Emmy Awards 2026: Widow's Bay wins big, the night's surprises and snubs, and more

We love a cute couples moment on a red carpet, and there were a ton this year at the 2026 Emmys! From Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, to Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, we've got a full gallery here!

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The 2026 red carpet is actually a blue carpet this year! Take a look at all of the best looks in this incredible gallery our lifestyle team has been building...

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Remember, some of the big awards for the 2026 Emmys have already been handed out as the Television Academy moved several categories to what was formerly known as the Creative Arts Emmys, but now leads into the televised Emmys and is simply being called Night 1 and Night 2.

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• Widow's Bay leads early results with eight wins, including Betty Gilpin for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
  
  It also picked up casting, sound mixing, production design, cinematography, music supervision, music composition and sound editing.

• Emmy host Mariska Hargitay won two statuettes for the moving documentary My Mom Jayne that she directed.
  
  
• The late Rob Reiner received a posthumous award for a guest appearance on The Bear.
  
  
• DTF St Louis won both limited series supporting actor categories and swept the directing and writing races for series creator Steven Conrad.
  
  
• Shailene Woodley took home her first Emmy in the guest actress category for Paradise
  
  
• The Pitt's Ernest Harden Jr won his first Emmy at the age of 76 for his work as a guest actor as the fan-favorite character Louie

And while we're looking back, a reminder of the 2025 winners and best moments!

Leading the pack was the hit Netflix limited series Adolescence, which won six major awards, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. 

Taking home the Emmy for Outstanding Drama, The Pitt won three prizes, including Outstanding Supporting Actress for Katherine LaNasa and  Outstanding Lead Actor for Noah Wyle.

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"What a dream this has been," said Noah, who had been nominated five times previously for ER but never won.

Seth Rogen's The Studio took home four on the night, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Lead Actor in a Comedy for Seth, who himself won all four trophies as a producer, director, star and writer on the hit Apple TV+ show. "I’m legitimately embarrassed how happy this makes me," joked the Canadian star on accepting his fourth Emmy.

As the red carpet kicks off, take a look back at the 2025 fashion - Leighton Meester in Prada and Selena Gomez in custom LV were two of our favorites of the night! 

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2025 

It's not just an award talent can nab at the ceremony, though; there's also a $15,000 gift bag handed out to all nominees and presenters.

One of the more high-end products in the bag this year is a series of one-on-one visualization, meditation, and coaching sessions with Cynthia Occelli, a life strategist to high-achieving women, and worth $10,000.

Also available? A private consultation at Beverly Hills Rejuvenation Center, worth almost $2000, as well as $200 Motorola earbuds with Swarovski crystals & Bose-engineered sound, $195 Out East sunglasses, and luxury skincare from Danucera Cream Supreme.

See the full bag here.

Matthew Rhys, Sir David Attenborough, and HBO Max all made and broke Emmy nominations record this year.

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Returning shows The Pitt and Hacks dominated the 2026 nominations with 25 a-piece across all categories, while Widow's Bay led all freshman series with 19 nominations and Pluribus (from the man behind Breaking Bad) secured 18 nominations in the drama categories.

We've rounded up all the records broken here.

The full list of nominations can be found here, but there are a categories I'm keeping my eye on...

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Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy:

This seems like Jean Smart's to lose after a stellar final season of the award-winning Hacks, but I wouldn't rule out Lisa Kudrow for her comeback in The Comeback...

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy:

Again, this seems like Hannah Einbinder's to lose; her work in Hacks has been transformative, taking Ava from a whiny Gen Z comedy writer to a woman with depth and a more rounded understanding of the world. But Widow's Bay swept below-the-line categories at the earlier ceremonies for creative and production, and Betty Gilpin won for Guest Actress, so keep an eye out for Kate O'Flynn's name being called...

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Will Netflix go home empty-handed?

The streamer's hopes have been resting on the second season of Beef which is competing in the limited series/anthology categories, but DTF St Louis took home both Guest Actor awards the previous weekend, and may win big on Monday.

I hope you have your best black-tie 'fit, a glass of champagne or non-alocholic sparkling wate in hand, and a bingo card at the ready because the Emmys Awards have arrived!

Hacks set the record for most nominations in a single year in the Comedy category with 24 (the previous record was jointly held by The Studio (2025) and The Bear (2024) each with 23 nominations).

Meanwhile, The Pitt leads this year’s Drama category with 25 nominations; it also received an incredible 13 acting nods, with almost the entire cast nominated across lead, supporting, and guest categories.