‘Widow’s Bay’ breaks Emmys record with 14 wins including best comedy series, ‘Pitt’ wins best drama

Katie Dippold, in front, and the team from "Widow's Bay" accept the award for outstanding comedy series during the 78th Emmy Awards on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Woody Harrelson looks on from left. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

LOS ANGELES -- 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.

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“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 centre of “Pluribus.” Gilligan won his fifth career Emmy for his writing on the show.

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 theatre, 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.”

You can watch the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards live on CTV and Crave. Both CTV and Crave are a division of Bell Media, which is part of BCE Inc.

By Andrew Dalton