As television wraps up its year, the Emmys are set to announce the biggest awards of the television season. The Pitt, Pluribus, Hacks, Widow’s Bay, Shrinking, and Paradise are due to clean up on nominations. An important distinction is that the Emmys eligibilty is from June of ‘25 to May of this year, so eligibility for a show like The Bear is for season four, not season five.
The 2026 Emmys will air on September 14th on NBC, hosted by Law and Order: Special Victims Unit star and Emmy Award winner Mariska Hargitay, while the Creative Arts Emmys take place the week before. The final voting period will be from August 17th to August 26th.
NBC Today announced two of the awards early, while the rest are to be announced by Liza Colon-Zayas, best known as Tina in The Bear, and Jeff HIller, who could find himself nominated for Widow’s Bay. The announcement is set for 11:30 AM EST.
Is Jean Smart going to complete the sweep this year to tie Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Cloris Leachman and Seinfeld’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus for most Emmy wins of all-time for an actor? Is Michelle Pfeiffer getting two nominations? Can Harrison Ford finally win for Shrinking? Do we see a genre series overperform on nomination morning this year?
Nominations:
Lead Actor in a Drama Series:
Sterling K. Brown, Paradise (Hulu).
Gary Oldman, Slow Horses (Apple).
Mark Ruffalo, Task (HBO).
Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat (Netflix).
Noah Wyle, The Pitt (HBO).
Lead Actress in a Drama Series:
Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age (HBO).
Chase Infiniti, The Testaments (Hulu).
Keri Russell, The Diplomat (Netflix).
Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus (Apple).
Zendaya, Euphoria (HBO).
Supporting Actor in a Drama Series:
Patrick Ball, The Pitt (HBO).
Billy Crudup, The Morning Show (Apple).
Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt (HBO).
Gerran Howell, The Pitt (HBO).
Jack Lowden, Slow Horses (Apple).
Tom Pelphrey, Task (HBO).
Carlos Manuel-Vesga, Pluribus (Apple).
Supporting Actress in a Drama Series:
Taylor Dearden, The Pitt (HBO).
Fiona Dourif, The Pitt (HBO).
Allison Janney, The Diplomat (Netflix).
Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt (HBO).
Sepideh Moafi, The Pitt (HBO).
Julianne Nicholson, Paradise (Hulu).
Karolina Wydra, Pluribus (Apple).
Guest Actor in a Drama Series:
Colman Domingo, Euphoria (HBO).
Ernest Harden Jr., The Pitt (HBO).
Jeff Hiller, Pluribus (Apple).
Jeff Kober, The Pitt (HBO).
Jonathan Pryce, Slow Horses (Apple).
Bradley Whitford, The Diplomat (Netflix).
Guest Actress in a Drama Series:
Brittany Allen, The Pitt (HBO).
Tal Anderson, The Pitt (HBO).
Tina Ivley, The Pitt (HBO).
Miriam Shor, Pluribus (Apple).
Meritt Wever, The Gilded Age (HBO).
Shailene Woodley, Paradise (Hulu).
Drama Series:
The Diplomat (Netflix).
The Gilded Age (HBO).
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO).
Paradise (Hulu).
The Pitt (HBO).
Pluribus (Apple).
Slow Horses (Apple).
Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple).
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series:
Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Wonder Man (Marvel).
Steve Carrell, Rooster (HBO).
Matthew Rhys, Widow’s Bay (Apple).
Jason Segel, Shrinking (Apple).
Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building (FX)
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series:
Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary (ABC).
Ayo Edebiri, The Bear (FX).
Elle Fanning, Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple).
Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback (HBO).
Jean Smart, Hacks (HBO).
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series:
Colman Domingo, The Four Seasons (Netflix).
Paul W. Downs, Hacks (HBO).
Harrison Ford, Shrinking (Apple).
Nick Offerman, Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple).
Stephen Root, Widow’s Bay (Apple).
Michael Urie, Shrinking (Apple).
Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary (ABC).
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series:
Dale Dickey, Widow’s Bay (Apple).
Hannah Einbinder, Hacks (HBO).
Janelle James, Abbott Elementary (ABC).
Kate O’Flynn, Widow’s Bay (Apple).
Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple).
Meg Stalter, Hacks (HBO).
Jessica Williams, Shrinking (Apple).
Guest Actor in a Comedy Series:
Michael J. Fox, Shrinking (Apple).
Brett Goldsten, Shrinking (Apple).
Hamish Linklater, Widow’s Bay (Apple).
Chris McDonald, Hacks (HBO).
Rob Reiner, The Bear (FX).
Connor Storie, Saturday Night Live (NBC).
Guest Actress in a Comedy Series:
Leslie Bibb, Hacks (HBO).
Jamie Lee Curtis, The BEar (FX).
Betty Gilpin, Widow’s Bay (Apple).
Cherry Jones, Hacks (HBO).
Laurie Metcalf, Hacks (HBO).
Kaitlin Olson, Hacks (HBO).
Lauren Weedman, Hacks (HBO).
Comedy Series:
Abbott Elementary (ABC).
The Bear (FX).
Hacks (HBO).
Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple).
Nobody Wants This (Netflix).
Only Murders in the Building (FX).
Shrinking (Apple).
Widow’s Bay (Apple).
Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series:
Claire Danes, The Beast in Me (Netflix).
Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix).
Carey Mulligan, Beef (Netflix).
Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette (FX).
Sarah Snook, All Her Fault (Peacock).
Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series:
Riz Ahmed, Bait (Prime).
Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit (Netflix).
Charlie Hunham, Monster: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix).
Oscar Isaac, Beef (Netflix).
Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me (Netflix).
Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series:
Jason Bateman, DTF St. Louis (HBO).
Richard Gadd, Half Man (HBO).
David Harbour, DTF St. Louis (HBO).
Richard Jenkins, DTF St. Louis (HBO).
Charles Melton, Beef (Netflix).
Nick Offerman, Death by Lightning (Netflix).
Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series:
Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis (HBO).
Dakota Fanning, All Her Fault (Peacock).
Laurie Metcalf, Monster: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix).
Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis (HBO).
Youn Yuh-jung, Beef (Netflix).
Constance Zimmer, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette (FX).
Limited or Anthology Series:
All Her Fault (Peacock).
The Beast in Me (Netflix).
Beef (Netflix).
DTF St. Louis (HBO)
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette (FX)..
Outstanding Talk Series:
Outstanding Reality Competition Program:
Dancing with the Stars (ABC).
RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV).
Survivor (CBS).
Top Chef (Bravo).
The Traitors (Peacock).
Oustanding Variety Show
The Daily Show (Comedy Central).
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC).
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS).
Saturday Night Live (NBC).
You can learn the below the line nominations, as well as the other reality nominations here.
Variety show should be rather simple to project. As good as SNL’s 51st season was, and you’ll likely see names such as Ashley Padilla pop up later this morning, this is a two horse race between Colbert and Kimmel, with Colbert likely lapping Kimmel. Kimmel’s win competitive because of the narrative that the government is trying to shut him down, a conversation that even the most staunch of conservatives, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, cite this in a legal briefing as agency overreach from the federal government. Colbert will take it, however, because the narrative that the government overreach is actually the reason the show isn’t on air anymore, particularly due to the Ellison ties to the President of the United States, who, instead of directing policy to help the U.S. citizens, has spent a significant chunk of his time focusing on how Late Night TV hurts his feelings because he’s a snowflake.
DSR has no frame of reference for Reality Show competition, but one thing worth mentioning is that this is the first time in its entire run that The Amazing Race did not show up in this category at the Emmys. Perhaps, they decided that the show peaked with its Hacks episode, and they’ll award that instead. Regardless, this category does feel very ‘old-guard’ television with its selections outside of the Traitors, so maybe that’s what wins here. This is the first nomination in a decade for Dancing with theh Stars, so perhaps there’s some passion for the latest season among the voting body that hasn’t been there in recent years.
A standout snub is in comedy supporting actor, as Michael Urie made it for Shrinking over Steve Martin in Only Murders. But the real story in comedy this year: The Comeback missed Best Comedy, which sort of locks Lisa Kudrow out in upset over Jean Smart.
The big winners for the studios are clearly Apple and HBO, which, considering the quality output, isn’t too surprising. The biggest losers are Paramount, but they seem pre-occupied with other things than their programming at the moment, and considering they cut their awards division as part of the merger process due to the volume of debt they’re about to be in, isn’t too surprising their campaigns didn’t amount to much of anything. The big winners are actors nominated twice, such as Colman Domingo, Laurie Metcalf, Jason Bateman, and Nick Offerman. Martin Short’s second nomination, Host for a Game Show, isn’t covered here, but he also gained two nominations this morning as an on-screen talent.
Photo credit: HBO.
Jameus Mooney is an entertainment writer for Comicbook Clique, having covered the entertainment industry for years. You can follow him on Twitter here, and Letterboxd here. You can also listen to his horror podcast, The 2:17 Horror Podcast, at the DeathArts XIII YouTube channel.