Records broken and rallying cries for real television: Full list of winners at the 2026 Emmy Awards

Widow’s Bay has set a comedy record with 14 wins and The Pitt has won best drama series for a second year straight at American television’s night of nights.

The winners and losers of the blue carpet at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards will be decided by social media voyeurs over the coming days, but the actual best of the best of Hollywood’s small screen have already been crowned inside Los Angeles’ Peacock Theatre – and boy did Apple TV’s surreal horror comedy Widow’s Bay clean up.

“I love this group so much,” said screenwriter and showrunner Katie Dippold while accepting the best comedy series trophy on behalf of the whole cast and crew.

The freshman entry scooped the coveted gong from long-standing favourites Hacks, Only Murders in the Building, and Abbott Elementary; the victory meant the Apple TV+ show won in every single category it was nominated for at the Primetime Emmys.

This isn’t just a win for Widow’s Bay, it’s also a massive win for horror, a genre that doesn’t often get much attention at award shows. The buzzy horror-comedy won more trophies than any other show nominated tonight. Including the Creative Arts Emmys last week, it wrangled a whopping 14 prizes overall (of 19 nominations).

Meanwhile, HBO Max’s darling, The Pitt, had a bit of an odd night, losing out in all supporting acting categories despite having most of its cast nominated – but it got the award that really mattered.

“We’ve always tried to be really authentic and tell real stories about the real-life heroes who are here for us day in and day out,” series creator R. Scott Gemmill said, speaking generally about US healthcare workers, while accepting the outstanding drama series gong. (The Pitt won it in 2025 too).

“Their stories are frustrating and heartbreaking, but they can also be so inspirational.”

He went on discussing the TV industry at large, “I see a whole community that is still trying to do the right thing … It is so hard to tell what is real and what we can believe right now, which makes telling honest stories about real human struggle more important than ever.”

Combined with Noah Wyle’s win in outstanding lead actor, The Pitt won two Primetime Emmys this year. It also won four categories at the Creative Arts Emmys last week.

Other notable victories include Matthew Rhys became the first man to win two acting lead categories in the same year, for comedy and limited series. But there were interesting losses too.

See the full list of winners and nominees at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards below.

Outstanding comedy series

• WINNER: Widow’s Bay (Apple TV)
• Abbott Elementary (ABC)
• The Bear (FX)
• Hacks (HBO Max)
• Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple TV)
• Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
• Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
• Shrinking (Apple TV)

Outstanding limited or anthology series

• WINNER: DTF St. Louis (HBO Max)
• All Her Fault (Peacock)
• The Beast In Me (Netflix)
• Beef (Netflix)
• John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette (FX)

Outstanding drama series

• WINNER: The Pitt (HBO Max)
• The Diplomat (Netflix)
• The Gilded Age (HBO Max)
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max)
• Paradise (Hulu)
• Pluribus (Apple TV)
• Slow Horses (Apple TV)
• Your Friends and Neighbours (Apple TV)

Outstanding writing for a drama series

• WINNER: Pluribus (Vince Gilligan)
• The Diplomat (Peter Ackerman, Debora Cahn)
• The Pitt, “1pm” (Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman, R. Scott Gemmill)
• The Pitt, “12pm” (Valerie Chu)
• Slow Horses (Will Smith)
• Task (Brad Ingelsby)

Outstanding directing for a comedy series

• WINNER: Hiro Murai (Widow’s Bay)
• Randall Einhorn (Abbott Elementary)
• Christopher Storer (The Bear)
• Andrew DeYoung (The Chair Company)
• Lucia Aniello (Hacks)
• Mary Lou Belli (The Ms. Pat Show)

Outstanding variety series

• WINNER: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)
• The Daily Show (Comedy Central)
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC)
• Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO Max)
• Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Outstanding directing for a drama series

• WINNER: Saul Metzstein (Slow Horses)
• Salli Richardson-Whitfield (The Gilded Age)
• Hanelle M. Culpepper (Paradise)
• Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
• Vince Gilligan (Pluribus)
• Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Task)

Outstanding writing for a comedy series

• WINNER: Widow’s Bay (Katie Dippold)
• Abbott Elementary (Quinta Brunson)
• The Chair Company (Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin)
• The Comeback (Michael Patrick King, Lisa Kudrow)
• Hacks (Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky)
• Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat (Anthony King)

Outstanding lead actor in a comedy series

• WINNER: Matthew Rhys (Widow’s Bay)
• Yahya Abdul Mateen II (Wonder Man)
• Steve Carell (Rooster)
• Jason Segel (Shrinking)
• Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building)

Outstanding lead actress in a limited or anthology series or movie

• WINNER: Sally Field (Remarkably Bright Creatures)
• Claire Danes (The Beast in Me)
• Carey Mulligan (Beef)
• Sarah Pidgeon (Love Story)
• Sarah Snook (All Her Fault)

Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series

• WINNER: Tom Pelphrey (Task)
• Patrick Ball (The Pitt)
• Billy Crudup (The Morning Show)
• Shawn Hatosy (The Pitt)
• Gerran Howell (The Pitt)
• Jack Lowden (Slow Horses)
• Carlos-Manuel Vesga (Pluribus)

Outstanding lead actor in a drama series

• WINNER: Noah Wyle (The Pitt)
• Sterling K. Brown (Paradise)
• Gary Oldman (Slow Horses)
• Mark Ruffalo (Task)
• Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat)

Outstanding reality competition program

• WINNER: The Traitors (Peacock)
• Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
• RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
• Survivor (CBS)
• Top Chef (Bravo)

Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series

• WINNER: Stephen Root (Widow’s Bay)
• Colman Domingo (The Four Seasons)
• Paul W. Downs (Hacks)
• Harrison Ford (Shrinking)
• Nick Offerman (Margo’s Got Money Troubles)
• Michael Urie (Shrinking)
• Tyler James Williams (Abbott Elementary)

Outstanding lead actress in a drama series

• WINNER: Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus)
• Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age)
• Chase Infiniti (The Testaments)
• Keri Russell (The Diplomat)
• Zendaya (Euphoria)

Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series

• WINNER: Allison Janney (The Diplomat)
• Taylor Dearden (The Pitt)
• Fiona Dourif (The Pitt)
• Katherine LaNasa (The Pitt)
• Sepideh Moafi (The Pitt)
• Julianne Nicholson (Paradise)
• Karolina Wydra (Pluribus)

Outstanding lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie

• WINNER: Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me)
• Riz Ahmed (Bait)
• Jason Bateman (Black Rabbit)
• Charlie Hunnam (Monster: The Ed Gein Story)
• Oscar Isaac (Beef)

Outstanding lead actress in a comedy series

• WINNER: Jean Smart (Hacks)
• Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary)
• Ayo Edebiri (The Bear)
• Elle Fanning (Margo’s Got Money Troubles)
• Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback)

Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series

• WINNER: Kate O’Flynn (Widow’s Bay)
• Dale Dickey (Widow’s Bay)
• Hannah Einbinder (Hacks)
• Janelle James (Abbott Elementary)
• Michelle Pfeiffer (Margo’s Got Money Troubles)
• Megan Stalter (Hacks)
• Jessica Williams (Shrinking)

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