black actors and other actors of color have long struggled for recognition from major awards bodies like the Television Academy, so a more cynical mind wouldn’t necessarily be shocked. Still, Tillman making history this way means that so many other brilliant supporting performances have been overlooked, even snubbed outright.
Per Variety, Supporting Actor in a Drama was “the only acting field that had yet to honor a Black performer in the Emmys’ 77-year history.” Despite incredible performances from the likes of Giancarlo Esposito (nominated for Breaking Bad in 2012), Jeffrey Wright (nominated in 2017 for Westworld), or the late Michael K. Williams (who was never nominated for his role in The Wire), it took 77 years for a Black actor to earn recognition in this category.
Of course, Emmys competition has always been stiff, especially in Supporting Actor, which usually nominates actors from multiple shows. Esposito lost out to his Breaking Bad co-star, Aaron Paul, in 2012, just as Tillman won his Emmy over two other Severance actors. But it shouldn’t have taken so long for any Black actor to win in this category, even with such robust competition. (In 2021, a record three Black performers — including Esposito and Williams — were nominated for Supporting Actor in a Drama. All lost to Tobias Menzies in The Crown, which just shows how keen the Academy is to play it safe.)
While it’s frustrating that it’s taken so long for a Black actor to score this particular Emmy win, it’s nice to know it was the final frontier for Black performances at the Emmys — and that a performance in something as abstract as Severance got a win. The Television Academy still has a long way to go when it comes to inclusion, but hopefully Tillman’s win will be the first of many for actors of color, and other artists, down the line.
