The 2026 Emmy Awards Winners: Widow’s Bay Shatters the All-Time Comedy Record
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards wrapped up Monday night at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, and as previewed right here on Gamersuniverse, the ceremony delivered plenty of upsets. Widow’s Bay ran away with the comedy race and then some, The Pitt held onto Best Drama Series, and Matthew Rhys made Emmy history twice in a single night. Here’s the full rundown of winners and the biggest moments from host Mariska Hargitay’s first time leading the show.
The Winners at a Glance
- Drama Series: The Pitt
- Lead Actor, Drama: Noah Wyle, The Pitt
- Lead Actress, Drama: Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus
- Comedy Series: Widow’s Bay
- Lead Actor, Comedy: Matthew Rhys, Widow’s Bay
- Lead Actress, Comedy: Jean Smart, Hacks
- Supporting Actor, Comedy: Stephen Root, Widow’s Bay
- Supporting Actress, Comedy: Kate O’Flynn, Widow’s Bay
- Limited or Anthology Series: DTF St. Louis
- Lead Actor, Limited Series: Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me
- Supporting Actor, Limited Series: David Harbour, DTF St. Louis
- Supporting Actress, Limited Series: Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis
- Television Movie: Remarkably Bright Creatures
- Lead Actress, Television Movie: Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures
- Variety Series: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Widow’s Bay Breaks the All-Time Comedy Record
Apple TV’s freshman horror comedy went into the night already leading all comedies with 19 nominations, and it didn’t stop there. Between last week’s Creative Arts Emmys and Monday’s main telecast, Widow’s Bay collected 14 wins this season, breaking the previous single-season comedy record of 13 wins set by The Studio the year before. On top of Outstanding Comedy Series, the show swept both supporting acting comedy categories with Stephen Root and Kate O’Flynn, along with directing, writing, and a stack of technical awards. The horror comedy about a mayor trying to convince his cursed New England town that the old superstitions aren’t real has already been renewed for a second season.
The Pitt held onto Outstanding Drama Series, with Noah Wyle repeating as Lead Actor
Matthew Rhys Makes History Twice Over
Rhys won Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Widow’s Bay and Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series for The Beast in Me on the same night, becoming the first person ever to win two lead acting Emmys in one ceremony. Combined with his 2018 Lead Actor Drama win for The Americans, that also makes him the first man to win lead acting Emmys across the drama, comedy, and limited series categories over a career.
Jean Smart Ties the Record in Hacks’ Final Season
Jean Smart won Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for playing Deborah Vance in Hacks for the fifth consecutive year, tying the record for most consecutive wins in the category and becoming the first woman to win an Emmy for every season of a series. It’s a fitting sendoff for a show that closed out its run with a record 24 nominations, even though the series itself lost Outstanding Comedy Series to Widow’s Bay.
The Night’s Most Emotional Moments
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won Outstanding Variety Series months after CBS cancelled it, and Colbert used the win to push for his laid-off writing staff to get hired elsewhere before turning to his wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, saying, “Yours is the laugh that I want for the rest of my life.” Michael J. Fox received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his decades of Parkinson’s disease advocacy, telling the room, “Accepting Parkinson’s didn’t mean I had to surrender to it.” The In Memoriam segment included a tribute to Catherine O’Hara featuring former Schitt’s Creek co-stars Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy, and Dan Levy, alongside a tribute to Rob Reiner, and Reba McEntire and Sally Field performed together in memory of Dolly Parton. Mariska Hargitay also got a surprise assist from Taylor Swift, who popped up in a taped Law & Order: SVU sketch built around the host’s day job. Field, accepting her Television Movie award, briefly referenced the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger that Gamersuniverse covered in detail here, closing her speech with, “Our voices matter.”
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