HBO’s Casey Bloys on ‘The Pitt’ Emmy Wins, If ‘Hacks’ Is Ending, Release Dates for ‘Euphoria,’ ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ and More

It’s the morning after the Emmys, and Casey Bloys can exhale. The chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content is feeling good after the combination of HBO and HBO Max landed 30 Emmy wins this year, including nine for limited series “The Penguin” (which could always still make a comeback — more on that in a moment) and five wins for freshman drama sensation “The Pitt.”

Those wins for “The Pitt” — including drama series, drama lead actor (Noah Wyle) and drama supporting actress (Katherine LaNasa) — were particularly sweet, given the narrative behind the success of the show and what that might mean for Hollywood productions overall.

“Having ‘The Pitt’ break through is a really big deal for a lot of reasons,” Bloys told Variety on Monday morning. He gave a shout out to exec producers John Wells, R. Scott Gemmill and Wyle for accomplishing what they set out to do: “It’s a big deal when any show breaks through,” he said. “But a show that kind of is embracing the the principles of television, I think, is that much more gratifying.”

Variety spoke to Bloys about what’s next for “The Pitt,” as well as whether “Hacks” is truly ending after Season 5; his take on this year’s disappointing “The White Lotus” Emmys haul (and confirming where next season will be set); the biggest surprise on Emmy night; when “Euphoria” might return and a month to expect the new “Game of Thrones” series “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” — and how 2026 is shaping up.

I never count on anything walking in, because you never know. I think it was pretty clear people felt that it was “Severance” versus “The Pitt.” You just never know how it’s going to turn out. But I’m really happy with how everything worked out.

You could see, “This is a possibility.” You could start to see that.

It’s hard to make any good show, regardless of whether it’s comedy, drama or documentary. But what John and Noah and Scott wanted to do going in was to do a high quality show, but also one that was set up in a way that you could do 15 episodes. So, the the concept of the show being on essentially one set made the budget manageable. And you have a group of people who understand how to make 15 episodes, but also how to bring it back on an annual basis. That is the one thing I think that we’ve gotten away from in television, that ability to bring shows back on an annual basis. It’s understandable, as we have shows that are huge and to do sometime like “The Last of Us” or “House of the Dragon,” the reason people love them is they’re huge spectacles with special effects and amazing locations. That’s great. But I think maybe as an industry we’ve focused a lot on those — and the bread-and-butter shows churning out high-quality episodes, week after week, is a really tough thing to do. For “The Pitt” to be recognized for what it’s done is especially gratifying. It’s always great to win awards, but it’s especially gratifying for the show that’s trying something that can be really hard.

No! Listen, when we decided to move forward with “The Pitt,” the idea was we’re going to try this, and we’re going to develop other shows in this model. They don’t have to be a spinoff. But that model, I think “The Pitt” showed that it could work for us. So we’ve been developing other types of shows: a cop show, a family show, etc. We will be developing those and trying to do it again. But as I’ve said, “The Pitt” is lightning in a bottle. So the idea that we’re going to do another one, that it’s going to work out, you never know. But it did prove that the model could work in streaming.

I was really hopeful. And obviously he had won many awards leading up to that, so that’s usually a good sign. But again, you never know. Whether it’s recognized or not doesn’t affect that the performance was fantastic. But Stephen Graham — “Adolescence” was a really, really powerful show. So tough competition, and it doesn’t always break your way. For Colin, I think his performance was pretty extraordinary.

They’re kicking around ideas. Obviously, Matt’s got to get the [next “The Batman”] movie going. That is underway, I believe. So I think he and Lauren [LeFranc] are talking about ideas. So I’m hopeful that there will be another story to tell.

Yes, I think it was great that Hannah was recognized. And of course, I think Jean [Smart] is amazing, incomparable, so I always love to see her work recognized. But it was really nice to see Hannah break through.

We usually leave that up to the creators, so I will wait to hear from them. But obviously, we’ve had conversations about it. Ultimately, it will be their decision.

Oh yeah, I will be good with their decision. But I think they’ll end up in the right place.

That was was probably the sweetest moment of the night. For a show like “Somebody Somewhere,” which is a beautiful show, I was thrilled that anybody got nominated. Jeff winning is great for him, and it’s great for the entire cast and for the show. It’s a little bit of validation for everybody.

Having Jeff with that win, that’ll give it a nice little boost. If people haven’t watched it, it’s a really nice surprise to experience it. I hope more people find it.

Any time on the Max platform, they will highlight all the winners.

I would say it was a victim of its own success, in that there were so many multiple nominees in categories. That’s hard. If you like the show, and you have to decide between two or three actors that you really like, vote splitting is a real thing. The good news is, Mike is off writing Season 4, so I’m sure he will be back, and we will be back. Maybe not the 2026 Emmy cycle, but probably the next one.

We know that it will likely be in France. City and details still to be determined.

It’ll be the spring, but we don’t have a date confirmed yet.

I’m going to say January. How about that?

“The Pitt” winning was a nice surprise, “Hacks” winning was a nice surprise, Jeff Hiller winning was a nice surprise. There have been more surprises in general lately. As a viewer of the Emmys, and with somebody who participates in it, it’s more exciting because you really don’t know, going in, what to expect.

And “Conan O’Brien Must Go,” first time we won in that category.

People ask me this question, and I immediately panic, like, oh my God, I got to do this again. However, somebody reminded me we currently have the front runner in drama coming back in January. So that’s a good feeling. I’m hoping “Task,” the Brad Ingelsby follow up to “Mare of Easttown,” gets some recognition. We’ve got “Euphoria” coming back. We’ve got “The Gilded Age,” which I hope gets some love. We’ve got “Hacks” coming back, “The Comeback” coming. We’ve got a new Bill Lawrence-Steve Carell comedy coming. We’re going to have, I’m hopeful, another good year. But it’s a long ways off. And Netflix usually comes around with a couple of really great limited series that nobody saw coming. So who knows what they’ve got in store.

I would say, from my point of view, they haven’t missed a beat. It’s what you want a second season to do. The producers know what the show is. The actors have all settled in, so haven’t missed a beat, and everything is kind of smooth sailing.

This interview has been edited and condensed.