See The Complete Winners List

Katie Dippold and Stephen Root win the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Award for “Widows Bay” and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Award for “Widow’s Bay” at the 78th Emmy Awards held at Peacock Theater on September 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto Rodriguez/Deadline via Getty Images)

Deadline via Getty Images

It was a huge night for my favorite show of 2026 at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. Matthew Rhys, Jean Smart and Noah Wyle all made history, while Widow’s Bay led the field with 14 total wins—the most ever for a comedy series in a single year. Its six televised victories included Outstanding Comedy Series, three acting awards and Emmys for both writing and directing. I’m always thrilled when my favorite show in a given year also takes home the most Emmys, and this year did not disappoint.

Matthew Rhys won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance as Mayor Tom Loftis. He also took home Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for playing Nile Jarvis in Netflix’s The Beast in Me, becoming the first performer in Emmy history to win two lead-acting awards in the same year. Combined with his 2018 win for The Americans, Rhys is also the first performer to win lead-acting Emmys across drama, comedy and limited-series categories.

Stephen Root and Kate O’Flynn won Outstanding Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, for their performances in Widow’s Bay. The show’s creator, Katie Dippold, won Outstanding Writing, while Hiro Murai took home Outstanding Directing. Widow’s Bay’s 14-win haul is another record, the most any comedy series has won in a year.

The only televised comedy award that didn’t go to Widow’s Bay went to Jean Smart, who won Outstanding Lead Actress for Hacks. Smart has now won for all five seasons of the series, becoming the first performer to accomplish that feat. It was her eighth acting Emmy overall, tying the all-time record shared by Cloris Leachman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and, as of Monday night, Allison Janney, who won Outstanding Supporting Actress for The Diplomat.

HBO’s excellent second season of The Pitt took home two major awards, winning Outstanding Drama Series for the second year running while Noah Wyle repeated as Outstanding Lead Actor. The Pitt became the first drama since Mad Men to win the top award for each of its first two seasons, while Wyle became the first actor since Bryan Cranston to win his category for a show’s first two seasons.

Rhea Seehorn, who was famously snubbed for her remarkable performance in Better Call Saul, won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Pluribus, though I’m not convinced Pluribus was really a drama. Either way, it was nice to see her finally receive that recognition, even if I think she was better in Better Call Saul than in Pluribus.

Tom Pelphrey won Outstanding Supporting Actor for his powerful performance as Robbie Prendergast in HBO’s phenomenal crime drama Task. Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series went to Saul Metzstein for his work on Season 5 of Slow Horses, which returns for its sixth season tonight.

The excellent dramedy DTF St. Louis won Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, while The Traitors took home Outstanding Reality Competition Program. Michael J. Fox received the honorary Bob Hope Humanitarian Award to thunderous applause.

Many of my favorite shows of the year took home awards: Widow’s Bay, The Pitt, Task, DTF St. Louis and Slow Horses. I guess I really do know how to pick ’em, eh?

Here’s the full list of televised winners:

Drama

• Drama Series — The Pitt
• Lead Actor — Noah Wyle, The Pitt
• Lead Actress — Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus
• Supporting Actor — Tom Pelphrey, Task
• Supporting Actress — Allison Janney, The Diplomat
• Writing — Vince Gilligan, Pluribus
• Directing — Saul Metzstein, Slow Horses

Comedy

• Comedy Series — Widow’s Bay
• Lead Actor — Matthew Rhys, Widow’s Bay
• Lead Actress — Jean Smart, Hacks
• Supporting Actor — Stephen Root, Widow’s Bay
• Supporting Actress — Kate O’Flynn, Widow’s Bay
• Writing — Katie Dippold, Widow’s Bay
• Directing — Hiro Murai, Widow’s Bay

Limited or Anthology Series

• Limited or Anthology Series — DTF St. Louis
• Lead Actor — Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me
• Lead Actress — Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures

Variety and Reality

• Variety Series — The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• Reality Competition Program — The Traitors

The remaining awards were handed out at the earlier Creative Arts Emmys. Were any of these your favorites? Anything or anyone you thought was snubbed this year? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.