Octavia Spencer wins the Outstanding Narrator award for “Lost Women of Alaska” at the 78th Emmy Awards Night 1 held at Peacock Theater on September 05, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images)
Variety via Getty Images
Lauded actress and producer Octavia Spencer is one step closer to EGOT status following her latest Emmy win.
On September 5, Spencer took home a Creative Arts Emmy at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys in Los Angeles for Outstanding Narrator for her work on Investigation Discovery’s true-crime docuseries Lost Women of Alaska. She prevailed in a competitive field that included Jodie Foster for Netflix’s Breakdown: 1975, Werner Herzog for National Geographic’s Ghost Elephants, and 100-year-old Sir David Attenborough.
The victory marks Spencer’s third Emmy nomination and her second consecutive nomination in the Outstanding Narrator category. In 2024, she received a nomination for Lost Women of Highway 20, another Investigation Discovery true-crime series. Her first Emmy nomination came in 2020 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her portrayal of Madam C.J. Walker in Netflix’s Self Made.
The Emmy adds another major accolade to Spencer’s decorated career. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2012 for The Help and now needs only a Grammy and a Tony Award to achieve EGOT status.
Lost Women of Alaska, a three-part docuseries executive produced by Spencer and Christina Douglas, examines the “memory card murders” and the systemic failures surrounding the cases of Alaska Native women Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abouchuk, who were killed by serial killer Brian Steven Smith, who was convicted in 2024. The series also examines the case of Cassandra Boskofsky and scrutinizes the Anchorage Police Department’s handling of the investigations, placing the cases within Alaska’s broader crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. A former Anchorage Police Department officer featured in the series underscores the scale of the crisis, citing more than 1,300 people reported missing statewide.
Speaking backstage after her win, Spencer reflected on her longstanding interest in the true-crime genre and the opportunity Lost Women of Alaska presented to tell stories with a deeper purpose.
“Before there was an implosion of true-crime networks, there were people like me who were interested. True crime, these things actually happen. I was a consumer who watched for entertainment. There was always something greater to say; if I ever had a platform, I would do something. Lost Women was the perfect vehicle.”
Both nights of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be edited into a single broadcast airing Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FXX. The broadcast will also stream on Hulu beginning September 13.
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