The Emmys 2026 winners were led by The Pitt, Widow’s Bay and DTF St. Louis, while Matthew Rhys took home two lead acting awards in one night. Here is the complete list of the 20 biggest awards.
The Emmys 2026 winners list was topped by HBO Max’s The Pitt, which won Outstanding Drama Series for the second year running, and Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay, which swept the comedy categories. HBO’s DTF St. Louis won Limited Series along with both supporting acting prizes.
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Monday 14 September 2026 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, hosted by Mariska Hargitay and broadcast on NBC and Peacock.
Emmys 2026 winners at a glance
- Ceremony: 78th Primetime Emmy Awards
- Date: Monday 14 September 2026, after the Creative Arts Emmys on 5 and 6 September
- Venue: Peacock Theater, Los Angeles
- Host: Mariska Hargitay
- Drama Series: The Pitt
- Comedy Series: Widow’s Bay
- Limited Series: DTF St. Louis
- Most wins: Widow’s Bay, with 14 across both ceremonies
Emmys 2026 winners: Drama
- Outstanding Drama Series: The Pitt (HBO Max)
- Lead Actor: Noah Wyle, The Pitt
- Lead Actress: Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus
- Supporting Actor: Tom Pelphrey, Task
- Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, The Diplomat
- Guest Actor: Ernest Harden Jr, The Pitt
Vince Gilligan won the drama writing award for the Pluribus episode “We Is Us”, and Saul Metzstein took directing for the Slow Horses episode “Scars”.
Emmys 2026 winners: Comedy
- Outstanding Comedy Series: Widow’s Bay (Apple TV)
- 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
- Guest Actor: Rob Reiner, The Bear (posthumous)
- Guest Actress: Betty Gilpin, Widow’s Bay
Widow’s Bay also won writing for Katie Dippold and directing for Hiro Murai, both for the pilot “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!”
Emmys 2026 winners: Limited series
- Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series: DTF St. Louis (HBO)
- Lead Actor: Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me
- Lead Actress: Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures
- Supporting Actor: David Harbour, DTF St. Louis
- Supporting Actress: Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis
The two supporting prizes, plus writing and directing, were handed out at the Creative Arts ceremonies this year, part of a reshuffle that cut the main telecast to 19 categories from 26. Steven Conrad won both writing and directing for DTF St. Louis, and Netflix’s Remarkably Bright Creatures took the award for a television movie.
Emmys 2026 winners: Reality and variety
- Outstanding Reality Competition Program: The Traitors (Peacock), with Alan Cumming also winning for host
- Outstanding Variety Series: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)
The shows behind the Emmys 2026 winners
Widow’s Bay is a supernatural comedy set on a cursed New England island, created by Katie Dippold. Matthew Rhys plays Tom Loftis, the sceptical mayor and a widower raising his son. The first season premiered on Apple TV on 29 April 2026, and a second season was confirmed in June.
The Pitt follows a single 12-hour shift in a Pittsburgh emergency department, with each episode covering roughly one hour in real time. Noah Wyle plays Dr Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, and HBO Max renewed it for a third season the day before season two arrived in January.
DTF St. Louis, written and directed by Conrad, is a seven-episode HBO miniseries about a love triangle that ends in a death linked to a dating app for married people. Jason Bateman stars alongside Harbour and Cardellini.
Winners are as reported by DiscussingFilm’s complete winners list, and full results are on the Television Academy’s official site.
Five stories behind the Emmys 2026 winners
Matthew Rhys had a historic night. Winning lead actor in both comedy and limited series in the same year is extremely rare. It also shows how far Widow’s Bay travelled, from a new Apple show to the most awarded programme of the year.
The Pitt kept its crown. The hospital drama won Outstanding Drama Series and Lead Actor for Noah Wyle at the 77th Emmys in 2025, and repeated both wins this year. It came into the night with 25 nominations, more than any other show.
A farewell for Colbert. The Late Show won Outstanding Variety Series and the variety writing award, while Yvonne De Mare won variety directing for the series finale. It is a send-off for one of American television’s longest running late-night formats.
Jean Smart, again. She came into the night with seven Primetime Emmys, four of them for Hacks. This win makes it five for the role and eight in her career.
A host with her own trophy. Hargitay was the first woman to host the ceremony since Jane Lynch in 2011, chosen by NBC to mark the network’s 100th anniversary. A week earlier, My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay had won Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.
The streaming scoreboard
Apple TV finished as the most awarded network with 28 Emmys across both ceremonies, ahead of HBO and HBO Max with 21 and Netflix with 16. The ceremony ran for three hours and drew 6.8 million viewers in the US.
Among the Emmys 2026 winners off the main stage, The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunnycollected seven Creative Arts awards for NBC.
Michael J. Fox received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his work on Parkinson’s disease research. Rob Reiner, who won a posthumous guest acting Emmy for The Bear, was honoured by Jamie Lee Curtis in the In Memoriam segment.
Where to watch the Emmys 2026 winners in the UAE
Widow’s Bay is on Apple TV, which is available in the UAE. HBO titles such as The Pitt and DTF St. Louis have usually reached viewers in the region through OSN+.
OSN signed an exclusive multi-year HBO licensing deal in 2022, and Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to buy a stake of about a third in OSN+ in March 2025, as Wamda reported.
Peacock shows such as the US version of The Traitors vary by region, so check each app before you subscribe.
Emmys 2026 winners FAQs
What won Best Drama at the 2026 Emmys?
The Pitt won Outstanding Drama Series for the second year in a row.
What won Best Comedy?
Widow’s Bay, from Apple TV, which also won the most Emmys of any programme this year.
Who won two acting Emmys in 2026?
Matthew Rhys, for Widow’s Bay in comedy and The Beast in Me in limited series.
Look back at last year’s race with our report on the 77th Emmy nominations, and find more series coverage in our Television section.