The 2026 Emmys have crowned Widow’s Bay as its new champion with the freshman series sweeping every category it was nominated in.
The horror-comedy won six gongs including best comedy series, three acting trophies for stars Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn and Stephen Root as well as writing for creator Katie Dippold and directing for Hiro Murai.
It was a decisive victory for streamer Apple TV, which won nine of out of the 19 categories awarded as part of the Primetime Emmys, having also collected victories for its sci-fi drama Pluribus (best drama actress for Rhea Seehorn, writing for a drama) and spy thriller Slow Horses (directing for a drama).
Rhys became the first double lead acting winner, first emerging victorious in the limited series lead actor race for Netflix show The Beast in Me.
The Pitt defended its title of best drama series, winning for the second year in a row, as well another consecutive victory for star and producer Noah Wyle, who won for lead drama actor for his performance as the leader of an emergency room.
Jean Smart went five for five, winning lead comedy actress for the final season of Hacks. She has won for every season of the show.
Stephen Colbert’s now cancelled series picked up a swan song Emmy in the variety race while reality show The Traitors won for the third year in a row in its category. DTF St Louis picked up best limited series.
Most of DTF’s gongs were bumped from the primetime ceremony into the Creative Arts event last week. The result of which is also the show ran short of its scheduled three-hour slot - there was an increase of ad breaks in the last hour, and final presenters Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey admitted onstage they were asked by the producers to vamp for time.
Two of the more surprising wins were in the supporting drama actor categories with Allison Janney picking up for The Diplomat and Tom Pelphrey for Task.
Australian nominees Sarah Snook (lead actress in a limited series or TV movie) and Nicole Kidman (executive producer on nominated comedy series Margo’s Got Money Troubles) both missed out.
Key Events
All the best and worst fashion from Emmys blue carpet
The stars from the hottest shows on TV took to the blue carpet in a showcase of glamorous, unique and trendy fashion looks for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards in downtown Los Angeles.
Fashion trends from this year’s special occasion included minimalist looks, feminine shades of baby pink and blue, sleek dresses, classic black tuxedos and glittering gowns.
Check out all the fashion from TV’s night of nights in our gallery.
Case cracked: Taylor Swift’s hilarious surprise Emmys cameo
Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance at this year’s Emmys via a pre-recorded comedic Law and Order: Special Victims Unit sketch.
The skit began with the Emmys host and SVU star Mariska Hargitay getting her colleagues to “think like Swifties” in order to answer the biggest question of the broadcast: “Will Taylor Swift be at the Emmys?”
Read the full story here.
Widow’s Bay crowned new champion
The freshman series has won best comedy series, which caps off a massive Emmys for the Apple series.
The horror-comedy about a hopefully fictional haunted island off the east coast of the US had huge momentum going into the Emmys having been the winning-est series out of the Creative Arts ceremonies last week, and then picking up high-profile gongs tonight including three acting wins for Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn and Stephen Root as well as the writing and directing trophies.
In other words, it was a sweep, winning in every category it was nominated in tonight. That kind of dominance is rare.
Show creator Katie Dippold, whose previous work included Parks and Recreation, said during her acceptance speech, “I have to quickly thank my mum for always making Halloween fun.
“This group was such a great collaboration of the best, wonderful weirdos and artists.”
She also thanked “the evil entity on the island that trusted us with its story”. She better be joking.
COMEDY SERIES
Abbott Elementary
The Bear
Hacks
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Nobody Wants This
Only Murders in the Building
Shrinking
Widow’s Bay - WINNER
Woody and Matt back together
Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey reunited onstage for the final award - and if you’re wondering why, it’s because they have a new series called Brothers coming out next week.
Never miss an opportunity to plug.
These two don’t miss, that chaotic and loose chemistry is undeniable, although this “bit” over whether their parents have shagged is a bit weird.
They did, however, acknowledge that they were asked to vamp because the show was running short.
The PItt holds off a challenge to claim second drama win
Three Charlie’s Angels - Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd and Kate Jackson - presented the award for drama series to The Pitt, which held off a late challenge from Pluribus.
The medical series has been a barnstormer since it premiered almost two years ago, and has also thrust Noah Wyle back into the conversation - and deservedly so.
With a large ensemble cast, each season of The Pitt details a 15-hour shift in an emergency room staffed by a diverse group of doctors and nurses. It’s been lauded by medical professionals for accurately portraying an emergency room.
Showrunner Scott Gemmell said in his speech, “We’ve always tried to be really authentic and tell stories about the real life heroes, the emergency department, who are there for us, day in, day out, and we just want to shine the light on them.
“Yes, their storage can be frustrating and heartbreaking, but they also can be so inspirational and healing.
“We are entertainers. We make you laugh, we make you cry. Occasionally, we make you look away in disgust. But when I look around this room, I see something more important than the awards, and the ratings, I see a whole community that’s still trying to do the right thing.
“It is so hard to tell what is real and what we can believe anymore. Which makes telling honest stories about real human struggles so much more important than ever. What you do, it changes people’s lives, and I’m just so happy that we get to do that because it’s so difficult to know what to believe anymore.
“So when a last bastion of reality is in our shared collective fiction, that makes what you do so much more important. People need to know the truth, and we need to continue to tell them that in whatever way we can, in whatever form we can, because at the end of the day, I think, sometimes it’s only the storytelling that allows us to understand and appreciate each other, and that’s more important than ever.
“Keep doing what you’re doing.”
DRAMA SERIES
The Diplomat
The Gilded Age
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Paradise
The Pitt - WINNER
Pluribus
Slow Horses
Your Friends and Neighbours
Never forget them
Macauley Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy led the In Memorium tributes with beautiful words about Catherine O’Hara, who played their onscreen mums over the years.
Culkin spoke of how O’Hara always showed up for him (even if she forgot him on Home Alone), Murphy recounted the collective grief the followed her death and Levy shared he learnt to “say yes” from her.
Among those acknowledged in the segment were James van der Beek, Isiah Whitlock Jr, June Lockhart, Anthony Head, Diane Ladd, Ted Turner, Patricia Crowley, Eric Dane, Hayden Panetierre, T.K. Carter, Robert Duvall, Dolly Parton, Robert Carradine, Vince Pastore, Sam Neill, Hal Williams, Tim Curry, Bob Mackie, Rob Reiner and James Burrows.
Burrows was a huge name in TV having been a prolific director of sitcoms including Cheers, Frasier, Will & Grace, Friends and Taxi.
DTF cements its limited series victories
DTF St Louis hasn’t felt like a massive presence tonight because the Emmys decided to bump a lot of limited series categories to the Creative Arts ceremony last week, where it did very well, winning two acting gongs (Linda Cardellini and David Harbour) as well as for writing and directing.
Given how fast this ceremony is going, perhaps next year, they’ll be re-elevated back into the primetime broadcast.
So, it’s not a huge surprise the HBO series has taken out the main limited series category with the big one.
LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES
All Her Fault
The Beast in Me
Beef
DTF St. Louis - WINNER
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette
Paying tribute to Dolly Parton
Sally Field begins the tribute to Parton, who died last month at the age of 80.
“If there are truly angels on Earth, then we just lost one. Dolly Parton. It was my great good fortune to have worked with Dolly in a film called Steel Magnolia.
“Over the years, I never stopped loving her, though we lived very far apart. I adored her from day one. How could you not? She was genuine and humble, supportive, and blisteringly funny, with a sense of humour that would send any rude guy looking for a place to hide.
“I couldn’t see then what a real giant Dolly was, not just as an artist, but as a human. She was a humanitarian whose contributions had made a profound difference in the lives of so many in her home state of Tennessee and across our country.
“God bless you, Dolly Parton, my friend. I am not the only one on Earth that will love you forever and ever.”
Reba McIntire then sang the song Appalachian Memories.
Pluribus makes it a real race
Vince Gilligan just won the writing for a drama series award for Pluribus.
With Pluribus picking up a couple of big wins already, it feels like it’s definitely still in it for the drama series award against presumed frontrunner The Pitt.
We’ll know pretty soon, as these awards are just racing through. We’re only two hours in and there are only three categories, one tribute and the in memorium left.
Gilligan made reference to the surreal story of his sci-fi series, in which the world has come together in a hive mind in an enforced peace.
He said, “There is nothing weirder than our current reality. These past 10 years, you can’t write this stuff. I submit to you that a real world in which people get along is just as believable as what we’ve got now - and achievable.
“We will never agree on everything, but we can show respect to one another, maybe even kindness, and we can stop listening to a relative few who tell us that that is for suckers, and who get their power from dividing us.”
WRITING FOR A DRAMA SERIES
The Diplomat
The Pitt (1:00 PM)
The Pitt (12:00 PM)
Pluribus - WINNER
Slow Horses
Task
Standing ovation for Michael J. Fox
The beloved actor and activist has been honoured with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his tireless work as a campaigner to support those with Parkinson’s, which he was diagnosed with at the age of 29.
Fox said, “Initially, I kept my Parkinson’s diagnosis a secret. I worried that it would affect my work and my relationships with audiences, would they laugh if they knew I was sick.
“All of you lifting me, and just made me feel like I keep doing this. I hadn’t lost what I do, and it couldn’t be taken away from me. That’s because you stood up for me. I appreciate it.
“Actually, I understood that accepting Parkinson’s didn’t mean I had to surrender to it. It just meant doing what I could for everyone living with this disease.
“I found brilliant people to lead the effort for me and vowed to fund the best science in the world. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made to benefit Parkinson’s patients and families as we move closer to eradicating this disease forever.”
He thanked his wife Tracy and their kids, as well as his wider family in Canada.
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