'Widow's Bay' dominates with 8 Emmys at early ceremony and 'The Pitt'
takes 4
[September 08, 2026]
By ANDREW DALTON
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Widow’s Bay” ran away with eight early Emmys for its
debut season Sunday at a ceremony eight days before the main awards show
and telecast, while “The Pitt” had a strong second-year showing with
four of its own and Rob Reiner posthumously won an acting Emmy nearly
nine months after his killing.
“DTF St. Louis” won big with six awards in the limited series
categories, with co-stars and veteran actors David Harbour and Linda
Cardellini both becoming first-time Emmy winners.
“Widow’s Bay,” the Apple TV horror comedy with Matthew Rhys as the mayor
of a small New England town dealing with a centuries-old curse, won
categories including cinematography, sound, music and production design.
Betty Gilpin won best guest actress in a comedy for her role on the
show, and read a rapid-fire comic poem as her acceptance speech. It
included the lines “our business is stupid, but actors are the bomb” and
“let’s all lean more toward Sam Shepard and less toward Sam Altman.”
‘The Pitt’ has strong second-year showing
HBO Max’s day-in-the-life medical series “The Pitt” — the year’s top
nominee with 25 and the reigning best drama winner for its first season
— had wins Sunday in categories including prosthetic makeup and best
guest actor in a drama for 73-year-old first-time nominee Ernest Harden
Jr.
Harden, who won for portraying the last days of Louie Cloverfield, the
emergency room’s constant presence and constantly struggling alcoholic
on “The Pitt,” wept when his name was called.
“I am just on cloud 25,” he said backstage at the Peacock Theater in Los
Angeles. “I’m not saying it’s a complete surprise because ‘The Pitt’ is
such a powerful show to come from, but just to get it in your hands is
unreal.”
Harden’s first speaking role was in the 1975 Robert Redford-Faye Dunaway
thriller “Three Days of the Condor” and he had a three-season role on
the sitcom “The Jeffersons” in the 1970s, but has acted for decades
without awards recognition.
Singer-songwriter Andrew Bird and Gavin Brivik won for original music
and lyrics for a song they wrote about the character.
“It's not a music-heavy show,” Bird said backstage. “But they gave us a
beautiful moment with a character that we love.”
Rebranding the Creative Arts Emmys and adding some star power
The Television Academy hands out well over 100 primetime Emmys, and most
of them are being presented this weekend in a pair of ceremonies. They
were previously known as the Creative Arts Emmys but have now been
rebranded as simply the first two nights of the 78th Emmy Awards.
The weekend's awards primarily go to behind-the-scenes crew members, but
they include the guest-acting awards that tend to go to bigger names.
And the shows' star power got a boost when five categories normally on
the main telecast were bumped to the earlier weekend, among them best
supporting actor in a limited series, won by Harbour in his third
nomination, and best supporting actress in a limited series, won by
Linda Cardellini in her fourth nomination in an elite TV career that
included roles on “Freaks and Geeks” and “Mad Men.”
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Ernest Harden Jr. poses in the press room with the award for
outstanding guest actor in a drama series for "The Pitt" during
night two of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026,
in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
“Thank you to everybody who along the way through the years helped me
get to this moment of a real dream come true,” Cardellini said from the
stage, through tears.
Rob Reiner gets a somber ovation
At a ceremony that otherwise moved at a blazing-fast clip with a breezy
mood, a long, thoughtful ovation came when Reiner was announced as best
guest actor in a comedy for his work on “The Bear.” Reiner's friend and
fellow “Bear” guest star Jamie Lee Curtis was among those in the crowd
paying him tribute.
Reiner was killed along with his wife Michele Singer Reiner in December,
and their son, who has pleaded not guilty, has been charged with
stabbing them to death. His win came about 50 years after winning two
Emmy Awards for his acting on “All in the Family.”
Saturday and Sunday's ceremonies will be edited together to air Sept. 12
on FXX and stream on Hulu the following day. The primetime Sept. 14
ceremony, also at the Peacock Theater and hosted by Mariska Hargitay,
will air live on NBC and stream live on Peacock.
Both “Widow's Bay" and “The Pitt” can add up to six more Emmys to their
totals on that final night.
“Pluribus," another Apple TV Emmy rookie from “Breaking Bad” creator
Vince Gilligan that could challenge “The Pitt” in the top drama
categories, won four trophies Sunday night including editing, production
design and sound mixing.
Shailene Woodley and a canceled ‘Spider-Noir’ are also winners
Shailene Woodley won best guest actress in a drama for her role on
“Paradise." It was her first Emmy.
“Spider-Noir,” the Nicolas Cage series which was canceled after one
season last week by Amazon Prime Video, won five Emmys including visual
effects and stunts.
Hargitay was among this weekend’s winners, getting two Emmys for the
documentary she directed about her mother, Jayne Mansfield, “My Mom
Jayne,” to go with the best actress in a drama Emmy she won in 2006 for
“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
And Bad Bunny won his first career Emmy Award for his Super Bowl
halftime show, which took seven trophies at the first of the weekend's
ceremonies on Saturday.
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