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The 2026 Emmy Awards kicked off Monday night with a host of old favourites — and some up-and-comers — vying for top awards.
Medical drama The Pitt leads the pack with 25 nominations, including for best drama series, lead actor in a drama series (Noah Wyle), supporting actor (Patrick Ball, Gerran Howell) and supporting actress (Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Katherine LaNasa and Sepideh Moafi).
Despite The Pitt‘s dominance in the latter category, it was The Diplomat‘s Allison Janney who took home the award. It is her eighth career Emmy, following her last win in 2021 for Mom. That relatively huge upset, the first of the night, set the stage for what would potentially be a night of them in a ceremony that could have gone either toward the expected juggernauts — or surprise new finds.
And when it comes to expected juggernauts, that would definitely be The Pitt. It already took home a number of those awards last year, leading to a surprise shut-out of competing drama Severance. This year, its already snagged four at the earlier ceremonies — nabbing prosthetic makeup and best guest actor awards — and is gunning for another strong performance tonight.
Slightly behind is Hacks, another strong performer at the seminal TV awards show. Its 24 nominations for its fifth and final season put it ahead of all comedies with a record-breaking 24 nominations.
Lead Jean Smart was, in many bettors’ cards, perhaps the biggest lock of the night for best actress in a comedy — an award she won early on. She therefore became the first woman to win an Emmy for every season of their show. Hannah Einbinder, who had a breakthrough win last year as best supporting actress in a comedy after four nominations, was up against Kate O’Flynn, who wowed with a breakout performance in the debut season of Widow’s Bay — and who ended up taking home the prize.
Her win was followed shortly after by a best supporting actor in a comedy award for Widow’s Bay star Stephen Root — a category for which Hacks‘ Paul W. Downs was nominated.
The nominees for the 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards have been unveiled, with HBO’s The Pitt leading all programs with 25 nominations, followed by Hacks with 24. Apple TV’s freshman dark comedy Widow’s Bay secured 19 nods and its post-apocalyptic Pluribus pulled in 16.
And it is that series that represents what may be a shift for this year’s awards: that show’s first season, about a series of mysteries plaguing a struggling resort town, was a smash success in a way that hasn’t been seen in years.
The Emmys’ track record suggests they would shower Hacks in awards for its final, send-off season. But with 19 nominations — and eight wins this weekend — for a show with a real campaign and argument for best comedy series, the trajectory of Widow’s Bay is one to watch tonight.
Fellow newcomer Pluribus, from Breaking Bad phenom Vince Gilligan, is just behind with 18 off the back of its first season. A stunningly bizarre dramedy about an alien invasion and mind control, it is similarly positioned in opposition to The Pitt. With four early wins already, the narrative has long been circling around star Rhea Seehorn.
Given the entire show’s focus on her singular performance, voters rewarded the Better Call Saul star with her first Emmy after four nominations. Whether or not it earns best drama series is another story.
A laughing, tearful Seehorn briefly thanked her co-nominees, cast and crew, her family and Vince Gilligan. She was eventually played off in the longest speech thus far of the night — where all other winners barely took a minute before rushing off the stage.
Seehorn’s fellow nominees included Zendaya, who has won the category twice before for Euphoria.
Elsewhere, the limited series categories will have a diminished role at the main Emmys show after four of them were demoted to the early Emmys weekend.
HBO Max’s DTF St. Louis was the big winner of those awards, taking best supporting actor and actress for David Harbour and Linda Cardellini.
Beef brings star power to the lead acting categories, with Carey Mulligan the consensus favourite for best actress in a limited series; the show’s Oscar Isaac was favoured for best actor, but was similarly upset by Matthew Rhys for The Beast in Me.
And after another year of antagonizing U.S. President Donald Trump, the late night shows of Jimmy Kimmel and the now-cancelled Stephen Colbert are both up for outstanding variety series. The latter has nine nominations, following the news that CBS announced its end earlier this year.
Law & Order; Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay is hosting this year’s Emmys, off of two wins herself for documentary My Mom Jayne. She follows previous year’s host Nate Bargatze, whose controversial hosting gig last year received mixed reviews.
