Emmy Awards 2026 highlights: From 'Widow's Bay' and Jean Smart's historic wins to heartfelt tributes
Widow's Bay and The Pitt cleaned up at the 2026 Emmy Awards, as expected. But there were a few surprises—like an appearance by Taylor Swift and Sally Field celebrating Canada.
Dolly Parton was honored by Reba McEntire, Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin mourned his late co-star Catherine O’Hara, and host Mariska Hargitay joked with Nicole Kidman.
Here are some of the highlights of the biggest night in television.
The host with the mostest
Hargitay kicked off the show with New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson in an exuberant and looney pre-taped bit that had her sing a version of I Love Rock ’n’ Roll by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, renamed “I Love TV Screens” as she flew from New York to Los Angeles.
The first-time Emmy host was then seen relaxed in bed with Hacks star Jean Smart, ate a burger in a nod to Beef, rode a horse, and drank bubble tea with Jennifer Coolidge.
On stage, she reveled in the fact that she was the first woman to host in 15 years. The star of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, entering its 28th season, also joked that she's never had to pronounce the word “finale” and even tried to swipe the script for Kidman’s kitschy AMC ad. Kidman responded with mock ire.
Hargitay said she got two pieces of advice: “No. 1, don’t do it, and No. 2, whatever you do, don’t go for sincerity,” she said. “I clearly ignored the first, so please join me as I ignore the second.”
“She crushed it,” said Amy Poehler, who took the stage after the opening.
Taylor Swift was there, kind of
In a pre-taped sketch, Swift played a rookie in the “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” office as the cops got a bit loony.
Hargitay’s Olivia Benson went through two large crime boards to make connections between Swift's songs and the Emmy-nominated shows to see if she'd attend the telecast. One of the detectives called it a “rabbit hole.”
“Now, in order to crack a Swifty case, you’ve got to think like a Swifty, because the Swifties think that everything is a clue to what she’ll do next,” Benson said.
“Why would she be showing up to the ceremony tonight? She’s probably going to be sitting at home playing with those cats she’s named after TV show characters,” Swift’s unnamed character scoffs.
Hargitay—as Benson—concludes: “Taylor Swift will not be at the Emmys.” Swift offers another option: “Maybe she’ll do one of those cool, pre-taped sketch things to support the host.”
The sketch ends with Hargitay posing with Swift—both glaring into the camera, very seriously—bookmarking Swift’s cat, named in tribute to Olivia Benson.
In reality, Swift was at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night, and sitting alongside Tom Cruise, to watch husband Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs open the NFL season against the Denver Broncos.
Widow's Bay breaks Emmys record
A Widow’s Bay wave slammed into the Emmy Awards as the Apple TV show set a single-season record for a comedy with 14 wins, including best comedy series and best actor for star Matthew Rhys, who personally took home three trophies.
“The celebrations will be long, varied, and I hope at times wild,” Rhys said backstage while holding two of his Emmys.
The Pitt won best drama series for the second straight year, and star Noah Wyle repeated as best actor in a drama, but the HBO Max emergency room drama won no other Emmys and underperformed its expectations.
Rhea Seehorn won best actress in a drama for Pluribus, and Jean Smart won her fifth best actress in a comedy award for the fifth and final season of Hacks.
Every other comedy award went to Widow's Bay, which unequivocally owned the night and broke the comedy series record set last year by The Studio when it won 13.
The Smart money was on Jean Smart
Smart was predicted to win her fifth straight Emmy for Hacks and did it early and with style. “What a ride this has been,” she said.
It’s her eighth trophy overall, which ties the all-time performer record shared by Cloris Leachman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Allison Janney, who also won her eighth. Smart becomes the first woman to win the best actress trophy for each season of a show’s run.
Smart, 75, who first got noticed in the CBS comedy Designing Women, won her first Emmys for guest appearances on Frasier and then another for a supporting role on Samantha Who.
On Monday, she kept a special thank you for the end—to Hacks creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky: “It all begins and ends with them,” she said.
They like Sally and rose to their feet
One of the night’s most popular winners was 79-year-old Field.
The entire Peacock Theater audience was on its feet, and their applause drowned out Fields’ first few words. It was the two-time Oscar winner’s fourth career Emmy and first since 2007.
She is the oldest Emmy winner in her category—lead actress in a limited or anthology series or TV movie for Netflix's Remarkably Bright Creatures.
“Wow, wow. This is not supposed to happen,” said Field. “I love this project from page one.”
Among those Field thanked—including the team that crafted her co-star, an octopus named Marcellus—she gave a shoutout to Canada, where the film was made and which is involved in a trade war with the US “Blessed Canada, our neighbors, our friends,” she said.
Field later returned to honor her Steel Magnolias co-star, Dolly Parton. “I adored her from Day One,” she said. “I am not the only one on earth who will love you forever.”
Dolly Parton, Catherine O'Hara mourned
The Emmys were the first major award show to air since Parton's death last month, and the Television Academy crafted a separate segment to say goodbye.
Field talked of Parton's bawdy sense of humor and her humanitarian impulse. McEntire, Parton’s longtime friend and fellow country music icon, then performed the Tennessee native's “Appalachian Memories.”
“I’ll keep looking to the Father / Keep my head above the water / Appalachian memories keep me strong,” McEntire sang. “I love you, Dolly,” she said in a coda.
Musician Noah Kahan performed Bridge Over Troubled Water during the show’s In Memoriam segment, which honored Parton, James Van Der Beek, Ted Turner, Eric Dane, and Diane Ladd, among others.
Schitt’s Creek alums Dan Levy and Annie Murphy and Home Alone star Culkin honored their late co-star Catherine O’Hara. “She was all our mom,” Culkin said.
‘Buffy’ turns 30
Just six months after the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot was scrapped, stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz reunited onstage to celebrate the show’s 30th anniversary.
After Boreanaz mused whether their characters, Buffy and Angel, would ever get together, Gellar had a sharp retort referencing the cancellation.
“Guess we’ll never find out!” Gellar said.
She also acknowledged it had been a tough two years for the show’s cast and crew, implicitly acknowledging the recent deaths of actors Anthony Head (Giles), Nicholas Brendon (Xavier), and Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn).
Past Emmy nights have been chock-full of reunions—The Golden Girls, Gilmore Girls, and Law & Order were just a few last year. This time, not so much. Other than Buffy, there was only one other—Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, and Jaclyn Smith teamed up for the 50th anniversary of Charlie’s Angels. They honored the late Farrah Fawcett.
One person dressed appropriately
Meg Stalter, a nominee for best supporting actress for Hacks, was dressed as an Emmy statuette, complete with wings and a coat of gold makeup. She even held up a sphere like the real trophy itself.
It was Stalter’s first time attending the Emmys as a nominee. She earned her first career nod for supporting actress in a comedy series for playing Kayla Schaeffer in the fifth and final season of Hacks.
She lost to Kate O’Flynn of Widow’s Bay.
