The 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards have crowned their winners.
The best of broadcast, cable and streaming television was celebrated Monday night at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay making history as the first woman in 15 years to host the Emmys.
The night’s biggest winner was Apple TV’s breakout horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay,” which took home 14 awards, making it the most-awarded comedy season in Emmy history.
“The Pitt” also claimed one of the evening’s top honors, winning Outstanding Drama Series for the second year in a row.
Fan-favorite “Hacks” earned Jean Smart her fifth straight lead actress Emmy, making her the first woman in the show’s history to win an award for every season of her series. Meanwhile, Matthew Rhys, who stars in “The Beast in Me” and “Widow’s Bay,” achieved a milestone of his own, becoming the only performer to win back-to-back lead actor Emmys in the same night.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” also celebrated a major victory, taking home Outstanding Variety Series. The win brought the show’s total to six awards for its final season following CBS’s controversial cancellation.
Before television’s biggest stars came together for Monday night’s annual ceremony, more than 100 awards were presented during the two-night Creative Arts Emmys held last weekend at the Peacock Theater.
Among the early honorees was Hargitay, who won two awards for directing HBO’s critically acclaimed documentary about her late mother, “My Mom Jayne.”
“The Traitors,” “DTF St. Louis” and the recently canceled “Spider-Noir” were also among the notable winners. The late Rob Reiner received a posthumous award for his guest role in FX’s “The Bear.”
The Emmys also presented the first-ever Legacy Award — given to iconic programs that have made a “profound and lasting impact” on audiences through the years — which went to the groundbreaking 1950s sitcom “I Love Lucy.”
HuffPost blogged the Emmy Awards Monday night. See all the biggest moments you might have missed below.
The Emmys Played It Safe This Year (Again) — And What It Left Out Is Concerning
There once was a time when Hollywood could both celebrate its biggest stars and offer them a space to freely speak truth to power, all on the same stage. These days, though, that’s an increasingly rare combination, as a troubling trend among the industry’s biggest institutions suggests that times have changed drastically.
Perhaps that shift was to be expected at Monday’s 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, where “Law & Order: SVU” star Mariska Hargitay took the hosting reins. For the first time in nearly two decades, the televised Emmys broke with tradition by turning to a non-comedian or comedic actor for hosting duties.
In an era of growing political pressure and corporate caution in Hollywood, the Television Academy’s decision to tap Hargitay felt less like a bold choice than a calculated effort to embrace the least-offensive option possible — and, in the process, sidestep the spontaneity that once gave the industry’s biggest nights their spark.
As the Television Academy surely knows, comedy has a tendency to push — and sometimes cross — boundaries, often stirring controversy in the process. That may be precisely what the Academy and NBC, which aired the ceremony live alongside Peacock, sought to avoid this year, opting for a more restrained show in which nothing would threaten to overshadow the evening’s awards or NBC’s 100th anniversary celebration.
Read more about how this year’s Emmys played it safe below:
‘Widow’s Bay’ Outstanding Comedy Series Win Sets A New Emmys Record
“Widow’s Bay” took home the biggest comedy award at this year’s Emmys — and made history in the process.
For the final category of the evening, Apple TV’s breakout hit closed out the ceremony by winning Outstanding Comedy Series, bringing the show’s total haul to 14 awards out of 19 whopping nominations.
“Widow’s Bay” now has the most awarded season in comedy history, breaking the record set by the freshman season of fellow Apple TV hit “The Studio” just last year. The series beat out “Abbott Elementary,” “Hacks,” “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” “Nobody Wants This,” “Only Murders in the Building” and “Shrinking” for the top honor.
Rob Reiner’s Posthumous Emmy Win Broke His Own Father’s Record
Rob Reiner got a sweet tribute at this year’s Emmy Awards. During the ceremony’s in memoriam segment, Jamie Lee Curtis — who starred alongside Reiner in Season 4 of FX’s “The Bear” — gave the Hollywood luminary his flowers as she pointed out a fact about his recent posthumous Emmy win for best guest actor in a comedy.
According to Curtis, Reiner’s latest win marked the longest gap between Emmys, coming 48 years after he won for starring as Michael “Meathead” Stivic in the iconic sitcom “All in the Family.” The record was previously held by Reiner’s father, comedian Carl Reiner, who went 37 years between his acting Emmy Awards.
Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were killed in their Brentwood home in December after being stabbed to death. Their son, Nick Reiner, was later charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with their deaths.
“The Bear” marked one of Rob Reiner’s final on-screen roles, along with an appearance in Larry David’s HBO series “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”
‘The Pitt’ Comes Out On Top Again With Another Win For Outstanding Drama Series
“The Pitt” just won its second consecutive award for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys. Creator R. Scott Gemmill accepted the show’s honor with over a dozen cast members behind him on stage, as he paid tribute to “the real-life heroes” of the emergency department that have inspired his hit series.
“We just want to shine a light on them,” he said in his speech. “Yes, their stories can be frustrating and heartbreaking, but they also can be so inspirational and healing.”
With back-to-back wins in its biggest category, “The Pitt” is riding high off the success of its first two seasons. Its final award of the night brought the show’s total Emmy wins this year to six, a small step up from last year’s haul.
Macaulay Culkin Honors Big Screen Mom Catherine O'Hara's Memory
Macaulay Culkin paid tribute to his “Home Alone” mom, Catherine O’Hara, at the Emmys with help from the actors who played her kids on “Schitt’s Creek.”
Culkin said O’Hara was “encouraging,” “warm” and “funny,” before saying the actor “wasn’t just a wife and mother to Bo and Matthew and Luke. She was my mom. She was our mama. And by extension, she’s all of our mama.”
Read more at Variety:
You'll Never Guess Who Makes A Cameo In This 'Law & Order' slash Taylor Swift Crossover
Taylor Swift got to make her “Law & Order: SVU” dreams come true in a surprise cameo at the 2026 Emmy Awards on Monday.
In the pre-recorded bit, host Mariska Hargitay proved how hard it could be to spot the difference between Swifties’ perpetual music theories and full-blown conspiracy brain.
Read more here:
Mariska Hargitay's Musical Emmys Opener Was A Recipe For Maximum Cringe
Mariska Hargitay’s opening number during Monday’s Emmy Awards had a few people singing her praises on social media... but others didn’t think the “Law & Order: SVU” star’s performance was that arresting.
Read more here:
Matthew Rhys Makes Emmys History With His Second Lead Actor Win In The Same Night
Matthew Rhys is on a roll. He won big at this year’s Emmy Awards, taking home yet another lead actor award tonight for his role in Apple TV’s hit horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay.” Between that and his limited series win for “The Beast in Me,” it’s a feat no other actor has ever accomplished in a single ceremony in all 78 years of the Emmys.
Rhys’ new pair of statuettes now join his 2018 Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series win for FX’s “The Americans,” making him the first male performer to win in all three lead acting categories.
Michael J. Fox Reveals Turning Point In His Parkinson's Journey In Emotional Emmys Speech
Michael J. Fox thanked the Hollywood community for having his back as he accepted the Bobe Hope Humanitarian Award at Monday night’s Emmy Awards.
During his speech, the “Back to the Future” star said his advocacy for others with Parkinson’s disease would not have happened if the entertainment industry wasn’t with him after he shared his own diagnosis.
“Initially I kept my Parkinson’s diagnosis a secret,” he recalled. “I worried it would affect my work and relationships with audiences. Would they laugh if they knew I was sick?”
“I was stunned by the support from all of you, so uplifted and I hadn’t lost what I do,” Fox went on. “They couldn’t take it away from me. And it’s because you stood up for me. I appreciate it.”
“I understood that accepting Parkinson’s didn’t mean I had to surrender to it,” he continued. “It just meant I had to do everything I could for everyone living with this disease.”
Fox was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at the age of 29, but didn’t go public about his condition until seven years later. In 2000, the star founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research to fund research for a cure for the nervous system disorder.
The Television Academy’s prestigious Bob Hope Humanitarian honor has previously been awarded to Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Sean Penn and power couple Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen.
Sally Field Takes A Swipe At Media Mergers — And Thanks 'Blessed Canada' — At Emmys
Sally Field was fired up at the Emmy Awards Monday night as she accepted the win for Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie. The “Remarkably Bright Creatures” star not only used her speech to thank “our friends” “blessed Canada,” where her Netflix movie was filmed — she also seemed to send a pointed message onstage about the pending merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
“I have been so grateful and so proud to be a part of this community, the arts, for 62 years or something,” Field said. “With art, we matter. Our voices matter. Our diversity, our unique storytelling matters. We can’t let those voices be silenced or compromised or merged.”
The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger has been the talk of Hollywood for months, as its legal battle drags on with state attorneys general fighting to block it with an antitrust lawsuit. Earlier this year, several Hollywood stars signed an open letter opposing Paramount’s takeover that stated, “This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it.”
Nicole Kidman Won't Let Mariska Hargitay Swipe Her Signature Bit For Emmys Monologue
Mariska Hargitay wasn’t afraid to step on Nicole Kidman’s toes while she opened the 78th Emmy Awards.
The “Law and Order: SVU” star, who is the first woman to host the awards in 15 years, kicked off the show on Monday with a song and dance before (playfully) trying to riff on Nicole Kidman’s iconic AMC ad.
Read more here:
Noah Wyle Takes Home Another Big Win For ‘The Pitt’
Dr. Robby is still a winner.
On Monday, Noah Wyle took home yet another Emmy award for starring in HBO Max’s “The Pitt,” which is currently filming its third season.
The Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series winner already had his mind on work as he delivered his acceptance speech and shouted out “all the men and women who work so hard on Stage 22 each and every day.”
“We’re going to be back there hitting it hard tomorrow morning, really early; the hard stuff,” Wyle added jokingly.
His hit medical drama is still up for major awards tonight, including Outstanding Drama Series.
Alan Cumming Uses ‘The Traitors’ Emmy Win To Urge Voter Registration: ‘The Time For Talk Is Over’
“The Traitors” took home another big win at the Emmys Monday night, with its third straight award for best reality competition program. However, host Alan Cumming used the occasion to call out some more important news. “Tomorrow is Voter Registration Day in this country,” he said onstage, “so please make sure you’re registered to vote because the time for talk is over.”
“It is now time to vote, America,” he urged at the close of his acceptance speech.
Jean Smart Has Never Lost A Comedy Emmy — And Her 'Hacks' Farewell Kept It That Way
Jean Smart just won her fifth Emmy for starring as the hilarious Deborah Vance in HBO Max’s “Hacks.”
Rhea Seehorn Wins Her First Emmy For ‘Pluribus’: ‘The Role Of A Lifetime’
Rhea Seehorn is finally an Emmy winner.
At last, after striking out on previous supporting nominations for “Better Call Saul,” Seehorn took home the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for starring in Apple TV’s breakout hit “Pluribus.”
A tearful Seehorn ran down a list of thank-yous during her acceptance speech Monday night, including one to “Pluribus” creator Vince Gilligan. For “giving me not only the role of a lifetime,” she said onstage, “but also for creating sets where we all get to collaborate and are actually made to feel safe to take risks, so that we can get better as artists.”
Matthew Rhys Wins Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Series For ‘The Beast In Me'
The actor took home his second Emmy win for starring in Netflix’s “The Beast in Me” alongside fellow nominee Claire Danes.
How Didn't Rhea Seehorn Lose Her Lunch At This Red Carpet Question?
Rhea Seehorn was blindsided by an absurdly unsavory question on the red carpet of Monday’s Emmy Awards.
While catching up with E! News correspondent Keltie Knight, the “Pluribus” actor was asked, “If you had to, do you think you could eat a human?”
Although the question wasn’t completely out of left field for the nominee (no spoilers!) she basically buckled in half before barking back, “No. No. No. I couldn’t. Could you?”
Emmys Are A Family Affair For Sisters Elle And Dakota Fanning
The Emmys were a family affair for actors and sisters Elle and Dakota Fanning.
Elle Fanning is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role in Apple TV+’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles.” Her older sister, Dakota, is nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her work in the Peacock TV miniseries “All Her Fault.”
‘This Is UGGGLYYYYY’: Shailene Woodley’s Bizarre Emmys Outfit Gets Roasted Online
Shailene Woodley may have won “Paradise” fans over with her Emmy-winning performance, but her Emmys outfit received less-than-stellar reviews.
Folks seemed a bit confused by the actor’s colorful look, which included sparkly gold pants, a blue V-neck top and long burgundy gloves worn past her elbows.
“Has Shailene Woodley lost her mind?! This is UGGGLYYYYY,” one user wrote on X.
See how others reacted on social media: