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2026 Emmys Predictions in Every Category (Final)


Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety chief awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change in response to buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Mariska Hargitay

Michael Schwartz for Variety


Primetime Emmys Predictions Commentary All Categories (Updated: Aug. 29, 2026): “The tribe has spoken.”

For the first time in a while, the Emmy race feels genuinely quite settled in the drama race, while the comedy field has a legitimate insurgent, and the limited series category is anyone’s to lose. The ceremony could be a nail-biter. 

HBO Max’s medical drama and last year’s reigning drama champion “The Pitt” turned a real-time gimmick into the network’s defining series of the year. Apple TV’s horror hit “Widow’s Bay” bulldozed its way into the comedy conversation. At the same time, Netflix’s anthology series “Beef” returned to the fold to take on HBO’s murder-mystery “DTF St. Louis.” 

If the final predictions hold, the same year “Hacks” set the all-time comedy nomination record with 24 — surpassing the 23-nom mark “The Studio” tied with “The Bear” just last year — the Katie Dippold-created horror gem “Widow’s Bay” is projected to win an astounding 15 Emmys, including outstanding comedy series. That would make it the most awarded comedy series in a single year, breaking the record “The Studio” set only last year with 13.

So where does that leave “Hacks?” The fifth and final season of Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance is projected for a single win — a record-setting eighth acting Emmy for Smart — while losing everywhere else. But the margin is razor-thin, and it points at a not-so-great possible record that could be set. If Lisa Kudrow pulls off what many consider to be impossible and eeks out a lead comedy actress win for the final season of “The Comeback” — denying Smart in the one category “Hacks” is otherwise projected to take — and if the show is blanked across the Creative Arts categories as well, the beloved farewell would back into a brutal headline: the most Emmy losses in a single season in history, surpassing the 21 that “The Handmaid’s Tale” lost in 2021.

That shouldn’t bum out HBO Max too much, because the network is still projected to dominate the nights overall. “The Pitt” is expected to grow on its freshman tally of five to as many as seven, repeating in drama series and for Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa and casting.

The limited race looks tighter — HBO’s “DTF St. Louis” is most notably in play — but the second season of Netflix’s anthology “Beef” should squeak it out with six wins, helped by projected acting victories for Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan.

Thanks to a new “area award” format — voters now judge each nominee against an approval threshold rather than picking one winner — the variety series category can crown more than one show. That could hand a beloved farewell to Stephen Colbert, whose “Late Show” won its first Emmy only last year and signs off in 2026, while simultaneously delivering a long-denied first series trophy to Jimmy Kimmel after a year spent tangling with the president and the F.C.C. In this category, in this format, they don’t have to beat each other.

In other variety categories: “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny” is expected to become the most-awarded Super Bowl halftime show in Emmy history, surpassing the 2022 Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg/Eminem LVI show, which won three. It would also be the first Spanish-language program to win variety special (live) — and Bad Bunny’s first Emmy.

In variety special (pre-recorded), Taylor Swift is expected to win her first competitive Emmy — as a producer of her Disney+ “Eras Tour” special — even as her other awards ambitions play out well beyond television. Her “Toy Story 5″ song “I Knew It, I Knew You” is an early Oscar hopeful in the best original song race, while her album, “The Life of a Showgirl” will be seeking Grammy Awards consideration this cycle. Swift has technically been an Emmy winner since 2015, when “AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience” took the juried prize for original interactive program. But a pre-recorded win would be her first competitive Emmy, chipping the asterisk off an EGOT-aspiring résumé.

While CBS’ “Survivor,” coming off its landmark 50th season, looked like it could finally win its first statue for competition program, Peacock’s “The Traitors” appears poised to edge it out, though it’s close.

A handful of races remain in flux, which only adds pressure to an evening emceed by Emmy winner (and Variety cover star) Mariska Hargitay, likely to become the first person to hold Emmy wins for acting (thanks “Law and Order”) and documentary, if she wins either doc series or director for “My Mom Jayne.”

The Creative Arts ceremonies honoring the artisans, plus the Governors Gala, take place Sept. 5-6. The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards air Sept. 14 on NBC.

Courtesy Images

Final Predicted Emmy Wins by Series: “Widow’s Bay” (15); “The Pitt” (7); “Beef” (6); “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny” and “The Traitors” (5); “DTF St. Louis” (4); “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” “Ocean With David Attenborough,” “Pluribus,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Stranger Things,” “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show” and “Wednesday” (3); “The Beast in Me,” “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” “Bridgerton,” “The Gilded Age,” “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” “South Park,” “Spider-Noir,” “Task” and “Welcome to Wrexham” (2); “Hacks” (1)

Final Predicted Emmy Wins by Networks: HBO Max (28); Apple TV and Netflix (19); NBC (8); Peacock (6); ABC, FX and Prime Video (5); CBS, Comedy Central and National Geographic (4); Disney+ (3); Hulu (2)

How many Emmys each show COULD win: Top Series Leaderboard (range): “Widow’s Bay” (15-17); “Beef” (6-12); “The Pitt” (7-10); “Pluribus” (3-9); “Hacks” (1-8); “Saturday Night Live” and “Spider-Noir” (3-7 and 2-7); “DTF St. Louis” and “Stranger Things” (4-6 and 3-6); “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny” and “The Traitors” (5-5); “Survivor” and “Wednesday” (1-5 and 3-5); “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” “Ocean With David Attenborough” and “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show” (3-4); “The Beast in Me,” “The Gilded Age” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (2-4); “Love on the Spectrum” (1-4); “Bridgerton,” “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” “South Park” and “Task” (2-3)

How many Emmys each network COULD win: Netflix (19-48); HBO Max (28-46); Apple TV (19-30); NBC (8-15); Prime Video (5-12); CBS (4-10); ABC (5-10); FX (5-7); National Geographic (4-6); Disney+ (3-6); Hulu (2-6); Peacock (6-6); Comedy Central (3-4); PBS and MTV (1-2); YouTube (1-2)

*** = PREDICTED WINNER
(All predicted nominees listed below are in alphabetical order)



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