2026 Emmy Nominations Begin With Variety and Reality Categories as Full List Arrives Later This Morning

The nominations for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards began rolling out Wednesday morning, with the Television Academy revealing two categories early on NBC's "Today" show before the full slate of nominees was set to be announced later in the morning from the academy's Saban Media Center.

The first two categories unveiled, Outstanding Reality Competition Program and Outstanding Variety Series, offered an early glimpse into this year's field. The reality competition nominees are "Dancing With the Stars," "RuPaul's Drag Race," "Survivor," "Top Chef" and "The Traitors." The "Dancing With the Stars" nomination marks the first time the ABC series has been recognized in the category since 2016. The variety series nominees are "The Daily Show," "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver," "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" and "Saturday Night Live." Notably, "The Late Show" earned its nomination despite having been canceled by CBS.

The variety series category itself reflects a significant rules change implemented by the Television Academy this year. The academy merged its previous best scripted variety series and best talk series categories into a single, revived Outstanding Variety Series category. As part of that restructuring, "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver," a perpetual winner in its prior category, now competes directly against long-running sketch series "Saturday Night Live" and late-night talk shows hosted by Kimmel and Colbert, setting up what industry observers have described as one of the more unpredictable races of this year's ceremony given the shift in competitive dynamics.

The remainder of this year's nominations were scheduled to be revealed starting at 8:20 a.m. Pacific time, with actors and recent Emmy winners Liza Colón-Zayas and Jeff Hiller announcing the nominees alongside Television Academy chair Cris Abrego. The full ceremony was set to be livestreamed beginning at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. Colón-Zayas won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her role in "The Bear" in 2024, while Hiller won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy for "Somebody Somewhere" in 2025.

This year's nominations cover eligible programming that aired between June 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026. Unlike previous years, in which nominees were sometimes revealed in two separate batches roughly a week apart, the Television Academy opted to announce all of this year's nominees in a single ceremony on July 8, a change the organization said was designed to better accommodate promotional campaign schedules for shows and performers hoping for Emmy recognition.

Ahead of the official announcement, awards prognosticators had offered detailed predictions for how this year's field might shake out across the major drama, comedy and limited series categories. In the drama race, "The Pitt," HBO Max's medical drama and last year's reigning Outstanding Drama Series winner, was widely projected to remain a top contender as it seeks to repeat its 2025 victory. The show faces competition from newer entries including Apple TV's dystopian sci-fi drama "Pluribus" and "Task," alongside established favorites such as "Slow Horses," "Stranger Things" and "The Diplomat." According to predictions from Variety, "Pluribus" was projected to lead all programs with as many as 22 total nominations, narrowly ahead of "The Pitt" at 21, reflecting a potentially significant expansion for both shows compared with their previous awards performances.

The comedy category appeared considerably more open heading into nomination morning, given that last year's top winner, "The Studio," has not yet released a second season and was therefore ineligible for this year's awards. Two shows emerged as likely frontrunners in predictions: "Hacks," a previous Outstanding Comedy Series winner that recently aired its fifth and final season, and "Widow's Bay," the breakout Apple TV+ series that just wrapped its celebrated first season. Predictions suggested "Hacks" could earn as many as 18 nominations for its final season, a total that would surpass "Schitt's Creek's" 2020 record for the most nominations earned by a comedy series in its concluding season. "Widow's Bay" was similarly projected for around 18 nominations, including acting bids for stars Matthew Rhys and breakout performer Kate O'Flynn. Other likely comedy contenders included "The Bear," "Only Murders in the Building," "Shrinking" and "Abbott Elementary."

In the limited series category, the second season of Lee Sung Jin's anthology series "Beef" was expected to draw strong consideration, alongside Ryan Murphy's latest project, "Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette," which was projected to earn as many as 19 nominations, including acting bids for stars Sarah Pidgeon and Alessandro Nivola. Other limited series expected to factor into this year's field included "DTF St. Louis," "Half Man," "The Beast in Me" and "All Her Fault."

Beyond individual show and performer predictions, the competition between major studios and streaming platforms has also become a significant subplot of Emmy nomination season in recent years. Predictions ahead of Wednesday's announcement suggested Netflix could lead all distributors with as many as 124 total nominations, surpassing its 120 nominations from the previous year, while HBO Max, which set a personal best of 142 nominations in 2025, was projected to settle closer to 108 nominations this year.

Beyond the competitive categories, the Television Academy also announced several rules changes for this year's awards in January, including a new "outstanding movie" designation replacing the previous television movie category, updated artificial intelligence guidelines governing eligibility, and expanded eligibility criteria within the casting, costume, lighting, camera and technical arts categories.

This year's Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony is scheduled to air live on NBC and Peacock from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Monday, September 14, at 8 p.m. Eastern time, shifted from the traditional Sunday broadcast slot due to an NFL game airing on NBC that weekend. The ceremony will be hosted by longtime "Law & Order: SVU" star Mariska Hargitay, who is also eligible for a nomination this year in connection with her HBO documentary "My Mom Jayne," about her mother, actress Jayne Mansfield. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which distribute the majority of the ceremony's trophies, are scheduled to take place the weekend prior, on Saturday, September 5, and Sunday, September 6.

With the full nominations list set to be revealed later Wednesday morning, this year's Emmy race appears poised to feature a genuinely competitive field across drama, comedy and limited series categories, setting the stage for what awards observers have described as one of the more unpredictable nomination mornings in recent years.