Touting 142 Emmy Noms, Casey Bloys Talks ‘Penguin' and ‘White Lotus' Futures, ‘Duster' Demise, HBO Max Re-Re-Brand
With particularly strong showings for limited series The Penguin (24), drama The White Lotus (23) and comedy Hacks (14), HBO and HBO Max content chairman and CEO Casey Bloys hopped on the phone to dig into some of the surprises (two nominations for the outgoing Somebody Somewhere), smaller showings (House of the Dragon) and offer up some updates on a slew of nominated originals (The Penguin, The White Lotus, The Pitt) and 2025 offerings like the new season of The Gilded Age and the upcoming The Chair Company. He also had a very humble response to the suggestion of playing himself in a future season of Apple TV+'s The Studio.
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made a remarkably strong showing in the nominations. I assume there's an appetite for more on your end?
We get that question a lot. (Laughs.) I will say that I know that [showrunner] Lauren [LeFranc] has ideas. I know that she and Matt [Reeves] have spoken about it. I also know that Matt is working on the movie [The Batman Part II], so I don't have any updates. There is absolutely interest, appetite and excitement. I can't say for sure, because there's a lot to think about and a lot to do, but we'd certainly be excited if we could figure it out.
What's the lesson from a smaller show like finally breaking through in this third and final season?
The show is heartwarming and getting the recognition is heartwarming. And, look, we still have the ability to champion a show. I will say, as producers, they were incredibly responsible. It was done at a budget where we were able to continue to say yes to it. That was very important. Not only are they great at writing, but they were also really smart producers. They made it easy for us.
I was just speaking with producer John Wells about how much more onus is now on the producers to budget in ways to can keep a show on the air.
That is John's expertise. There's nobody better, and The Pitt is a great reflection of what he and Scott [Gemmill] and Noah [Wyle] are able to do. It was a really great creative validation that a show made in that format was able to break through, because it's not easy what they're doing. They're setting out to say to do 15 episodes and deliver it on an annual basis. Some of our own shows are seven to eight episodes, and they take 18 months or two years between seasons. The fact that season two [of The Pitt] is in production now and will come out in January, that's a great story for us. It's a great story for television.
A show that will not be coming out a year after its most recent season is , which had another huge showing in the nominations today. What was your reaction to the call from Mike White announcing that he'd be taping a season of before getting into season four of ?
Here's what I will say about Mike: He is the kind of guy who does a lot of thinking in his head. So when he comes to us with an idea, it is fully fleshed out. His first drafts are almost what we shoot. Not to say that we don't go through the process, but he has it so worked out in his head. I'm not worried about him. I may be worried about him physically with whatever challenges in Fiji, but I'm not worried about the process for The White Lotus. If anything, it's probably invigorating creatively for him to be doing this. Whenever he comes back, we'll hear what he's thinking. I already have an idea of what the season is going to be. Then he'll start scouting. That's obviously a big part of the process for him, understanding the physical location. He'll get inspired by that. So I hope he does well on Survivor, but I'm not worried about season four of The White Lotus at all.
Have there been additional talks on location, though? Do you feel like you're close?
No. He's kind of said, 'Generally Europe.' But until he actually goes and scouts, I have no idea, It could change just based on if he gets inspired by one location versus another … one hotel versus another. So even if I told you, 'Oh, it's going to be in this country,' he could see a hotel in a completely other country and just love it. We'll take his lead on that.
You pulled the lever on HBO Max last week, yet there's some lingering 'Max' labeling in today's nominations. How soon before that's completely uniform?
The branding on the platform is complete. It's HBO Max. I like having the flexibility with The Pitt as a Max Original to do something that maybe you wouldn't see on HBO. It gives us a lot more flexibility to try something. And before The Pitt came out, I would say this is kind of an experiment. It's something that maybe you would've seen on a network or basic cable channel before. Let's try something like that. Calling it a Max Original just gives us a little room to play. But I'm glad that we are back to HBO Max. I think it's here to stay. And I'm glad we did all that before today.
I'm probably showing my own ignorance, but season two of , for example, will not be called an HBO Max Original…
It will still be a Max Original. The other's a little bit of a mouthful, so we just decided to stick with Max Originals. But it's all on HBO Max.
was obviously well-represented in the nominations but in smaller numbers. I realize air dates and delays never help these things, but what's the takeaway there?
You can't take anything for granted with the Emmys. Because you were nominated one season doesn't mean you're going to be nominated another season. I think sometimes where you air on the calendar can make a difference. How long ago you've aired can make a difference. You never really know. But again, the nominations are a great validation of what everybody's doing. But is not the reason why we're doing it. We're excited and believe in all of the shows whether they got nominated or not.
The was bonkers. What did you learn from working on such a short timetable?
Jesse [Armstrong] had a story he wanted to get out there. It was incredibly timely. I think it was a great creative challenge in the same way that The White Lotus was during COVID. They were shooting in one location, basically in a bubble. And he wanted to get it out there. Also being the first thing that Jesse directed, I think it was helpful to be on an accelerated schedule.
Creatively and performance-wise, how are you feeling about season three of ?
I feel great. You saw the reviews, which were really, really good. And the ratings. We are reporting live plus three instead of night of, but it's up I want to say 20 percent over the last season? That is unusual for a drama to come back and be up. Sometimes you'll see a more natural erosion as there's other things to watch. You're always fighting that on returning shows. To see a show, a drama, be up 20 percent is really, really encouraging.
Anecdotally, I feel that show has benefited a great deal from word of mouth.
I feel the same. I can sometimes tell when we're airing something and I'll get unsolicited calls or emails saying, 'Oh, I love this season.' And I'm getting a lot of that. Again, anecdotal and not scientific, but I think it's encouraging.
Can you tell me about the relatively ?
It's never fun to make those decisions, but a show has to perform —and perform relative to its budget, as fun as the show was. And I think they did a great job. Josh Holloway is a star and this confirmed that. But I always say a show has a job to do. It's got to get either great reviews, great numbers, a lot of buzz. Hopefully all of it. As much as we loved the show and wanted it to do well, it never really hit one of those metrics.
I don't know that I got clarity on this in . Is Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia still going to report to you or do they go with the other cable networks?
No, unfortunately it will go with [the SpinCo]. Because it is a cable net, it is going to go with the global networks — which is a bummer. I had a lot of fun with that.
Would you consider a guest appearance on season two?
I don't think I have a high enough profile or the acting skills, to be honest. (Laughs.)
OK, before I let you go, I need to know when is coming out.
October. It's great. You're going to love it.
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