'The Pitt' leads with 25 Emmy nominations and 'Hacks' breaks record for
comedies with 24
[July 09, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Pitt” led all nominees with 25 in a dominant
sophomore season, while “Hacks” got a graduation party with a
record-setting 24 to lead all comedies in its final season as Emmy
nominations were announced Wednesday.
The totals give HBO Max the top spot for both drama and comedy, with
“Hacks” breaking the record for most nominations for a comedy series
held jointly by “The Studio” last year and “The Bear” in 2024. HBO Max
led all outlets with 122 overall nominations and has three shows up for
both best drama and best comedy series.
The nominees announced for 118 Primetime Emmy categories included the
late Rob Reiner for his guest acting on “The Bear,” Bad Bunny for his
Super Bowl halftime show, and newlywed Taylor Swift for “The Eras Tour -
The Final Show” concert special.
‘Hacks’ gets a special send-off and ‘The Pitt’ grows up
Emmy voters love a departing show, and have loved the
tension-between-comedy-generations “Hacks” since its first season,
allowing it to run up the numbers as a fifth-year senior. Star Jean
Smart has won best actress in a comedy for all four previous seasons,
and it would be stunning if she didn’t claim a fifth.
Her sidekick throughout the series Hannah Einbinder, who last year broke
through and won supporting actress in a comedy in her fourth nomination,
got a fifth. Her castmate, the show’s co-creator Paul W. Downs, got
three nominations, for acting, writing and producing.
The day-in-the-life emergency room series “The Pitt” was a rookie
upstart last year with big wins including best drama series, best actor
for Noah Wyle and best supporting actress for Katherine LaNasa.
Already a beloved veteran show, it owned this year’s acting categories.
Wyle was nominated again for best actor (along with nods for his
directing and producing) as was LaNasa. Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif and
Sepideh Moafi also got nominations, with “The Pitt” taking four of the
seven supporting actress spots and three supporting actor slots.
In an era when major Emmy contenders — like 2025’s top drama nominee
“Severance” — take years off between seasons, “The Pitt” came right back
for another round. And its claim on the acting categories was helped by
the between-seasons absence of “The White Lotus,” and its elite
ensembles.
A solid showing for Apple TV
Two new shows from Apple TV, the one-woman-against-the-hivemind drama
“Pluribus” and the horror comedy “Widow’s Bay,” both scored big in their
first seasons.
“Pluribus,” from “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul” creator Vince
Gilligan, got 18 nods. They included best actress in a drama for its
only lead cast member Rhea Seahorn, considered the favorite to win.
“Widow’s Bay” got 19, including best actor for star Matthew Rhys, who
was also nominated as a producer and for his acting in the limited
series “The Beast in Me.”
Two other Apple TV shows are also up for best comedy, “Margo’s Got Money
Troubles,” whose stars Elle Fanning and Michelle Pfeiffer got acting
nominations, and “Shrinking.”
The “Shrinking” nominations included best supporting actor in a comedy
for Harrison Ford. The force could be with Ford, with many
prognosticators saying this will be the year the Hollywood legend
finally wins an EGOT-tier award. His castmate Jason Segel is up for lead
actor.
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This image released by HBO shows Noah Wyle in a scene from "The
Pitt." (HBO via AP)
Big day for Bateman, Short and Brunson
Many close observers also think this will be the year the perennially
nominated Martin Short wins best actor in a comedy for “Only Murders in
the Building.” He was nominated for three trophies, including nods for
his producing of “Only Murders in the Building” and hosting “The Match
Game.” A Netflix documentary about him, “Marty, Life is Short,” also got
two nominations.
Jason Bateman got four nominations, for his performing and producing on
both “Black Rabbit” and “DTF St. Louis.”
ABCs “Abbott Elementary” remained a rare bright spot for the traditional
broadcast networks that have been marginalized in top categories by
cable and streaming shows. Creator, star and two-time Emmy winner Quinta
Brunson was nominated for three more, and the show got seven.
Reiner, Swift, Bunny and Fox are among the notable nominees
The vast range of Emmy categories brings unexpected stars and beloved
figures into the mix.
Rob Reiner, who was killed along with wife Michele Singer Reiner in
December, has a chance at his third Emmy. He was nominated for guest
actor for “The Bear,” about 50 years after winning two for his acting on
“All in the Family.”
Five-time Emmy winner Michael J. Fox, also got a nomination in the same
category for playing a patient with Parkinson’s disease, which the actor
was diagnosed with in the 1990s, on “Shrinking.”
The Super Bowl halftime show is nearly always nominated, but this year's
featuring Bad Bunny on NBC went above and beyond with nine nominations.
Swift's “Eras Tour” concert special got five nominations days after her
marriage to Travis Kelce, one of them for the singing superstar herself
as producer. She has one previous Emmy, for interactive media in 2015,
to go with her 14 Grammys.
And after a year of targeting from the Trump administration for
late-night hosts and their shows, the now-off-the-air “Late Show With
Stephen Colbert” got nine nominations and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” got six.
‘Beef’ and ‘Euphoria’ are back in the mix
Netflix’s “Beef” was tops in the limited or anthology series categories
with 16 nominations. “Beef” had a dominant first season in 2023, and the
anthology’s all-new grudge holders, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac and
Charles Melton, all got nominations.
“Euphoria” made its Emmys return after a long absence and got seven
nominations. Zendaya, who won best actress in a drama for the first two
seasons in 2020 and 2022, got a nod for the recently aired third season.
Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller announced the nominees at the
Television Academy in Los Angeles. The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards,
airing on NBC, will be held Sept. 14. Mariska Hargitay, the longtime
star of NBC's “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” will host and is a
double nominee for directing and producing the documentary “My Mom
Jayne.”
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