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Contained in the politics of The Pitt, a shock Traitors submission, and an Emmy run for Heather Homosexual.
Photograph-Illustration: Vulture; Pictures: Bravo, Euan Cherry/Peacock through Getty Pictures, Warrick Web page/HBO Max
When Emmy-nomination voting opened on June 11, the Emmys’ web site posted PDFs for each single Emmy class, outlining each present, performer, and craftsperson eligible to be voted for. It’s an exhaustive sequence of lists, supremely useful as a reminder of how a lot TV has been produced within the final yr and the place every thing is categorized. Inside these almost three dozen paperwork are a bunch of curious, stunning, and illuminating issues about this yr’s Emmy hopefuls. It’s only a matter of setting apart the higher a part of two days to dig them out. Which is what I’m right here for. The next are a handful of probably the most attention-grabbing and eye-opening revelations contained within the 2026 Emmys ballots.
One of many greatest questions this Emmy season is what number of The Pitt solid members will get appearing nominations. Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa, and Shawn Hatosy all gained trophies final yr, however they had been the one Pitt solid members who had been nominated. With one other season beneath its belt (and no Severance or The White Lotus to gobble up 11 supporting nominations between them), The Pitt is poised to obtain a bunch extra appearing nominations. The nominating poll lists 5 Pittsters in Supporting Actor and 7 extra in Supporting Actress. All seven supporting actresses are sequence regulars: defending champ LaNasa together with Shabana Azeez, Isa Briones, Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Supriya Ganesh, and newcomer Sepideh Moafi. On the Supporting Actor aspect, regulars Patrick Ball and Gerran Howell are joined by recurring performers Hatosy, Charles Baker, and Lucas Iverson.
Conspicuous by their absence are a handful of recurring performers, together with Amielynn Abellera, Kristin Villanueva, Jalen Thomas Brooks, and Brandon Mendez Homer, who play nurses Perla, Princess, Mateo, and Donnie, respectively. Laëtitia Hollard performed first-day-on-the-job nurse Emma Nolan and was a significant presence within the season, even getting attacked by a affected person at one level, however she’s absent as nicely. Notably curious is Irene Choi, who isn’t on the poll for her efficiency as med pupil Pleasure Kwon, despite the fact that her character was primarily on a parallel observe to Iverson as med pupil James Ogilvie. You can argue that it’s not going that any of those performers had been distinguished sufficient to have a sensible likelihood at nominations, however it may possibly’t assist however really feel a bit impolite to see members of The Pitt household left exterior the kudos circle.
So, is The Pitt simply overtly disrespecting sure solid members by leaving them off the poll? Most likely not. Performers get onto the Emmys poll in one in every of two methods: The present or community submits on their behalf, or they’ll submit themselves. The truth that each single essential solid member is on the poll means that HBO made positive all essential solid members had been submitted after which allowed recurring performers to submit themselves. A supply near the present confirmed to me that HBO “didn’t go very a lot deeper than sequence regulars.”
A part of that is technique. With seven sequence regulars within the Supporting Actress race and two extra in Supporting Actor, it doesn’t behoove HBO to load these classes up with recurring gamers who don’t realistically have a shot at a nomination and would solely serve to cannibalize the votes for the actors who do have a shot.
All people else within the solid, together with recurring solid members who play hospital workers in addition to guest-starring sufferers, had been free to submit themselves, which is probably going how Charles Baker and Lucas Iverson bought there. Baker, who performed homeless affected person John Digby, is in Supporting Actor reasonably than Visitor Actor as a result of he appeared in 12 of the season’s 15 episodes, and the Emmys require friends to look in fewer than half of a season’s episodes. The Pitt has in whole 11 visitor performers on the poll, together with Daytime Emmy winner Brittany Allen, who submitted on her personal behalf for enjoying a dying mom in seven episodes, juuust beneath the edge for needing to submit for Supporting Actress (and apparently she was sweating that she’d find yourself in an eighth).
It’s by no means occurred earlier than, however a reality-competition sequence would possibly find yourself as a nominee within the Excellent Writing for a Selection Sequence class. In what’s traditionally been the realm of late-night TV writing groups — Final Week Tonight With John Oliver has gained this award yearly for the previous decade — Peacock’s The Traitors sits as one in every of 11 sequence on the poll.
What precisely is The Traitors doing right here? Properly, for one factor, nothing’s stopping them. We reached out to TV Academy president Maury McIntyre, who informed us that reality-competition programming is absolutely eligible to undergo the Writing for a Selection Sequence class. “No petition is required to qualify for this class,” he mentioned, solely that “the person will need to have an eligible writing credit score.” Whereas the Emmys guidelines specify {that a} scripted selection sequence “is primarily scripted, or loosely scripted improv, and consisting of discrete scenes, satire, musical numbers, monologues, comedy stand-ups, sketches, and so forth. Scripted Selection might sometimes function unscripted parts, however the primary intent of the sequence is scripted or carried out leisure.” However the guidelines for the writing class particularly state that entries “might embody selection sequence, or actuality competitors programming sequence.”
And sure, clearly there’s writing carried out for just about each actuality competitors present. Hosts and judges have their scripted patter. Actually any individual is writing all these runway quips on RuPaul’s Drag Race. So kudos to the oldsters at Peacock for realizing that whomever wrote Alan Cumming’s “one thing depraved this fashion comes” narration and Black Ball theatrics are Emmy-worthy in their very own proper.
Their competitors apart from Final Week Tonight contains 2025 nominees The Every day Present and Saturday Night time Reside, plus sentimental favourite The Late Present With Stephen Colbert; community sequence Jimmy Kimmel Reside, The Tonight Present With Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night time With Seth Meyers; panel exhibits Actual Time With Invoice Maher and Have I Acquired Information for You; and YouTube’s Sizzling Ones. Three of these exhibits are NBC exhibits — SNL, The Tonight Present, and Late Night time — which places The Traitors within the place of attempting to leapfrog three fellow sequence from beneath the NBC Common umbrella.
The Writing for a Selection Sequence award isn’t episode-specific the way in which the drama and comedy writing awards are; the poll doesn’t identify the eligible writers, however it could be the present’s whole writing group who’d be nominated.
It’s now not information that the TV trade has been contracting because the strikes three years in the past, and so the entire variety of TV exhibits eligible for nominations is down for the third straight yr. Whereas the numbers of comedies on the poll stayed nearly degree with final yr (up very barely to 71 from 69), dramas dropped from 126 in 2025 to 110 this yr, and restricted/anthology sequence are all the way down to 31, from 44 final yr. The numbers are extra hanging in the event you return to the height yr of 2022: There are 40 p.c fewer comedies this yr than the 118 of 2022; dramas are down 36 p.c (from 171), and the variety of restricted/anthology sequence this yr is actually half of the 61 that had been eligible 4 years in the past.
Regardless of how far the entire variety of exhibits have fallen, Emmy guidelines nonetheless dictate that the Excellent Drama Sequence and Excellent Comedy Sequence classes nominate eight exhibits apiece. (One out of each 9 TV comedies shall be Emmy nominated.) The appearing classes aren’t so lucky. Emmy pointers state that the variety of nominees within the appearing classes shall be proportionate to the variety of appearing submissions in that class.
20–80 submissions = 5 nominees
81–160 submissions = six nominees
161–240 submissions = seven nominees
Greater than 240 submissions = eight nominees
Not one of the six main efficiency classes exceeded 80 submissions. The closest any class got here was Lead Actor in a Drama Sequence, with 78 names. So all six main classes shall be restricted to 5 nominees every. It’s the second yr in a row of 5 nominees in all main classes; earlier than final yr, that hadn’t occurred because the appearing classes expanded in 2009.
As for the supporting performers, there have been 185 submitted Supporting Comedy Actors, 149 Supporting Comedy Actresses, 228 Supporting Drama Actors, and 222 Supporting Drama Actresses. As soon as once more, the drama classes come near leaping over the subsequent threshold, however as a substitute all 4 classes may have seven nominees. With 84 submitted supporting actors within the Restricted/Anthology/Film class, and 66 supporting actresses, these two classes may have six nominees. Briefly:
Lead Actor in a Drama: 5 nominees
Lead Actress in a Drama: 5 nominees
Supporting Actor in a Drama: 7 nominees
Supporting Actress in a Drama: 7 nominees
Lead Actor in a Comedy: 5 nominees
Lead Actress in a Comedy: 5 nominees
Supporting Actor in a Comedy: 7 nominees
Supporting Actress in a Comedy: 7 nominees
Lead Actor in a Restricted/Anthology Sequence or Film: 5 nominees
Lead Actress in a Restricted/Anthology Sequence or Film: 5 nominees
Supporting Actor in a Restricted/Anthology Sequence or Film: 6 nominees
Supporting Actress in a Restricted/Anthology Sequence or Film: 6 nominees
Technique is essential with regards to submitting writing and directing contenders for Emmy consideration. Particular person writers and administrators (or groups of writers and administrators) are solely in a position to submit as soon as per sequence. So when, for instance, Lucia Aniello directs six of the ten Hacks episodes in its ultimate season, she’s solely in a position to submit one in every of them. However on high of that, many sequence determine to submit just one episode per class to maintain from cannibalizing their very own vote totals.
This yr, the highest comedies largely caught to submitting one episode per class, whereas the highest dramas went all out with a number of selects. Hacks submitted solely its sequence finale episode (titled “Hacks,” in truth) for Aniello’s directing and Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky’s writing. Widow’s Bay additionally went with the streamlined strategy, submitting solely its season premiere, written by Katie Dippold and directed by Hiro Murai. Michael Patrick King directed each episode of The Comeback, and he and Lisa Kudrow wrote each episode, in order that they had been restricted to at least one episode per class; “Valerie Does It All” (the one the place Valerie has to scramble to get a brand new script after the AI bot goes wonky) is the writing submission, whereas “Valerie Faces Actuality” (the season’s greatest episode, the place Valerie obliterates that twink costume designer after which mourns Mickey) is the directing submission.
The Bear submitted three episodes in writing, together with the just lately launched bonus episode “Gary,” written by Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Jon Bernthal. “Worms,” the Sydney-specific episode, written by Ayo Edebiri and Lionel Boyce and directed by Janicza Bravo was submitted for each writing and directing.
Within the drama classes, the 2 high contenders each submitted large. The Pitt stored it to solely two episodes within the writing class: “12:00 P.M.” (written by Valerie Chu), the place beloved affected person Louie dies and is memorialized, and “1:00 P.M.” (written by Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman and R. Scott Gemmill), the place nurses Dana and Emma acquire proof for a rape package from a sexual-assault sufferer. In the meantime, Apple TV’s Pluribus submitted seven of the season’s 9 episodes for writing consideration and sure solely didn’t submit the opposite two as a result of writers Vince Gilligan, Alison Tatlock, and Gordon Smith had been already submitted for different episodes. (Pluribus seems to have an enormous writing workers.) Within the directing class, each The Pitt and Pluribus went equally ham, submitting six episodes apiece. The Directing for a Drama Sequence has nominated a number of episodes from a minimum of one sequence in ten of the final 11 years (final yr, each The Pitt and Severance bought double nominations), so loading up on this class doesn’t seem to be a foul thought for the front-runners.
Within the Restricted/Anthology Sequence classes, the principles could make for an imbalanced competitors. If a restricted sequence has the identical author and/or director for your entire run, that author or director can submit your entire sequence in toto. Final yr, Adolescence gained the writing and directing classes after submitting the complete sequence to the poll. This yr, that’s what HBO is doing for Half Man (written by Richard Gadd) and DTF: St. Louis (written and directed by Steven Conrad). In contrast, exhibits like Beef and Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette function a number of writers and administrators and so wanted to determine which episodes to submit.
Beef sequence creator Lee Sung Jin is a credited author on each episode (with co-writers), so he can solely be submitted for the writing award as soon as. On this case, it was for the season premiere, “All of the Issues We’re By no means Going to Have.” Three Beef episodes are on the poll for steering: “Oh, the Consolation, the Inexpressible Consolation” (the hospital episode), “These Blue Remembered Hills” (the one the place Oscar Isaac journeys on bufo), and “It Will Keep This Approach and You Will Obey” (the finale).
In the meantime, Love Story submitted a number of episodes in each writing and directing. The pilot episode, the marriage episode (“The Wedding ceremony,” written by Juli Weiner and directed by Gillian Robespierre), and the one the place John and Carolyn have the combat in Battery Park (“Battery Park,” written by Kim Rosenstock and directed by Crystle Roberson Dorsey) had been submitted for each writing and directing, whereas the ultimate two episodes of the sequence — “Exit Technique” and “Search and Restoration” — had been additionally submitted for steering. (They had been directed by Jesse Peretz and Anthony Hemingway, respectively.)
Widow’s Bay is on the Emmys nomination poll a grand whole of 27 instances in 19 classes, however regardless of how issues shake out for the Apple TV sequence on nomination day (the Emmys getting Jeff Hiller to co-present the nominations is an effective omen) there shall be alternatives for some residual Emmys love subsequent yr. For the reason that final three episodes of its first season aired after the eligibility window of Could 31, Widow’s Bay shall be eligible for episode-specific awards subsequent yr for simply these three episodes. This contains writing, directing, and guest-acting awards.
This quirk of the Emmys guidelines has introduced itself a number of instances lately. On the 2019 Emmys, The Handmaid’s Story picked up 11 nominations and three wins in classes like writing, directing, cinematography, costumes, music, enhancing, and visitor appearing (Bradley Whitford and Cherry Jones swept the drama visitor awards) for a season that had half-aired the yr earlier than. HBO Max’s The Different Two was nominated in Writing for a Comedy sequence in 2023 and 2024 for episodes from the identical season. So even when Widow’s Bay doesn’t return for its just-announced second season till after subsequent Could, Emmys will nonetheless be on the desk.
It’s relegated to the Artistic Arts Emmys, however yearly I secretly hope the Emmy telecast producers will understand the gold mine they’ve in a class stuffed with songs and bump it as much as the primary present. Final yr’s nominees included the Witches Highway tune from Agatha All Alongside, the Adam Sandler tune from SNL 50, Kristen Wiig’s tune from the documentary Will & Harper, and “We Are the Ghor” from Andor. (Someway these all misplaced to the MAGA Christmas tune from The Boys however no matter.)
This yr’s poll is filled with enjoyable choices for unique songs, together with:
• “Cookin’ It Up,” Brina’s clapback tune to her rival Jynnysyz on The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins
• “Want That You Have been Me,” Beanie Feldstein’s Sabrina Carpenter sound-alike tune from Solely Murders within the Constructing (co-written by American Idol’s David Archuleta)
• “My Room,” Olivia Rodrigo’s tune about residing in an ideal bed room in an exhibit on a bug planet from Saturday Night time Reside
• “The Useless Dance,” a tune that Girl Gaga wrote for the second season of Wednesday
• Chris Fleming’s “Haunted Home” tune from the tip of his HBO Max particular, Chris Fleming: Reside on the Palace.
My comfortable spot for Idols of yore has me actually pulling for the Solely Murders tune, which actually is an uncanny facsimile of “Espresso.” However I’m additionally a “vote Reggie Dinkins in all classes” activist, so I’m pulling for that one too.
In an tv age the place style appears more and more like a suggestion reasonably than a hard-and-fast rule, the Emmys are sometimes the lone arbiter of whether or not a present is actually a drama or a comedy. This yr’s poll got here to some eyebrow-raising conclusions.
All’s Honest, Hulu’s Ryan Murphy–produced lady-lawyer present starring Sarah Paulson, Kim Kardashian, Glenn Shut, and a complete bunch of different actresses who deserve higher, was declared to be a comedy. This even supposing all episodes ranged from 44–59 minutes and was categorized as a authorized drama when Murphy and Kardashian’s partnership was first introduced.
On the flip aspect, HBO’s A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was categorized as a drama, regardless of 30-ish-minute episodes and creator Ira Parker repeatedly speaking about how the present is a comedy.
Seemingly in an effort to make the flailing “superhero TV present” subgenre really feel extra simply digestible, this yr featured a number of Marvel- and DC-branded exhibits skirting the road between comedy and drama. Per the Emmys, HBO Max’s John Cena–starring DC sequence, Peacemaker, is a comedy as are Disney Plus’s Marvel Man and Prime Video’s Spider-Noir. Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Once more is taken into account a drama, nevertheless. Additionally Gen-V, the canceled spinoff of The Boys, has been deemed a comedy whereas The Boys stays a drama.
That is one other Artistic Arts class that may be very enjoyable to see on the primary telecast. For one factor, it’s wildly star-studded, that includes Oscar winners like George Clooney (for Ken Burns’s Henry David Thoreau), Jodie Foster (Breakdown: 1975), Tom Hanks (World Conflict II With Tom Hanks), Kevin Costner (Kevin Costner’s the West), Julianne Moore (The New Yorker at 100), Octavia Spencer (Misplaced Girls of Alaska), and Kate Winslet (Discovering Concord: A King’s Go to). They make up one-third of the entire poll.
Even higher, although, is that every one of these A-list names will seemingly be dwarfed by the titans of this class, like Sir David Attenborough, a nine-time nominee and three-time winner, who this yr is on the poll for 3 completely different exhibits: the BBC America sequence Kingdom, the Nationwide Geographic/Disney Plus movie Ocean With David Attenborough, and the Netflix movie A Gorilla Story: Informed by David Attenborough.
There’s additionally 2015 winner Peter Coyote, who’s on the poll for doing what God put him on this earth to do: narrate a Ken Burns documentary sequence (on this case The American Revolution). Talking of doing what God put you on the earth to do, Liev Schreiber is on the poll for narrating a sports activities documentary, the HBO Max bowling sequence Born to Bowl.
And if that’s not sufficient, Werner Herzog is on the poll for offering his inimitable narration to his personal movie, the Nationwide Geographic/Disney Plus launch Ghost Elephants. The Emmys’ producers passing up on even the slightest risk of a Werner Herzog acceptance speech is sheer lunacy.
Whereas most of those nominations aren’t prone to come to go, it’s price noting that Colman Domingo is eligible for steering an episode of The 4 Seasons, whereas Jason Bateman may choose up his third profession Emmy nom for steering if he’s nominated for Black Rabbit.
Hustlers director Lorene Scafaria is on the poll for steering the “Recreation Night time” episode of I Love LA.
Along with directing the Ayo Edebiri showcase on The Bear, Janicza Bravo can be eligible for steering the “One Wedding ceremony and a Intercourse Pest” episode of Too A lot.
Destin Daniel Cretton, director of subsequent’s months Marvel tentpole Spider-Man: Model New Day, is on the Emmys poll for steering the “Matinee” episode of Marvel Man. In the meantime, Toy Story 5 co-director Andrew Stanton is on the Emmy poll for his Hulu-released anthology movie, Within the Blink of an Eye.
Horror director Ti West (Pearl; Maxxxine) is on the poll for steering the Poker Face episode “The Day of the Iguana” however not for steering the Widow’s Bay flashback episode “Our Historical past.”
And in maybe the least stunning however nonetheless humorous information of all, Zach Braff is on the Directing for a Comedy Sequence poll 3 times, as soon as every for the Invoice Lawrence trifecta Scrubs, Shrinking, and Rooster. Solely prolific TV director Jesse Peretz is on the poll for as many exhibits, although his are a much more eclectic unfold of comedy No person Desires This, drama The Summer time I Turned Fairly, and restricted sequence Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette.
The TV trade at massive could also be contracting, however we’re in a increase period for well-known folks internet hosting travelogues, and that’s nowhere extra evident than on the Emmys poll for Excellent Hosted Nonfiction Sequence or Particular. All people desires to be Stanley Tucci, whose Tucci in Italy is without doubt one of the 23 exhibits eligible for nomination on this class. Eva Longoria explored her Francophilia within the CNN sequence Eva Longoria: Looking for France. Eugene Levy and Phil Rosenthal proceed their quests to broaden their North American horizons on Apple TV’s The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy and Netflix’s Someone Feed Phil, respectively. Tiffany Haddish is on the poll for the Peacock unique Tiffany Haddish Goes Off, the place she embarks on a women journey to Africa.
Different fame-os have nonfiction sequence or specials the place they discover much less geographically or culinary areas. Kevin Costner introduced the story of the primary Christmas within the Hulu particular Kevin Costner Presents: The First Christmas. Will Smith traversed the globe for 100 days and did a complete bunch of adventure-quest stuff on the Disney Plus/Nationwide Geographic sequence Pole to Pole With Will Smith. Henry Winkler is on the poll for reminiscing concerning the days when asbestos was in every thing on the Historical past Channel’s Hazardous Historical past With Henry Winkler. And all eyes within the Bravoverse shall be on Actual Housewives of Salt Lake Metropolis’s Heather Homosexual to see if her sequence Surviving Mormonism With Heather Homosexual will get a nomination.
Final yr’s winner, Conan O’Brien Should Go, wasn’t eligible since its third season hasn’t but materialized.
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