2026 Emmy nominations: ‘The Pitt’ and ‘Hacks’ lead the pack

By JOHN KOBLIN

Last year, “The Pitt” pulled off a surprise best drama win at the Emmy Awards, besting shows with bigger budgets, stars and ratings.

This year, “The Pitt” will enter the Emmy Awards in September as a juggernaut.

The HBO Max medical series collected 25 Emmy nominations Wednesday, the most of any show and nearly double its haul from last year.

The show’s stars, Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa, winners from last year, were nominated again, along with six other actors from the show.

“The Pitt” is the favorite to take best drama honors again, but it will face stiff competition.

Apple TV rookie sci-fi drama “Pluribus” also had a big day, scoring 18 nominations. This tees up a second consecutive year that HBO Max and Apple TV will have a showdown for best drama. (Last year, Apple TV’s “Severance” competed against “The Pitt.”)

Apple TV and HBO Max also had plenty of other good news.

In the comedy categories, the final season for “Hacks” went out strong, scoring 24 nominations, a record for the category. “Hacks,” which streams on HBO Max, will compete against “Widow’s Bay,” the Apple TV horror-comedy that rode a wave of momentum just as Emmy voting opened in mid-June. “Widow’s Bay” earned 19 nominations.

Jean Smart landed yet another nomination for best actress in a comedy for her role in “Hacks,” putting her at the doorstep of history. If Smart wins, she will tie Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for the most acting Emmys won by a single performer. She will compete against Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Elle Fanning (“Margo’s Got Money Troubles”), Lisa Kudrow (“The Comeback”) and Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”).

In the limited categories, Netflix’s “Beef” scored 16 nominations, and HBO Max’s “DTF St. Louis” received 13.

The Television Academy unveiled nominations for the 78th Emmy Awards at the academy’s Los Angeles headquarters in an event hosted by Liza Colón-Zayas (“The Bear”) and Jeff Hiller (“Somebody Somewhere”). The primetime Emmys ceremony will be held Sept. 14, in a ceremony hosted by Mariska Hargitay, the longtime star of “Law & Order: SVU.”

HBO Max had another huge Emmy day, scoring 122 nominations, the most of any outlet. Netflix was in second with 111 nominations, and Apple TV earned 89, a new high for the tech giant.

Steve Carell (“Rooster”) and Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”), somewhat inexplicably still in search of their first Emmy acting wins, both earned nominations in outstanding actor in a comedy. They will face off against Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Wonder Man”), Jason Segel (“Shrinking”) and Matthew Rhys (“Widow’s Bay”). That was the first of two acting nominations Wednesday for Rhys, who was also nominated for outstanding actor in a limited series (“The Beast in Me”).

The lead actress in a limited series category is packed with stars and promises to be one of the most anticipated awards for September. Former Emmy winners Claire Danes (“The Beast in Me”), Sarah Snook (“All Her Fault”) and Sally Field (“Remarkably Bright Creatures”) will compete against Carey Mulligan (“Beef”) and Sarah Pidgeon (“Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette”).

Rhea Seehorn, the star of “Pluribus,” was nominated for best actress in a drama and will be gunning for her first Emmy win after two unsuccessful tries for her role in “Better Call Saul.” (The beloved AMC series notoriously never won an Emmy, despite a whopping 53 nominations.) She will have lots of competition, however. Zendaya, a two-time winner, was nominated again for the final season of “Euphoria.” Carrie Coon (“Gilded Age”), Chase Infiniti (“The Testaments”) and Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”) also earned nominations.

There were several notable snubs. Jeremy Allen White, a two-time winner for best actor in a comedy for his performance in “The Bear,” was shut out of the race Wednesday. “The Bear,” once an Emmy darling, has fallen out of favor with voters, and dropped to just eight nominations this year. The show earned 23 nominations just two years ago.

“Stranger Things” went out with a whimper, with Emmy voters delivering the final season a mere seven nominations. They also left it off the best drama list.

In the variety category, “Saturday Night Live” will be up against “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” as well as “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Daily Show” and the — now canceled — “Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which ended in May.

This will be one of the tightest races this year. Emmy voters gave Colbert a big win in 2025, so it’s an open question whether they want to anoint him once more. It’s possible they will support Kimmel’s show after so many in the industry rallied behind him when his show got suspended last year. Of course, Oliver, “The Daily Show” and “SNL” are also plenty used to being in the winners’ circle, so the race could tip in any direction.

The TikTok-fueled resurgence of “Dancing With the Stars” earned the long-running ABC series a nomination in the reality category for the first time in a decade. It will be up against a two-time winner, “The Traitors,” along with “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Survivor” and “Top Chef.”

There is some cautious optimism in Hollywood this year, after several recent films saw unexpectedly robust ticket sales. But the TV business continues to be locked in a contraction and a state of anxiety.

There were 212 series submitted for Emmy consideration in the drama, comedy, limited series and TV movie categories, a 7% drop compared with last year, representing a fourth consecutive year of declines. Compared with 2022, when television was thriving in its so-called Peak TV era, the number of series eligible for a top program award is down a staggering 39%.