LOS ANGELES –
The Television Academy has announced the nominations for the 78th Emmy Awards, establishing the competitive field for the industry’s primary honors in television and streaming.
The nominations reflect the current distribution of content across linear broadcast and digital platforms, signaling institutional trends in audience reach and production value for the current eligibility cycle. As with all Primetime Emmys, the awards are administered under the rules and peer-judging procedures set by the Academy’s Board of Governors and the broader framework of the Academy’s governance bylaws and Emmy Awards rules, which operate in parallel to the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ separate remit for news, sports, and regional awards.
Mariska Hargitay will host the ceremony, which is scheduled to air live on NBC and stream on Peacock on Monday, Sept. 14, from the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The telecast will continue the long-standing partnership between the Television Academy and the U.S. broadcast networks, a relationship that has helped shape how the industry publicly recognizes artistic and technical achievement.
Comedy Series and Performance Nominations
In comedy, the Academy continued its recent practice of expanding slots in marquee races, with eight nominees competing for Outstanding Comedy Series: Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Shrinking, and Widow’s Bay. The mix underscores the ongoing shift toward streaming-first titles while keeping room for broadcast staples with strong network reach.
Lead acting nominations in the comedy category include:
- Lead Actress: Jean Smart (Hacks), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Elle Fanning (Margo’s Got Money Troubles), and Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback).
- Lead Actor: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Wonder Man), Steve Carell (Rooster), Matthew Rhys (Widow’s Bay), Jason Segel (Shrinking), and Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building).
Supporting performance nominations in comedy include Colman Domingo, Paul W. Downs, Harrison Ford, Nick Offerman, Stephen Root, Michael Urie, and Tayler James Williams for supporting actor, and Dale Dickey, Hannah Einbinder, Janelle James, Kate O’Flynn, Michelle Pfeiffer, Megan Stalter, and Jessica Williams for supporting actress.
Guest acting categories for comedy feature Michael J. Fox, Brett Goldstein, Hamish Linklater, Christopher McDonald, Rob Reiner, and Connor Storrie for actor, and Leslie Bibb, Jamie Lee Curtis, Betty Gilpin, Cherry Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Kaitlin Olson, and Lauren Weedman for actress. The robust guest categories highlight the continued reliance of streaming and cable comedies on high-profile recurring and one-off appearances to drive viewership and prestige.
Drama Series and Performance Nominations
The Outstanding Drama Series field reflects a balance of geopolitical thrillers, period pieces, and character-driven ensembles, with nominations for The Diplomat, The Gilded Age, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Paradise, The Pitt, Pluribus, Slow Horses, and Your Friends and Neighbors. Several of these titles, including The Diplomat and Slow Horses, lean into diplomacy, intelligence services, and statecraft as narrative engines, underscoring how prestige television increasingly mines public policy and security institutions for storylines.
Lead acting nominations in the drama category include:
- Lead Actress: Keri Russell (The Diplomat), Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), Chase Infiniti (The Testaments), Rhea Seehorn (Pluribus), and Zendaya (Euphoria).
- Lead Actor: Rufus Sewell (The Diplomat), Sterling K. Brown (Paradise), Gary Oldman (Slow Horses), Mark Ruffalo (Task), and Noah Wyle (The Pitt).
Supporting actor nominees are Patrick Ball, Billy Crudup, Shawn Hatosy, Gerran Howell, Jack Lowden, Tom Pelphrey, and Carlos-Manuel Vesga. Supporting actress nominees include Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Allison Janney, Katherine LaNasa, Sepideh Moafi, Julianne Nicholson, and Karolina Wydra.
Guest acting nominations for drama go to Colman Domingo, Ernest Harden Jr., Jeff Hiller, Jeff Kober, Jonathan Pryce, and Bradley Whitford for actor, and Brittany Allen, Tal Anderson, Tina Ivlev, Miriam Shor, Merritt Wever, and Shailene Woodley for actress.
Limited Series, Anthology, and Television Movies
The Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category, increasingly a showcase for high-end, short-run projects, includes All Her Fault, The Beast in Me, Beef, DTF St. Louis, and Love Story. The slate reflects the format’s growing role as a preferred vehicle for marquee talent and for stories that intersect with issues of justice, institutional failure, and social change.
Performance nominations for these series include:
- Lead Actor: Riz Ahmed (Bait), Jason Bateman (Black Rabbit), Charlie Hunnam (Monster: The Ed Gein Story), Oscar Isaac (Beef), and Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me).
- Lead Actress: Claire Danes (The Beast in Me), Sally Field (Remarkably Bright Creatures), Carey Mulligan (Beef), Sarah Pidgeon (Love Story), and Sarah Snook (All Her Fault).
- Supporting Actor: Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Richard Jenkins (DTF St. Louis), Richard Gadd (Half Man), Charles Melton (Beef), and Nick Offerman (Death by Lightning).
- Supporting Actress: Linda Cardellini and Joy Sunday (DTF St. Louis), Dakota Fanning (All Her Fault), Laurie Metcalf (Monster: The Ed Gein Story), Youn Yuh-jung (Beef), and Constance Zimmer (Love Story).
The Outstanding Television Movie category features Heads of State, Miss You, Love You, People We Meet on Vacation, Remarkably Bright Creatures, and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, signaling that long-form single titles remain a defined, if narrower, lane within the Academy’s classification system.
Variety and Reality Programming
In the late-night and sketch arena, the Television Academy nominated The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Saturday Night Live for Outstanding Variety Series. These shows occupy a space where entertainment, political satire, and public affairs frequently collide, and their continued recognition underscores the genre’s influence on public discourse and voter perceptions.
The Outstanding Reality Competition Program category includes Dancing With the Stars, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Survivor, Top Chef, and The Traitors. Reality franchises continue to deliver reliable audiences for both network and streaming platforms, a factor that weighs on corporate programming decisions as media companies recalibrate around profitability and regulatory scrutiny of consolidation under U.S. antitrust and media-ownership rules.
Writing and Directing Credits
On the creative front, the writing and directing races spotlight the showrunners, producers, and directors who shape the medium’s narrative and visual language.
Writing nominations for comedy include Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin (The Chair Company), Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow (The Comeback), Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky (Hacks), Anthony King (Jury Duty Presents Company Retreat), and Katie Dippold (Widow’s Bay).
Writing nominations for drama include Peter Ackerman and Debora Cahn (The Diplomat), Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman and R. Scott Gemmill (The Pitt), Valerie Chu (The Pitt), Vince Gilligan (Pluribus), Will Smith (Slow Horses), and Brad Ingelsby (Task). As scripted television continues to explore state institutions, diplomacy, and law enforcement as story backdrops, the writers’ branch is effectively curating which portrayals of power, accountability, and governance are elevated.
Directing nominations for comedy feature Randall Einhorn (Abbott Elementary), Christopher Storer (The Bear), Andrew DeYoung (The Chair Company), Lucia Aniello (Hacks), Mary Lou Belli (The Ms. Pat Show), and Hiro Murai (Widow’s Bay).
Directing nominations for drama include Salli Richardson Whitfield (The Gilded Age and Task), Hanelle M. Culpepper (Paradise), Noah Wyle (The Pitt), Vince Gilligan (Pluribus), and Saul Metzstein (Slow Horses).
Directing nominations for limited or anthology series go to Jake Schreier and Lee Sung Jin (Beef), Jason Bateman (Black Rabbit), and Steven Conrad (DTF St. Louis). These categories collectively reflect how visual storytelling choices influence public understanding of institutions ranging from local police departments to foreign ministries and intelligence agencies.
Institutional Process and Next Steps
The Emmys are administered by the Television Academy, a nonprofit membership organization whose governance structure, awards rules and peer-group voting procedures are set out in its official bylaws and Emmy Awards rules, publicly available through the Academy’s formal governance and rules documentation at Emmys.com. Those frameworks determine eligibility windows, category definitions, and how streaming, cable, and broadcast titles are treated for voting purposes-decisions that carry direct consequences for commissioning strategies, labor negotiations, and the visibility of diverse creators.
The Television Academy will unveil the full list of nominees, including craft and technical categories, in a presentation streamed live on Emmys.com on July 8 at 11:30 a.m. ET, ahead of final-round voting later in the summer and the September telecast.
