Casting directors behind several Emmy-nominated shows – "The Pitt," "Widow's Bay," "Pluribus" and "Hacks" – have been recognised this awards season for filling out supporting and guest roles that helped their series stand out. Character actors including Kate O'Flynn, Carlos Manuel Vesga, Lauren Weedman and Patrick Ball earned their first Emmy nominations for smaller but memorable parts, highlighting how casting teams' attention to secondary roles can boost a show's overall impact and awards recognition.

On "The Pitt," casting directors Cathy Gelfond and Erica Berger – previous Emmy winners for the show's first season – cast 250 speaking performers across its second season, with 13 of them earning nominations, up from three the previous year. Landing a background role on the medical drama can provide Los Angeles-based actors with up to six months of steady work owing to its filming schedule. Meanwhile, "Widow's Bay" casting directors Allison Jones and Emily Buntyn, who have worked together for more than a decade, deliberately avoided conventionally glamorous faces to authentically populate creator Katie Dippold's small New England island setting, having initially been brought on to help cast Matthew Rhys as the horror-skeptic mayor.