Emmy Awards 2026: Who’s Favored to Win Tonight and Why ‘Heated Rivalry’ Got Shut Out

Television’s biggest night is finally here, with the industry’s top shows and performers gathering to find out who takes home this year’s most coveted statuettes. The ceremony shifted from its usual Sunday slot to Monday this year to avoid competing with an NFL broadcast on NBC, giving the show a slightly different rhythm than fans are used to.

Mariska Hargitay, the Emmy-winning star of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,’ is hosting for the very first time, becoming the first woman to take on the role in fifteen years. The ceremony airs live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with ‘The Pitt’ entering the night as the nomination leader with 25 nods, followed closely by the final season of ‘Hacks’ with 24. Rounding out the top tier are newcomers ‘Widow’s Bay’ with 19 nominations, ‘Pluribus’ with 18, ‘Beef’ with 16, and ‘DTF St. Louis’ with 13.

Amid all that competition, one of the year’s most talked-about shows is notably absent from the ballot entirely. ‘Heated Rivalry,’ the hockey romance that built a passionate fanbase this year, received zero nominations, a fact that has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with eligibility rules. The show was produced and financed entirely by Canadian companies, which disqualifies it as a foreign production under the Primetime Emmys’ current requirements for domestic television.

There’s a small silver lining for fans upset about the shutout, though. Co-lead Connor Storrie still landed an Emmy nomination this year, just not for ‘Heated Rivalry’ itself. His guest hosting appearance on ‘Saturday Night Live’ earned him a nod in a completely separate category, giving the show’s biggest breakout star a presence at the ceremony even without his signature series in contention.

The outstanding drama series category carries the most weight of the night, and this year’s field is genuinely stacked. ‘The Pitt’ returns to defend its win from last year with a second season already racking up nominations across the board, facing competition from ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Slow Horses,’ ‘The Diplomat,’ ‘The Gilded Age,’ ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,’ ‘Paradise,’ and ‘Your Friends & Neighbors.’

The acting races tell a similarly competitive story. Among the nominated performers this year are Zendaya, Noah Wyle, Sarah Snook, and Colman Domingo, each representing shows that have generated significant buzz throughout the eligibility window. Elsewhere, the final seasons of both ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Stranger Things’ pulled in noticeably fewer nominations than many expected heading into the announcement, a reminder that even beloved long-running series aren’t guaranteed a strong showing in their farewell runs.

For ‘Hacks,’ this year’s 24 nominations set a new all-time record for a comedy series in its final season, surpassing the previous benchmark set by ‘The Bear’ and ‘The Studio’ the year before. That kind of late-run dominance puts the show in strong position heading into several major categories tonight, even as freshman contenders like ‘Widow’s Bay’ and ‘Pluribus’ continue building momentum of their own.

With so many first-time nominees mixed in among established favorites, tonight’s ceremony carries real unpredictability heading into the major categories. Whether ‘The Pitt’ can repeat its drama win or a newcomer manages to break through, this year’s Emmys look set to reward a genuinely broad cross-section of television’s best work, snubs and eligibility quirks included.

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