The second and final season of Arcane is set to make waves at the 2025 Emmys, leading the competition in the Best Animated Program category.
‘Arcane’ Returns: Leading the Race for Best Animated Program at the Emmys
The second and final season of Arcane is set to make waves at the 2025 Emmys.
With 38 submissions this year in the Best Animated Program category, there will once again be five nominees. According to the Gold Derby odds, Arcane is currently leading the pack.
Netflix’s steampunk action-adventure series made a strong debut during its first season at the 2022 Emmys, winning the award for Best Animated Program along with three trophies for Best Individual Achievement in Animation. Now, three years later, it returns for Season 2, and there’s every reason to believe that members of the Television Academy will be just as captivated this time. The series finale, titled “The Dirt Under Your Nails,” wrapped up significant plot points, culminating in a clash of destinies leading to an all-out war. This episode has been submitted for Emmy consideration.
Competition Overview
The only show currently positioned to challenge Arcane is The Simpsons. As the longest-running American scripted primetime series, it concluded its 36th season in May with its 790th episode. To date, The Simpsons has garnered 37 Emmys from 102 nominations, including 12 awards for Best Animated Program. The comedy about Springfield’s residents won its most recent Emmy in 2023 for “Treehouse of Horror XXXIII,” but lost last year to Blue Eye Samurai, which is not in the running this time. The season premiere, “Bart’s Birthday,” is being entered for Emmy consideration, offering a meta commentary on the show’s eventual series finale.
Love, Death + Robots boasts an impressive Emmy track record, winning 13 out of its 15 nominations over the years. It won Best Short Form Animated Program for its first three seasons (2019, 2021, and 2022) but is now competing in the main Best Animated Program category, as there is no short form animation category this year. Season 4 of the anthology series premiered all 10 episodes on May 15, just at the end of the eligibility period. The third episode, “Spider Rose,” has been submitted, focusing on a grieving woman seeking revenge at the edge of the galaxy.
In fourth place is Bob’s Burgers, a 13-time nominee and two-time winner (2014 and 2017). Season 15 was split into two parts, with the first part airing at the end of 2024 and the second part currently airing through the summer. The eighth episode, “They Slug Horses, Don’t They?,” is being submitted for Emmy consideration, featuring an escalating argument between Tina and Louise depicted through increasingly graphic “apology” cards.
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Invincible ranks fifth in the nomination race. Emmy voters will evaluate the sixth episode of Season 3, “All I Can Say Is I’m Sorry,” where a formidable new character challenges Markus “Mark” Grayson/Invincible (voiced by Steven Yeun) and encourages him to explore the moral complexities of right and wrong. This superhero series streams on Prime Video and received its first Emmy nomination last year for Sterling K. Brown’s voice role as Angstrom Levy.
Gold Derby’s Emmy odds are based on the combined predictions of over 4,100 contributors, including experts from major media outlets, editors who cover awards year-round, and a large user base contributing to our predictions.
Predicted Nominees
1. Arcane — 19/10
2. The Simpsons — 71/20
3. Love, Death + Robots — 5/1
4. Bob's Burgers — 8/1
5. Invincible — 13/1Potential Spoilers
6. Big Mouth — 25/1
7. #1 Happy Family USA — 85/1
8. What If...? — 95/1
9. Harley Quinn — 100/1
10. Family Guy — 100/1Longshots
11. Devil May Cry — 100/1
12. Batman: Caped Crusader — 100/1
13. Futurama — 100/1
14. Secret Level — 100/1
15. Star Trek: Lower Decks — 100/1Stay updated by signing up for Gold Derby’s free newsletter featuring the latest predictions.
