‘Widow’s Bay’ breaks Emmys record with 14 wins including best comedy
series, 'Pitt' wins best drama
[September 15, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A “Widow’s Bay” wave slammed into the Emmy Awards on
Monday night 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." No actor had won an Emmy every year for a series that
lasted more than three seasons until Smart did it Monday.
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 ‘weird’ ‘Widow’s Bay' sweeps across categories
Along with best actor in a comedy, Rhys won best actor in a limited
series for “The Beast in Me,” becoming the first man to win two leading
actor categories in the same year, and he gets one of the best comedy
series trophies as an executive producer for "Widow's Bay."
The first-season series created by Katie Dippold leans hard into both
comedy and horror as it tells the story of a New England island
community, with Rhys as its mayor, reckoning with a centuries-old curse.
“Thank you, Apple, for letting us take this crazy, creative swing,"
Dippold said as she accepted the best comedy award. "They truly just let
us do this weird show.”
Apple TV solidified its status as the owner of the Emmy comedy
categories. Between “Widow's Bay,” “The Studio” and “Ted Lasso,” it has
won best comedy series four times in six seasons. The latter two shows
were between seasons and not eligible this year.
“Widow's Bay” also won for directing for Hiro Murai and for writing for
its creator Dippold, a first-time Emmy winner and first-time nominee who
was previously best known for a decade-old viral tweet showing her
awkwardly dressed as “The Babadook.”
“When I was sitting there in that costume,” Dippold said backstage after
the show, “I did not think that this moment would happen."
“Widow's Bay” had won eight Emmys in a previous ceremony before sweeping
all six of its categories Monday night. Stephen Root won best supporting
actor in a comedy series and Kate O’Flynn won best supporting actress.
‘The Pitt’ and ‘Hacks’ fail to run up numbers
“The Pitt” was the top drama nominee with 25 and “Hacks” was the top
comedy nominee with 24, but neither made much of a splash when it came
time to claim trophies.
Smart's was the only win for “Hacks” on Monday night.
“What a ride this has been,” an emotional Smart said after getting a
standing ovation.
The 75-year-old has won eight Emmys overall in a career that was already
more than respectable when she landed her defining role of Deborah
Vance, a brash stand-up comic pushing back against age, obscurity and
sexism in the HBO Max series.
And best drama and best actor were the only wins for “The Pitt,” though
it had won four at an earlier ceremony.
Wyle won for playing Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, a role that
brought him a major career revival after starring in “ER” in the 1990s.
“This is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and this is the only club I’ve ever
wanted to join," Wyle said in his acceptance.
Seehorn gets her first Emmy, Janney and Pelphrey beat ‘Pitt’
competition
Seehorn won her first Emmy for playing the lone central character on
Apple TV's “Pluribus.”
The 54-year-old had been nominated twice without winning for her
breakthrough role on “Better Call Saul,” a show from “Breaking Bad”
creator Vince Gilligan, who put Seehorn at the center of “Pluribus.”
Gilligan won his fifth career Emmy for his writing on the show.
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Matthew Rhys, center, and the team from "Widow's Bay" celebrates
winning the award for outstanding comedy series during the 78th Emmy
Awards on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los
Angeles. Matthew McConaughey, second right, and Mariska Hargitay
appear right of stage. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
 Allison Janney won best supporting
actress in a drama for “The Diplomat,” and Tom Pelphrey won
supporting actor in a drama for “Task,” both beating several
nominees from “The Pitt.”
“DTF St. Louis” won best limited series. Stars David Harbour and
Linda Cardellini both won for supporting acting at a previous
ceremony on Sept. 6 as the Television Academy moved several
categories off the main telecast to shorten the show. “DTF St.
Louis” won seven Emmys overall.
‘Widow’s Bay' gets rewarded for its elite cast
“Widow's Bay” brought a combination of younger, well-respected
unknowns and widely known and beloved veterans to work on the show.
It was the first Emmy for both O'Flynn and Root.
O’Flynn, a 40-year-old British actor whose previous acclaim came
mostly for her work in theater, plays Patricia Moyer, a city worker
and social outcast dealing with a demonic darkness on “Widow's Bay.”
“This is the role of a lifetime,” O’Flynn said from the stage. “This
is for all the Patricias out there.”
Root, one of the most ubiquitous character actors of the last few
decades, beat out Harrison Ford, who many thought would get his
first major competitive Hollywood award for his role on “Shrinking.”
“Thank you, sir, for all your many years of great, great, great
acting,” Root said to Ford during his acceptance.
Root, 74, is the oldest person to win the category.
Sally Field, 79, became the oldest woman to win best actress in a
limited or anthology series or TV movie for “Remarkably Bright
Creatures.”
Colbert wins after cancellation again
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," taken off the air by CBS, won
best variety series. It's one of six Emmys the show has won this
year after the show was cancelled for what the network said was
economic reasons while many believe it was his criticism of the
Trump administration.
“If you like the comedy tonight, my old writers wrote it,” Colbert
said.
Mariska Hargitay hosted the NBC telecast held at the traditional
Emmys home of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
“NBC is celebrating its 100th year, and I have been on ‘Law & Order:
SVU’ for all of them,” said Hargitay, a three-time Emmy winner who
has starred in the show for 27 seasons, during her opening
monologue.
Hargitay closed the show — which came in at a relatively lean three
hours with the shortened awards slate — with the famous “Law &
Order” gavel sound.
Michael J. Fox, a nominee for his work with Ford on “Shrinking,"
received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award.
Tearful tributes to Parton, O'Hara and Reiner
Field paid tribute to her “Steel Magnolias" co-star Dolly Parton,
who died last month, in a tribute during the telecast that also
included Reba McEntire.
There were also emotional tributes to Catherine O'Hara, who died in
March, and Rob Reiner, who was killed along with his wife, Michele
Singer Reiner, in their home in December.
Reiner, who won a posthumous Emmy at an earlier ceremony for best
guest actor in a comedy series for his role on “The Bear,” was
honored by his friend and “Bear” co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.
“He was generous, kind and funny as hell, and a friend to all,”
Curtis said. “And we all miss Rob and Michele and all those we lost
this year.”
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