After eight years of emotionally charged monsters, hilariously outspoken inanimate objects, and a soundtrack that rivals any animated series, Big Mouth has officially concluded its run. With its eighth and final season now streaming on Netflix, fans and critics alike are wondering: Can Big Mouth finally clinch the Emmy Award for Best Animated Program?
Created by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett, Big Mouth follows a group of adolescents in New York’s Westchester suburbs as they navigate puberty. Their emotional and hormonal transformations are personified through an eccentric ensemble that includes hormone monsters, anxiety mosquitoes, shame wizards, and even the ghost of Duke Ellington.
The voice cast is as star-studded as it is talented, featuring Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Jenny Slate, Ayo Edebiri, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Andrew Rannells, and Jordan Peele.
A Look Back at Big Mouth’s Emmy Journey
Since its debut, Big Mouth has maintained a presence at the Emmy Awards, though its path hasn’t been linear. The first season (2018) didn’t receive a nomination for Best Animated Program, but it did score a nod for Best Music and Lyrics for the song “Am I Gay?” composed by Mark Rivers.
In 2019, the episode “The Planned Parenthood Show” earned a nomination for Best Animated Program, but lost to The Simpsons. Season 3 in 2020 earned two nominations: one for the episode “Disclosure The Movie: The Musical!” and another for Maya Rudolph, who won her first Emmy for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in “How to Have an Orgasm.” That same year, the Instagram spinoff Big Mouth Guide to Life won Best Derivative Interactive Program.
Rudolph continued her award streak with three more Emmy wins in the voice-over category for “A Very Special 9/11 Episode” (2021), “Asexual Healing” (2023), and “The Ambition Gremlin” (2024). Her only loss came in 2022 to Chadwick Boseman for What If…?, when she was nominated for “A Very Big Mouth Christmas.”
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Will Season 8 Be Big Mouth’s Emmy Breakthrough?
While the show hasn’t been nominated for Best Animated Program since 2021 (“The New Me”), the odds for a comeback nomination are far from impossible. Final seasons often attract renewed Emmy interest—Adventure Time and Phineas and Ferb are prime examples. Even South Park has seen Emmy resurgences after long absences.
What might work in Big Mouth‘s favor this time is the critical acclaim: the final season holds a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Additionally, the show’s candid and humorous approach to topics like sex education might resonate deeply in today’s climate, where such conversations are increasingly contentious in the U.S.
If Emmy voters embrace this bold and relevant final chapter, Big Mouth could finally earn its long-awaited Emmy victory.
All episodes of Big Mouth Season 8 are now streaming on Netflix.
