Matthew Rhys Won Two Lead Acting Emmys. Nobody Had Ever Done That.

'Widow's Bay' took outstanding comedy series and five more awards at the downtown Los Angeles ceremony.

Matthew Rhys won lead acting Emmys in two separate categories on the same night, a first in the show's history. The 2026 Primetime Emmy Awards were handed out Monday, September 14, 2026, at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles. NPR's Linda Holmes tallied the winners for LAist.

The heaviest haul of the night went to Widow's Bay, the Apple TV horror-mystery-comedy. It won six awards, starting with outstanding comedy series. Rhys took lead actor. Kate O'Flynn won supporting actress and Stephen Root supporting actor. Katie Dippold won the writing award, Hiro Murai the directing award. The comedy series field it beat also held Abbott Elementary, The Bear and Only Murders in the Building.

There was one major comedy award it didn't take, and it had no eligible nominee in it. Lead actress went to Jean Smart for Hacks. That's her fifth win in the category, one for every year she was eligible, on a show that has now finished its run.

Drama went the other way. The Pitt won outstanding drama series, and Noah Wyle repeated last year's lead actor win. The rest scattered. Rhea Seehorn took lead actress for Pluribus. Allison Janney won supporting actress for The Diplomat, and Tom Pelphrey supporting actor for Task. Vince Gilligan won the drama writing award for Pluribus, Saul Metzstein the directing award for Slow Horses.

Seehorn's was a first Emmy. She'd been nominated twice in supporting for Better Call Saul without winning. In Pluribus, Gilligan's follow-up to that show, she plays a widowed novelist living through the end of humanity. She won on the first season.

Rhys's second trophy came from the limited series side, for lead actor in The Beast in Me opposite Claire Danes. He'd already won lead actor in a drama for The Americans in 2018. That puts him three for three across the lead categories. Sally Field won lead actress in a limited series or movie for Remarkably Bright Creatures.

The limited series prize itself went to DTF St. Louis. It also won supporting actress for Linda Cardellini and supporting actor for David Harbour, and both of those categories had multiple nominees from the same show, per the winners list.

Mariska Hargitay hosted, and by Holmes's account she worked for it: jokes about how long Law & Order: SVU has run, skits, competent awards patter from someone who isn't a comedian. Holmes called the opening number "corny and cringe," then wrote that it almost circled back around to endearing. She also wrote that the pacing ran out by the end, with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey turning up to fill time.

In the two categories nobody campaigns for and everybody watches, the results held. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won outstanding variety series, beating The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and Saturday Night Live. The Traitors won outstanding reality competition program for the second year running.

Source: laist.com, retrieved September 17, 2026.