Best TV Cameos From Shows Like The Righteous Gemstones, Hacks, The Studio

Here at TVLine, there are few things we love more than a well-placed and stealthy TV cameo. Thankfully, the 2025 TV season was full of famous famous that had us hooting and hollering, all from the comfort of our couches. 

Below, we’re taking stock of the coolest and slickest cameos that graced our screens this year, including appearances by a few A-list movie stars, a couple legendary directors, a literal rock star and so many more. While some of the cameos below are mere blips that had us reaching for the rewind button, others (like a certain “Righteous Gemstones” guest-star) had an entire episode to flex their acting muscles. 

In case you need to whet your appetite, our picks for the best surprise encounters come from broadcast and streaming shows like “Severance,” “The Studio,” “The Pitt,” “Countdown,” “Cobra Kai” and “Hacks,” among others. Read on to see all of TVLine’s picks for the 20 best TV cameos of 2025, then drop a comment with your own additions in case we missed some of your favorites.

Hulu’s acclaimed restaurant dramedy has a knack for surprising us with big celebrities in cameo roles — hey, that’s Olivia Colman! Oh hi, John Mulaney! — and we were surprised again when Season 4’s big wedding episode rolled around, and we finally met Nat’s hated frenemy Francie Fak… played by Oscar winner Brie Larson. It wasn’t just a quick cameo, either: Nat and Francie bickered back and forth all throughout the wedding reception about some old grudge that we’ve never been entirely clear on before they finally buried the hatchet, admitting that they do actually miss each other.

Larson and “The Bear” creator Christopher Storer actually met while working on an indie film 15 years ago, and when he reached out to her about playing Francie, she texted back, “I don’t care what it is. You can have me say one line. I’m there for you, buddy.” And we’re so glad she was. — Dave Nemetz

How did the LaRussos attempt to cheer up a down and out Chozen? By trying to set him up with a new lady, of course! Enter “Saved by the Bell” star Elizabeth Berkley Lauren as Winnie Taylor, Moon’s mom and a spiritual wanderer who, at first, didn’t seem to have much in common with the karate sensei. (The LaRussos were also not aware that their friend already had copped feelings for Kim Da-Eun. I mean, who could’ve seen that coming?) While Chozen’s chance meeting with Winnie in Season 6, Part 3 wasn’t the grand slam Amanda had hoped for, her heart was in the right place. And hey, at least a new friendship was forged, one that got off the ground partially thanks to a mutual love of A&E’s “Storage Wars.” Bonding over TV? We love that for them. — Nick Caruso

From the very beginning, the logline of Prime Video’s Jensen Ackles action thriller informed us that the series would get underway with the murder of a federal agent. But who knew that Robert Darden, the Department of Homeland Security officer in question, would be played by “This Is Us” and “Gilmore Girls” alum Milo Ventimiglia?! Not us, that’s for sure. “What I love about Milo — and if you’ve gotten to spend any time with him, you’ll agree — is that within 20 seconds of meeting the guy, you’re already, ‘I like him!'” series creator Derek Haas told TVLine around the time of the show’s premiere. Darden’s eight-minute on-screen adventure, ending with his death from a bullet to the chest, served as “the kickoff” that set the testosterone-filled show in motion, Haas continued, “so I wanted the audience to instantly like this guy.” Mission accomplished! — Kimberly Roots

The Oscar-winner’s appearance in the Season 3 premiere wasn’t an impossible get — Redford served as an executive producer on the AMC series, after all — but Redford’s cameo became especially poignant in retrospect after his death in September. He was one of two men behind bars playing chess in the Navajo Tribal Police station (the other was Game of Thrones author/fellow “Dark Winds” EP George R.R. Martin); he even got to make a joke about how long Martin’s turn was taking, a sly reference to how Martin is years past deadline on the next planned “A Song of Ice and Fire” novel, “The Winds of Winter.” “George, the whole world’s waiting!” Redford’s character, Joe, groused. “Make a move!” Series star Zach McClarnon later told us that the meaningful, if brief, time he shared on-screen with Redford was “a dream come true. It put a big, big smile on my face.”— K.R.

Right when Deborah Vance needed it the most, whom did she run into? None other than comedy legend Carol friggin’ Burnett (playing herself). The chance meetup allowed Deb to put her ego aside and ask Carol for a bit of advice on how to deal with stage fright. The icon’s advice: Pick one person in the crowd and do the show just for them. 

“It was a dream come true,” executive producer and co-creator Jen Statsky told TVLine about having Burnett on set. “She is baked into the history of this show, an important part of it, and it was just incredible to have her on set. She’s so kind and so smart, so funny, came with ideas, just such a joy. Your expectations are always so high when you’re going to have a living legend on set and she still exceeded them. We feel so happy in this season to get to have her and Deborah be two comedians talking about the craft and what it means to perform to an audience. That’s just really special to us.” — N.C.

In retrospect, we can’t imagine Hulu’s dystopian drama ending without one of its foundational characters — but since Alexis Bledel hadn’t been on the series since Season 4, her reappearance as Emily in the 2025 series finale was a giant surprise. Even though Bledel’s scene opposite series star/executive producer Elisabeth Moss was shot outside (aka where anyone could’ve snapped a photo), the interaction made it into the episode unleaked. Praise be! 

“We missed her so much over the past few years, and it didn’t feel right, ending the show without having that character come back,” Moss told us at the time. Emily’s return — and her ongoing work with the resistance movement — helped Moss’ June decide to continue her own mission to get daughter Hannah out of Gilead and “allowed us to tell the story that we needed to tell,” Moss added. — K.R.

When Sterlin Harjo’s “Reservation Dogs” follow-up debuted, we were fully seated and ready for more. The biggest surprise, however? Seeing two of his former rez dogs pop up in blink-and-you’ll-miss-them cameos. In Episode 1, Paulina Alexis was seen walking by Ethan Hawke’s Lee Raybon in one of the series’ opening scenes. Harjo followed that up with a brief Episode 2 appearance from Devery Jacobs, who was seen on a clerk’s cell phone doing a make-up tutorial on YouTube. The best part? They were billed as their “Reservation Dogs” characters, Willie Jack and Elora Danan. Does that mean the rez dogs and “The Lowdown” exist in one shared universe, and will we see more of them in the future? We hope the answers to those questions are yes and yes. — N.C.

Raymund’s return to the Wolf Entertainment family was especially short-lived. The “Chicago Fire” alumna, who for six seasons starred as Paramedic in Charge Gabby Dawson on the NBC firefighter drama, was sneakily cast in the Prime Video procedural as police officer Maria Delgado. She was the first character we met in the premiere — and the first casualty. Her character was shot and killed during a traffic stop, execution-style.

Tim Walsh — who co-created “On Call” with Dick Wolf’s son Elliot, and previously worked with Raymund on Starz’s “Hightown” — told TVLine at the time that they “needed someone to fill that role, to cast that shadow” over the remainder of its first (and only) season, adding: “Quite honestly, we’re not being all that unique. Hitchcock did it with Janet Leigh, killing her off a quarter of the way [into “Psycho”]. We wanted people to believe it was a show about her, and it’s not exactly what happens.” (Yeah, you can say that again!) — Ryan Schwartz

“Overcompensating” welcomed plenty of guest stars during its freshman run, but the appearance of “Dawson’s Creek” alum James Van Der Beek was better than the rest. He made his entrance quietly grand, giving us plenty of anticipation as the camera panned to an oversized man-child slumped over an array of drugs in a college frat house. As the shot finally landed on the man, he lifted his head and we realized it was Van Der Beek: The ’90s heartthrob of our youth. Playing Charlie, the frat bro-turned-middle-aged corporate tycoon, Van Der Beek brought out all the laughs as his character contemplated his future SantaCon plans, and dramatically snorted more and more lines of cocaine. He perfectly delivered the over-the-top, maximalist style of comedy that “Overcompensating” so masterfully employs. In the end, something just felt right about our coming-of-age icon appearing on the latest college comedy. — Claire Franken

Though we loathe the terminology, the Emmy-winning HBO Max drama ensemble includes several so-called nepo babies: Taylor Dearden (Mel) is the daughter of Bryan Cranston and Robin Dearden; Isa Briones (Santos) is the daughter of Jon Briones; and Fiona Dourif (Cassie) is the daughter of Brad Dourif — aka Chucky! And in the penultimate Season 1 episode, Brad appeared opposite Fiona as her on-screen pops.

“The whole thing was very exciting,” Fiona told People. “In the scene, he says to me, ‘I’m proud of you.’ There was this moment where it was very clear that it was my dad saying that to me about the [acting] job. There were so many parallels. I think we were both a little emotional about it.”

Meanwhile, series star (and executive producer) Noah Wyle sang Papa Dourif’s praises, telling TVLine, “I’m a huge Brad Dourif fan. I’ve been a fan of Brad’s — not just from ‘[One Flew Over the] Cuckoo’s Nest,’ but ‘Wise Blood’ and ‘Mississippi Burning.’ I mean, I’ve been a fan of his forever.” — R.S.

Natasha Lyonne’s Peacock murder mystery brings on dozens of familiar faces each season to guest-star as murder suspects and victims — but one of those faces we didn’t even get to see. In Season 2, Lyonne’s character Charlie met a stranger she dubbed “Good Buddy” on her CB radio, and providing the voice of “Good Buddy” was none other than Steve Buscemi, of “Fargo” and “Reservoir Dogs” fame. They became fast friends, with Good Buddy giving Charlie someone to talk to as she rambled her way across the country. (We never did get to see Good Buddy in the flesh, though.)

Lyonne told TVLine that she and Buscemi go way back: “We’ve spent a fair amount of time together as New Yorkers… He cut me out of a movie he directed called ‘Animal Factory’ back in 1998. I played ‘Girlfriend.’ We joke about it to this day.” She added that they first approached Buscemi to direct a Season 2 episode of “Poker Face,” and he wasn’t available to do that, “but he was available to be Good Buddy.” 10-4, over and out. — D.N.

This one was a little more subtle, but Imagine Dragons lead singer Dan Reynolds appeared as a character named Billy Brinks in Episode 9 of Netflix’s rodeo romance drama “Ransom Canyon.” How did this come about, you ask? It might have something to do with Reynolds’ relationship to “Ransom Canyon” star Minka Kelly — but that’s just a hunch. 

When TVLine spoke with cast member Garrett Wareing about Reynolds’ appearance, he said one of his “biggest honors” was getting to be on set when Reynolds filmed his role. “That was a really cool moment for me,” Wareing said. — Andy Swift

This is Cooper’s second consecutive year on our Best Cameos list, after popping up as himself on an “Abbott Elementary” episode in 2024. This time around, he played the unexpected protagonist of the final “Righteous Gemstones” season premiere, as the show flashed back to reveal the Gemstone family’s preaching origins. This was no blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo, either. As Civil War-era ancestor Elijah Gemstone, Cooper was in nearly every scene of the episode — and, no surprise here, he stole ’em all. — Rebecca Luther

The pristine white hallways of Lumon hold many mysteries, such as: Who was the voice in the company’s peppy new orientation video in the Season 2 premiere? The answer might have you saying “whoa”: Keanu Reeves provided the voice of the smiling building that addressed Mark S. and company in that video, executive producer Ben Stiller confirmed in a visit to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in March.

“We reached out to him, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,'” Stiller revealed, noting, “He did multiple takes, took it very seriously.” But even more surprising might be who turned down the role: former President Barack Obama, who Stiller emailed in hopes of getting him to make a voice cameo. Stiller got an email back saying, “Hey Ben, big fan of the show, love Season 1, can’t wait for Season 2. Don’t think I have time in my schedule to make this happen.” Well, it’s nice to know that he’s watching the show along with us, at least. — D.N.

When the Oscar-winning actress showed up in the series finale of “Squid Game,” it stood out as one of the Korean dystopian thriller’s biggest WTF moments. Appearing as a recruiter for the American version of the games, Blanchett’s unnamed character was seen by Hwang In-ho (aka, the Front Man) recruiting players by playing Ddakji for money or slaps. Not much else is known about her character, though it was implied that she could’ve been a Pink Guard in the American Squid Games, similar to The Salesman’s backstory. (FYI, there has been much talk, but no Netflix confirmation, of a USA-based “Squid Game” spinoff being developed by David Fincher, though Blanchett’s cameo here likely was just a one-off.)

“We thought having a woman as a recruiter would be more dramatic and intriguing,” creator Hwang Dong-hyuk told Tudum of the series-ending guest casting. “And as for why Cate Blanchett, she’s just the best, with unmatched charisma… We needed someone who could dominate the screen with just one or two words, which is exactly what she did… bringing a short but gripping and impactful ending to the story.” — N.C.

Trekkies who joined Michelle Yeoh for her standalone “Star Trek” movie in January — a spinoff centered on Yeoh’s “Star Trek: Discovery” character Philippa Georgiou — got a special treat in the final moments. After Georgiou and her fellow Section 31 agents completed their mission and saved the universe from the Terran Empire, they received congratulations and a new assignment from a Starfleet commander in hologram form — played by Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis!

You might guess one of the connections that led to Curtis’ cameo: She and Yeoh starred together in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which won them both Oscars. “We went through a few names,” director Olatunde Osunsanmi explained, “and then we landed on, ‘What if it were Jamie Lee Curtis? Okay, well, who among us knows Jamie Lee Curtis? Oh yeah! Michelle knows Jamie Lee Curtis.’ Michelle’s like, ‘Of course, I’ll put in a good word.'” Plus, the cousin of “Star Trek” producer Alex Kurtzman “also represents Jamie Lee Curtis,” Osunsanmi added. “So we were able to talk to her through two different avenues, and it all came together very easily.” — D.N.

Nabbing the legendary director Martin Scorsese as an actor? Not too shabby for Apple TV’s pilot of “The Studio.” In the episode titled, “The Promotion,” Scorsese (playing a fictionalized version of himself) gets his passion project — a movie about the Jonestown massacre — greenlit by Seth Rogen’s Matt Remick. But after the new Continental Studios head is tasked with creating a Kool-Aid movie, Matt is forced to pull the movie out from under Marty while also keeping the rights to it. 

While “The Studio” was filled with a gazillion A-list-worthy cameos — from actors and directors like Sarah Polley, Paul Dano, Steve Buscemi and Charlize Theron, just to name a few — we couldn’t help but spotlight Scorsese here, as the “Raging Bull” director stepped in front of the camera for this rare and gut-busting guest-starring gig. — N.C.

Two mermaids are always better than one, so imagine our delight when Jodi Benson (aka the voice of Ariel in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”) popped up in Season 4 of Netflix’s “Sweet Magnolias,” playing the mother-in-law of JoAnna Garcia Swisher (who portrayed live-action Ariel on ABC’s “Once Upon A Time”). 

And it should come as no surprise that a literal Disney Princess fit perfectly in the picturesque town of Serenity, providing a much-needed shoulder for Garcia Swisher’s Maddie to lean on in times of trouble — and when isn’t there trouble to get through on this show? — A.S.

Reality TV gem “The Traitors” is always known to have multiple tricks up its sleeve, but even with Season 3’s big Boston Rob twist, we never could have predicted what was coming next. When “The Challenge” vet Wes Bergmann and “Big Brother” champ Derrick Levasseur showed up on the castle grounds, caged high in the Scottish trees, we were absolutely floored. Adding Rob was wild enough, but surprising the cast with a three-time “Challenge” winner and a “BB” great? Talk about injecting the game with some hefty competition. Thanks to their late arrivals, both the turret discussions and the roundtables were even more murderous and cutthroat. Here’s to hoping that the upcoming fourth season is just as savage. — N.C.

From Carrie Coon to Walton Goggins, Season 3 of “The White Lotus” was packed with names that any TV fanatic would recognize… but the show also snuck a movie star in there when we were least expecting it, as Rockwell arrived to play Frank, a longtime friend of Goggins’ Rick. Rockwell ultimately showed up in four total “White Lotus” episodes that season — enough to clinch an Emmy nod for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series — but his first appearance was easily the most memorable, with Frank delivering a stunning monologue about how far he’d gone to fulfill his sexual desires. — R.L.