Emmy nomination day sure wasn’t the pits for “The Pitt.” The hit HBO Max medical series —the incumbent Emmy drama winner — led all programs with a whopping 25 nominations, including outstanding drama and 13 acting nods (with star Noah Wyle up for lead actor). That was nearly double from last year’s 13 nominations for the show.
“The Pitt” was followed closely by another HBO Max smash, “Hacks,” which earned 24 nominations for its fifth season, the most ever for a comedy. (“Hacks” beat out the previous record holders, “The Bear” and “The Studio,” which both had 23.) Star Jean Smart is now in line to win her fifth Emmy for the show and her eighth overall, which would put her in a tie for the actress with the most Emmy acting wins in history.
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Also coming in strong was freshman “Widow’s Bay,” the Apple TV horror comedy that saw a surge of interest toward the end of Emmy FYC season, and earned 19 nods. Also at Apple TV, twisty drama newcomer “Pluribus” earned a strong 18 nominations. The top limited/anthology series in nom tallies was Netflix’s second installment of “Beef,” which landed 16 nominations.
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On the broadcast network side, the most noms went to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” with 11 nominations.
Overall, thanks to the success of “The Pitt,” “Hacks” and “DTF St. Louis” (13 nominations), HBO Max far and away led the platform pack this year, with approximately 122 nominations (down from 142 last year, which had been a new record for the Warner Bros. Discovery outlet).
NBC and Peacock are broadcasting this year’s Emmys, set to air live from L.A. Live’s Peacock Theatre on Monday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. (NBC moves the Emmys to Monday when it airs the kudocast, due to Sunday Night Football.) As the network just announced, this year’s Emmys will be hosted by “Law & Order: SVU” executive producer/star Mariska Hargitay — repping the first time a woman has hosted the show in 15 years.
Among this year’s major rule changes, the TV Academy has merged talk and scripted variety back into one “outstanding variety series” field, but with a big change: the number of nominations coming from both fields will be tracked based on the number of submissions for each format.
And also, as part of the rule change, the Academy has also decreed that the outstanding variety series category will now be an “area” award. Nominees in “area” award categories aren’t competing against each other — they’re all independently trying to get at least 90% of Emmy voters to say “yes” when asked, “Does this nominee merit an Emmy?” Any nominated show will win an Emmy if 90% of voters agree. That means, potentially several winners could come out of this year’s nominee roster.
Among other Emmy rules changes the TV Academy announced in January are a new name for the TV movie category, which will now be known as “outstanding movie.” Also, the org revealed AI guidelines, made changes to the short form, sound mixing and music categories and also expanded eligibility in the casting, costume and lighting, camera & technical arts categories.
This year, 555 programs were submitted across the 14 program categories, down 7.5% from last year’s 600 entrants. That included 110 dramas, 71 comedies, 31 limited/anthology series, 34 movies, 18 variety series and 45 reality competition shows.
Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay of Jesse Collins Entertainment are executive producers of the Emmy primetime telecast. The two Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies, produced by Bob Bain Productions in association with the Television Academy, will take place Saturday, Sept. 5, and Sunday, Sept. 6.
Here are the nominees in major categories for the 78th Emmy Awards, which includes eligible shows that ran from June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026.
Drama Series
“The Diplomat” (Netflix)
“The Gilded Age” (HBO Max)
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (HBO Max)
“Paradise” (Hulu)
“The Pitt” (HBO Max)
“Pluribus” (Apple TV)
“Slow Horses” (Apple TV)
“Your Friends and Neighbors” (Apple TV)
Comedy Series
“Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
“The Bear” (FX)
“Hacks” (HBO Max)
“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” (Apple TV)
“Nobody Wants This” (Netflix)
“Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
“Shrinking” (Apple TV)
“Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)
Limited or Anthology Series
“All Her Fault” (Peacock)
“The Beast in Me” (Netflix)
“Beef” (Netflix)
“DTF St. Louis” (HBO Max)
“Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette” (FX)
Reality Competition Program
“Dancing With the Stars” (ABC)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (MTV)
“Survivor” (CBS)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
“The Traitors” (Peacock)
Outstanding Variety Series
“The Daily Show” (Comedy Central)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC)
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO Max)
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (CBS)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
Lead Actor in a Drama Series
Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”
Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
Mark Ruffalo, “Task”
Rufus Sewell, “The Diplomat”
Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”
Lead Actress in a Drama Series
Carrie Coon, “The Gilded Age”
Chase Infiniti, “The Testaments”
Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus”
Zendaya, “Euphoria”
Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, “Wonder Man”
Steve Carell, “Rooster”
Matthew Rhys, “Widow’s Bay”
Jason Segel, “Shrinking”
Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”
Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
Elle Fanning, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”
Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback”
Jean Smart, “Hacks”
Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series
Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me”
Sally Field, “Remarkably Bright Creatures”
Carey Mulligan, “Beef”
Sarah Pidgeon, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette”
Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault”
Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series
Riz Ahmed, “Bait”
Jason Bateman, “Black Rabbit”
Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”
Oscar Isaac, “Beef”
Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me”
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Colman Domingo, “The Four Seasons”
Paul W. Downs, “Hacks”
Harrison Ford, “Shrinking”
Nick Offerman, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”
Stephen Root, “Widow’s Bay”
Michael Urie, “Shrinking”
Tayler James Williams, “Abbott Elementary”
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Patrick Ball, “The Pitt”
Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”
Shawn Hatosy, “The Pitt”
Gerran Howell, “The Pitt”
Jack Lowden, “Slow Horses”
Tom Pelphrey, “Task”
Carlos-Manuel Vesga, “Pluribus”
Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie
Jason Bateman, “DTF St. Louis”
Richard Gadd, “Half Man”
David Harbour, “DTF St. Louis”
Richard Jenkins, “DTF St. Louis”
Charles Melton, “Beef”
Nick Offerman, “Death by Lightning”
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Dale Dickey, “Widow’s Bay”
Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”
Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”
Kate O’Flynn, “Widow’s Bay”
Michelle Pfeiffer, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”
Megan Stalter, “Hacks”
Jessica Williams, “Shrinking”
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Taylor Deardon, “The Pitt”
Fiona Dourif, “The Pitt”
Allison Janney, “The Diplomat”
Katherine LaNasa, “The Pitt”
Sepideh Moafi “The Pitt”
Julianne Nicholson, “Paradise”
Karolina Wydra, “Pluribus”
Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie
Linda Cardellini, “DTF St. Louis”
Dakota Fanning, “All Her Fault”
Laurie Metcalf, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”
Joy Sunday, “DTF St. Louis”
Youn Yuh-jung, “Beef”
Constance Zimmer, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy & Carolyn Bessette”