I set two alarms for this morning. Anyone who covers television for a living understands that Emmy nomination day is our Super Bowl, our opening night, our holiday that arrives once a year wrapped in envelopes and streamed live from the Television Academy. So when Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller — two performers whose Emmy wins felt like victories for character actors everywhere — stepped up to read the nominees for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, I was already on my second coffee, notebook open, heart fully invested.
What followed was one of the most fascinating nomination mornings in recent memory. The old guard held its ground. The newcomers stormed the gates. A record fell. And the road to the Peacock Theater on Monday, September 14 — where Mariska Hargitay will host for the first time, becoming the first woman to emcee the ceremony in fifteen years — suddenly looks like the most competitive stretch of awards season we’ve seen in a decade.
Let’s get into all of it.
The Big Story: ‘Hacks’ Goes Out Swinging
Deborah Vance would approve of this exit. The fifth and final season of Hacks earned a staggering 24 nominations, the most any comedy series has ever received in a single year, surpassing the previous record of 23 shared by The Studio and The Bear. Jean Smart is back in the lead actress race, Hannah Einbinder and Megan Stalter both landed supporting nods, Paul W. Downs scored in supporting actor, and the guest actress category practically belongs to the show outright — Leslie Bibb, Cherry Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Kaitlin Olson, and Lauren Weedman all made the cut.
Farewell seasons rarely get this kind of send-off. Voters clearly wanted to make sure the industry’s sharpest comedy about comedy left the stage with every possible flower in hand.
And yet the comedy story of the year might not be Hacks at all.
The Lisa Kudrow Question
Here is the matchup I cannot stop thinking about. Jean Smart, four-time winner for Deborah Vance, versus Lisa Kudrow, nominated for the long-awaited return of The Comeback — a series that has spent two decades being rediscovered, reevaluated, and rightfully canonized. Kudrow’s only Emmy came in 1998, for playing Phoebe Buffay. If she wins for Valerie Cherish, the character she has protected and perfected across three separate decades, the Peacock Theater will levitate. If Smart completes the sweep for her final season, it cements one of the great sustained performances in television history.
There is no wrong outcome here. There is only appointment viewing.
‘The Pitt’ Is the Center of the Television Universe
On the drama side, no show came close. The Pitt pulled in 25 nominations for its sophomore season, the largest haul of any program this year, and confirmed what its first-season victory lap already suggested: this medical drama has become the beating heart of prestige network-style storytelling in the streaming era.
Noah Wyle returns to the lead actor race, and the supporting categories read like a cast list. Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Katherine LaNasa, and Sepideh Moafi all landed supporting actress nominations, while Patrick Ball, Shawn Hatosy, and Gerran Howell crowded into supporting actor. Guest performers Brittany Allen, Tal Anderson, Tina Ivlev, Ernest Harden Jr., and Jeff Kober rounded out one of the most complete ensemble showings in Emmy history. When a single emergency room occupies this much real estate across the acting categories, you are no longer watching a hit — you are watching an institution.
The Apple TV Invasion
If HBO Max owned the morning overall — the platform led every network and streamer with 122 total nominations — then Apple TV owned the future. Three of its new series announced themselves in force. Pluribus, the twisty new drama that reunites audiences with the brilliant Rhea Seehorn, earned 18 nominations, including outstanding drama and a richly deserved lead actress nod for Seehorn, whose work here should finally deliver the trophy that eluded her for years.
Then there is Widow’s Bay, the horror-comedy that became the word-of-mouth phenomenon of the season and led all new shows with 19 nominations. Matthew Rhys, playing the beleaguered mayor of an island where the supernatural keeps interrupting municipal business, is nominated for lead actor in a comedy. And in one of those delicious only-at-the-Emmys twists, Rhys is also nominated in the limited series field for his chilling billionaire in Netflix’s The Beast in Me — opposite Claire Danes, who earned her own nomination. His wife, Keri Russell, joined the party with a lead actress nod for The Diplomat. One household, three major nominations. Somewhere in Brooklyn, a mantel is being reinforced.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles completed Apple’s hat trick, landing Elle Fanning in lead actress, Michelle Pfeiffer in supporting, and Nick Offerman in supporting actor, plus a spot in the outstanding comedy field.
Drama Series: The Eight-Way Battle
The full outstanding drama lineup: The Diplomat, The Gilded Age, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Paradise, The Pitt, Pluribus, Slow Horses, and Your Friends & Neighbors. George R.R. Martin’s Westeros returns to the Emmy conversation through A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, while Gary Oldman, Sterling K. Brown, Mark Ruffalo, Rufus Sewell, and Wyle make lead actor one of the most decorated fields in years.
Notably absent from the top category: Euphoria, whose divisive final season was shut out of the drama series race — though voters could not deny Zendaya, who returns to lead actress, or Colman Domingo, nominated as a guest actor. Domingo, remarkably, is double-nominated this year, also appearing in comedy supporting for The Four Seasons.
Limited Series: ‘DTF St. Louis’ and the Bateman Double
The limited series field brought its own fireworks. DTF St. Louis, the HBO Max dark comedy that had everyone talking, collected 13 nominations, and Jason Bateman pulled off the morning’s most impressive individual feat — nominated as lead actor for Black Rabbit and supporting actor for DTF St. Louis, where he shares the category with castmates David Harbour and Richard Jenkins. BEEF returned for its anthology second chapter with 16 nominations, powered by Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Youn Yuh-jung, and Charles Melton. Sarah Snook (All Her Fault), Riz Ahmed (Bait), and Richard Gadd (Half Man) all made strong showings, and Sarah Pidgeon’s turn in Love Story earned her a lead actress nomination alongside a supporting nod for Constance Zimmer.
The Pop Culture Wild Cards
This is the section where the Emmys remembered how to be fun. Bad Bunny’s electrifying Super Bowl LX halftime show earned a nomination for outstanding live variety special, sharing a category with the Oscars, Grammys, Golden Globes, and Tonys. Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour: The Final Show collected five nominations of its own in the pre-recorded variety field, where it faces Nikki Glaser, Dave Chappelle, a revived Muppet Show, and Wicked: One Wonderful Night.
And in the newly merged outstanding variety series category — where talk and sketch now compete together under a new “area award” system that allows multiple winners — Saturday Night Live joins The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Keep an eye on that SNL guest actor nomination for Connor Storrie, too. His breakout series Heated Rivalry was ineligible this year because of its international financing, so voters found another door and handed him a nod for his guest-hosting turn instead. The Academy giveth.
Reality competition delivered its own headline: Dancing With the Stars earned its first nomination in a decade, joining Survivor, Top Chef, The Traitors, and RuPaul’s Drag Race in a field announced early on the Today show.
The Snubs and Surprises Ledger
Every nomination morning leaves casualties. Euphoria missing the drama series field stings, even with its stars recognized. Heated Rivalry and Dutton Ranch devotees will have to wait for other ceremonies. Meanwhile, The Bear increasingly polarizing among critics and audiences still secured its outstanding comedy slot, along with nods for Ayo Edebiri, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Rob Reiner. The kitchen endures, whether the discourse likes it or not.
Departing favorites got their goodbyes as well: Euphoria, Stranger Things, and The Boys all collected nominations for their final seasons, giving September’s ceremony the feeling of both a coronation and a farewell tour.
Step back from the individual races, and a bigger picture emerges. Half the outstanding comedy field is new or newly ascendant. The drama race features three freshman series. A horror-comedy about a haunted island town earned nineteen nominations. A Super Bowl halftime show and a stadium concert film are legitimate Emmy contenders. Television in 2026 is weirder, bolder, and more genre-fluid than it has been in years, and the Television Academy, an institution not historically famous for its adventurous palate, just endorsed all of it.
I will be there on September 14, in the room where Deborah Vance and Valerie Cherish collide, where an emergency room drama chases back-to-back crowns, and where a first-time host with 28 seasons of television behind her takes the stage. The countdown starts now.
The Major Nominations at a Glance
Outstanding Drama Series The Diplomat · The Gilded Age · A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms · Paradise · The Pitt · Pluribus · Slow Horses · Your Friends & Neighbors
Outstanding Comedy Series Abbott Elementary · The Bear · Hacks · Margo’s Got Money Troubles · Nobody Wants This · Only Murders in the Building · Shrinking · Widow’s Bay
Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series All Her Fault · The Beast in Me · BEEF · DTF St. Louis · Love Story
Lead Actress, Drama Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age) · Chase Infiniti (The Testaments) · Keri Russell (The Diplomat) · Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus) · Zendaya (Euphoria)
Lead Actor, Drama Sterling K. Brown (Paradise) · Gary Oldman (Slow Horses) · Mark Ruffalo (Task) · Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat) · Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
Lead Actress, Comedy Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary) · Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) · Elle Fanning (Margo’s Got Money Troubles) · Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback) · Jean Smart (Hacks)
Lead Actor, Comedy Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man) · Steve Carell (Rooster) · Matthew Rhys (Widow’s Bay) · Jason Segel (Shrinking) · Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)
Lead Actress, Limited Series or Movie Claire Danes (The Beast in Me) · Sally Field (Remarkably Bright Creatures) · Carey Mulligan (BEEF) · Sarah Pidgeon (Love Story) · Sarah Snook (All Her Fault)
Lead Actor, Limited Series or Movie Riz Ahmed (Bait) · Jason Bateman (Black Rabbit) · Charlie Hunnam (Monster: The Ed Gein Story) · Oscar Isaac (BEEF) · Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me)
Outstanding Variety Series The Daily Show · Jimmy Kimmel Live! · Last Week Tonight With John Oliver · The Late Show With Stephen Colbert · Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Reality Competition Program Dancing With the Stars · RuPaul’s Drag Race · Survivor · Top Chef · The Traitors
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards air live Monday, September 14, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. The Creative Arts Emmys take place September 5–6.
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