The 2026 Emmy Awards took place on Monday night, and several Emmy records were broken during its three-hour runtime.
The show opened with a bang(er): Emmy host Mariska Hargitay opened the 2026 show with a musical number matched to “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” chronicling her journey from New York to the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, where the show is being held, in the lead up to the ceremony. In the medley, she shouted out Emmy-nominated shows like The Pitt, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Beef and Widow’s Bay, among others.
“I am so proud to be the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years. Imagine that, for 15 years, Amy [Poehler] and Tina [Fey] said no.” She then channeled Nicole Kidman’s infamous AMC ad, prompting the actress from the audience to say, “That’s my bit! You can’t do that.”
“Zip it movie lady, it’s TV’s turn tonight!” Hargitay quipped back, before welcoming Poehler herself on the stage to present the first award, which went to Kate O’Flynn for her supporting role in a comedy, Widow’s Bay, marking her first nomination and win.
“This is for all the Patricia’s out there! See you at Sunset cocktails,” she said in her acceptance speech, referencing her character as well as a plot point in the Apple TV show.
Jean Smart won again for best actress in a comedy for her role in Hacks, which was presented to her by Zendaya (who was also nominated for her role in Euphoria). This marks her fifth award for Hacks, for all five seasons of the show’s run. This makes her the first performer in TV history to win an Emmy for every single season of a show’s run.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted 30 years ago, so stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz stepped on the stage to present best actor in a limited/anthology series or movie, which went to Matthew Rhys for The Beast in Me. This year, he earned the rare feat of getting dual nominations for The Beast in Me and best actor in a comedy series for Widow’s Bay. He ended up winning best actor in a comedy series for Widow’s Bay as well, making him the first man to win two lead acting Emmys in the same year. Additionally, he is now the first performer in history to have won the lead-acting Emmy across all three genres, since he won on the drama side back in 2018 for The Americans.
But before he took the stage to accept the award, Gellar and Boreanaz wondered if their characters would have ever gotten together.
“I guess we’ll never find out,” Gellar said, referencing the revival series that was canceled after filming its pilot, as well as possibly referring to the deaths of beloved cast members Nicholas Brendon and Tony Head earlier this year. “It’s been a tough two years for our cast and crew,” Gellar noted.
Allison Janney took home a trophy for her performance in The Diplomat, and Rhea Seehorn won her first Emmy for her role in Pluribus. Her recurring omissions for her role as Kim Wexler on Better Caul Saul is widely considered one of the biggest snubs in modern Emmy history. Despite having received acclaim for the first five seasons the show, she never received a single Emmy nomination. Only in 2022 did she get a supporting actress nod for the first half of the final season and then a lead acting nod for the final episodes, but she didn’t win.
During her acceptance speech, she told the audience that fellow nominee Keri Russell sent her a card beforehand, quoting the now-late Gloria Steinem: “We are linked, not ranked.”
After Nick Offerman revealed, in an audience bit, that his first job pre-acting was “erotic paintings of houses,” Sofia Vergara presented the award for best supporting actor in a comedy, which was awarded to Widow’s Bay‘s Stephen Root, a hint at what’s to come in terms of Widow’s Bay sweeping the acting categories.
“Thank you, Harrison Ford, because my son came up to me and said, ‘you’re in category with Harrison Ford!’” Root said to the actor, who was sitting in the audience and was nominated for his role in Shrinking. “Thank you, sir, for your many years of incredible acting.”
The cast of the upcoming Baywatch reboot, including Noah Beck, Stephen Amell, Hassie Harrison, Jessica Belkin, Thaddeus LaGrone and Brooks Nader, presented the award for best reality competition series, which went to The Traitors, earning it a clean sweep for the second year in a row.
After accepting the award, host Alan Cumming told the audience, “Tomorrow is voter registration day in this country. The time for talk is over, it is now time to vote, America!”
John Mulaney then took the stage for a full stand-up set, or so it seemed, to present best actor in a drama. “What a crop of prom kings we have. They’re not soft like the dad on Bluey. No. That guy’s a joke.
Since the creation of television, men have been historically unrepresented,” he joked, before adding, “And they can play anything, these nominees. Not just doctors, they can play a cop or an FBI agent or a secret agent — and then that’s it. No other examples.”
He then presented the award to The Pitt‘s Noah Wyle, who won the same award last year. Then, I Love L.A. stars Rachel Sennott and Odessa A’zion took the stage to present best supporting actor in a drama, which was awarded to Tom Pelphrey for Task. The actor gave an emotional speech, thanking God for his sobriety, shouting out his costar Mark Ruffalo, and thanking his very-pregnant wife Kaley Cuoco, who was in attendance.
A pretaped Law & Order: Special Victims Unit mid-show bit featured a surprise appearance of Taylor Swift, who is known to be a huge fan of the series and even named one of her cats after Hargitay’s character Olivia Benson.
Sally Field won the best actress in a limited/anthology series or movie award for Netflix’s Remarkably Bright Creatures. This marked a rare feat given that a made-for-TV movie doesn’t often win instead of multi-episode series in this category. Field is now the oldest actress to win the category, taking over from Jessica Tandy. In her acceptance speech, she seemingly nodded to the proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. Later, Field took the stage again to pay tribute to her late friend Dolly Parton: “I am not the only person on earth that will love you forever and ever.” Reba McEntire then performed a touching cover of Parton’s 1983 song “Appalachian Memories” to honor Parton.
Widow’s Bay creator Katie Dippold kept the show’s winning streak going, winning for best writing for a comedy series. “No one will ever step into my home without seeing this thing,” Dippold joked, holding up her Emmy. “This is going to be my entire personality.”
Saul Metzstein won the best directing in a drama series award for Slow Horses, while Hiro Murai won in the comedy series category for Widow’s Bay. Writing for a drama series went to Vince Gilligan for Pluribus. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won best variety series. This year, the best scripted variety series and best talk series categories were merged (how it was in 2015) and multiple winners could’ve been produced given voters were just asked whether the nominee merited an Emmy, yes or no. However, only one winner emerged.
DTF St. Louis, which racked up a few awards at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend, won the big limited/anthology series or movie award, with showrunner Steve Conrad accepting the award.
The Emmy for best drama series was presented by Charlie’s Angels cast members Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson and Cheryl Ladd, celebrating its 50th anniversary. The big drama award went to The Pitt for a second year in a row. The big comedy award of the night, presented by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, went to Widow’s Bay, bringing its total wins up to 14 and setting a new all-time record for the most Emmy wins collected by a comedy series in a single year.
This year’s Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, an award that honors philanthropic artists, was awarded to Michael J. Fox. Later in the show, Macauley Culkin, Annie Murphy and Dan Levy paid tribute to their late friend and costar Catherine O’Hara, who passed away earlier this year. “She may have forgotten me, twice, but we will always remember her,” Culkin said, teary-eyed, referencing their relationship in Home Alone and Home Alone 2, before Noah Kahan performed “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for the In Memoriam segment. Jamie Lee Curtis appeared on the stage to honor the late Rob Reiner, who last weekend won an Emmy for his guest role on The Bear. She noted he now holds the record for longest time, 48 years, between acting Emmy wins, which was previously held by his father Carl Reiner.
Head here for the full list of 2026 Emmy winners.
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