Emmy awards 2026 live: Noah Wyle and Jean Smart win as Widow’s Bay cleans up
As a reward for sticking with me, here are some of the Emmy winners already announced:
Supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie: David Harbour – DTF St Louis
Supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or movie: Linda Cardellini – DTF St Louis
Guest actress in a drama series: Shailene Woodley – Paradise
Guest actor in a drama series: Ernest Harden Jr – The Pitt
Guest actress in a comedy series: Betty Gilpin – Widow’s Bay
Guest actor in a comedy series: Rob Reiner – The Bear
Television movie: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Variety special (live): The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny
Variety special (pre-recorded): The Muppet Show
Outstanding animated program: South Park
Why have some Emmy winners already been announced?
There are more than 100 Emmys categories every year (yes, you read that right) and no one wants to make Mark Ruffalo sit through all that, he’s too nice. So roughly a week before there is a pre-Emmys Emmys ceremony called the Creative Arts Emmys, where the wonderful production crews behind your favourite shows get their much deserved awards with no public fanfare whatsoever.
But broadcast television is dying (RIP), so the Television Academy (the group behind the Emmys) has increasingly been shuffling more and more categories out of the main televised ceremony (dubbed the Primetime Emmys) into the Creative Arts Emmys. These categories include some acting awards, such as best guest actor and supporting actor in a limited series, meaning there will be 19 awards given out tonight, down from 26 last year.
This has irritated some people in Hollywood, but the Emmys are already three hours long and I am charging the Guardian through the arse to liveblog this, so it is good for journalism, good for Mark Ruffalo, good for all of us.
This year the Creative Arts Emmys on 5 and 6 September were renamed Emmys Night 1 and Emmys Night 2, as part of a rebranding effort to make the Emmys a sort of two week bender. Which is a bit like that one friend of yours who insists their birthday celebrations go for the whole month. It doesn’t work like that, Television Academy. Also that makes this Emmys Night 3, which is just a bad name.
The Pitt may lead the night in nominations, but Hacks has already made history – its 24 nominations are the most in a single year for a comedy, ever. And should star Jean Smart win a fifth award in as many seasons playing the inimitable piece of work known as Deborah Vance, she’ll set the record for the most number of Emmy wins held by one person at eight. (That is, if The Diplomat’s Allison Janney, nominated for best supporting actress in a drama, doesn’t also win and tie her, or break the record herself.)
The staff of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center – aka The Pitt – have hit the red carpet:
Could Rhea Seehorn finally win her first Emmy?
The Emmys don’t always get it right: Better Call Saul famously holds the record for the most primetime nominations (53) without bagging a single win over its six seasons. The greatest injustice was the fact that Rhea Seehorn never got her flowers for her astounding performance as the ever-dependable lawyer Kim Wexler, the only person on Earth who could inspire Jimmy McGill to do the right thing.
But will the Emmys finally right that wrong tonight? Seehorn is nominated for outstanding actress in a drama for her performance as Carol in Pluribus, a show that largely relies on her talents. Carol is cranky, she’s smart, she has an atom bomb. As Rebecca Shaw wrote, she ushered in the “Bitch Lesbian” era of television. Our feelings for you haven’t changed, Carol.
Seehorn is up against Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), Chase Infiniti (The Testaments), Keri Russell (The Diplomat) and Zendaya (Euphoria) – but surely this is finally her night.
If you are interested in watching today, the Emmys ceremony begin at 8pmET/5pm PT in the US, 10am AEST in Australia and 1am in the UK.
As for where to watch the ceremony:
US: NBC/Peacock
Australia: Binge and Foxtel
UK: no British broadcaster is scheduled to show it live (but if you are in the UK and up at 1am just for the Emmys, I admire your dedication.)
Mariska Hargitay’s Emmys host debut
In an unusual move for the Emmys, tonight’s host is not a comedian but four-time Emmy winner Mariska Hargitay. When the Law & Order: SVU actor was first contacted for the gig, she initially thought it was a joke or that she was about to be fired from her long-time role as Olivia Benson. Thankfully neither was true, and now Hargitay is the first woman host for the Emmys in 15 years, since Glee’s Jane Lynch in 2011.
Leading up to the awards, Hargitay enlisted the help of writers from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which aired for the last time in May, to finesse her material. The team even “set up shop” at the SVU set in New York, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I think one of the most important things is that I, to quote Frank Sinatra, I gotta do it my way,” Hargitay told THR. “I’m a very different, sort of unconventional host and I love that because I’m not a comedian, so that’s not necessarily what we’re doing. But you’ve gotta be me, right, you’ve gotta show up as your best self, so that’s what I’m doing.”
It’s been a busy time for the 63-year-old actor, who made her Broadway debut this year in Every Brilliant Thing before sprinting to Madison Square Garden to cheer the New York Knicks to their first NBA championship since 1973. Hargitay is also back on set for season 28 of Law & Order: SVU, and last weekend she collected her third and fourth Emmys for the documentary My Mom Jayne, about her mother Jayne Mansfield.
Here we are again – that one night, out of sync with all the other awards nights, where you realize how much TV you missed this year. No more time to catch up! The Emmys are back, and we’ve got several real races on our hands.
After crashing the prestige TV gates last year by nearly sweeping the drama awards, The Pitt, HBO Max’s back-to-basics medical drama, is once again the favorite for tonight’s premiere best drama award (and I’d have my money on Noah Wyle for repeat best actor, as well). Another win would make the hit series the first to win for its first two seasons since Mad Men in 2009… but keep an eye out for Pluribus, the critical darling from Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, a slow-burn that has a dark horse shot.
On the comedy side, one would ordinarily assume that the fifth and final season of beloved Emmys stalwart Hacks would have this all wrapped up – but then Widow’s Bay, the Apple TV+ horror-comedy starring multiple nominee Matthew Rhys, became the breakout TV hit of the summer. And in limited series/anthology, we have the return of Beef, which cleaned up in three years ago for its first installment, though pre-telecast acting awards for DTF St Louis’s David Harbour and Linda Cardinelli suggest a changing of the guard …
The night, then, promises at least one surprise, as well as the usual cast reunions and tributes shepherded, for the first time, by Mariska Hargitay, who between the Knicks and Detective Olivia Benson becoming the longest-running primetime character ever, is having a championship year. Stick with us for all the highlights!
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.