Matthew Rhys Makes Emmy History While Widow's Bay Sweeps the Comedy Categories

Published 17 September 2026. Words like "tonight" or "next week" refer to that date.

Matthew Rhys Makes History With Two Lead Acting Emmys in One Night

Matthew Rhys had the biggest night of anyone at the Emmys. As Variety put it in a headline I saw, he made Emmy history as the first person ever to win two lead acting Emmys in one night. He also became the first man to win all three best actor Emmys across all three categories. Tonight he took comedy and limited series, and in the past he already won drama for The Americans.

This felt very rewarding for anyone who has cheered him on for a long time and wondered why so few people seemed to recognize his greatness. I was there for Perry Mason, both seasons, and they were fantastic. He has really had a hard time getting his due, so seeing him officially become an established, successful actor felt like a real moment.

I did see him getting a little flak online for not thanking Keri Russell in either of his speeches. I would allow it. Those two are such big cheerleaders of each other that I would not read anything into it. It is a little embarrassing, sure, but they were probably just sitting next to each other all night.

Widow's Bay Sweeps Comedy, Breaking The Studio's Record

I reviewed Widow's Bay a couple of months ago and did not even want to at first. Apple TV emailed asking me to cover it, I did not respond, and they wrote back again. Once I saw Matthew Rhys was in it, I figured I would try it. The first half of the first episode was only medium, and honestly if Rhys was not in it I would have turned it off. By the end of episode one, I was hooked, and I remember saying that if there was an entertainment god, this would be a hit.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Widow's Bay was the least watched show of everything nominated tonight, and it still swept. It has now won the most Emmys of any comedy series ever, breaking the record set just last year by The Studio, another show I love that is also from Apple TV. The only category it did not win was best actress in a comedy, and that is simply because it had no one competing in it.

Apple's new CEO was there too, not Tim Cook, showing off the new iPhone duo. Apple has become quite big in entertainment, from Apple TV to movies like F1 this year, so it was nice to see that represented.

I Do Not Buy the Category Fraud Complaints, But the Diversity Numbers Are Real

I got frustrated seeing people, including apparently some folks from other comedy shows, claiming there was category fraud around Widow's Bay being entered as a comedy. I cannot speak to other shows' complaints, but Widow's Bay is definitely a comedy. It is so funny, especially episode two, and it lives in a really cool space right between comedy and horror, which I think is one of the reasons people like it so much.

Where I do have to agree with criticism is around the lack of diversity, not in the nominees, but in the winners. People were correctly pointing out that not a single person of color won in any of the acting categories. Going through it, the only person of color who won anywhere was Hiro Murai, for directing a comedy.

I like everyone who won, which is part of what makes this a difficult thing to sit with. I want to chalk it up hopefully to a bad year. A lot of shows have diverse supporting casts, but we still do not have enough diverse leads, and I think that might be the next frontier. It is scary, not just for people already in the industry but for people who want to be, to feel like there is gatekeeping in the profession they have chosen.

Zendaya's Halle Berry Inspired Look Dominated the Red Carpet

Zendaya looked phenomenal, rocking what looks like the Halle Berry haircut, so much so that it is almost identical to Halle Berry's Oscar look. Both looked absolutely stunning wearing it. She was the star of the night, all over the red carpet, and every time the broadcast cut to backstage moments, there was Tom Holland.

I thought it was pretty classy that they did not walk the red carpet together, and I love how they compartmentalized their relationship that way. I wish Taylor and Travis did the same, though I think Taylor Swift did yell at the camera not to stay on her at the football game she was attending. Tom Pelphrey and Kaley Cuoco were another couple tonight that felt genuinely in love rather than like a business arrangement, and you can see it still radiating off them. Even Tom Holland cannot really compete with Zendaya. She is just a megawatt superstar.

I saw a rumor online that I cannot substantiate, that Tom Holland might star in Christopher Nolan's next movie. That would be fantastic for both of them, and he needs it to keep up with Zendaya.

Florence Pugh Is Closing the Gap, and Law Roach Is Becoming a Star Himself

Florence Pugh has been all over social media the last few days after Venice, looking stunning everywhere. Zendaya is the new standard for how a celebrity should look, and Florence Pugh is the first person I have seen come close. She does not seem quite as otherworldly yet, but she looks really good. She is currently promoting East of Eden.

I also want to shout out Law Roach, who has been a longtime friend of Zendaya's and designs her looks. I believe she is now his only client. He previously worked with Anya Taylor Joy, who decided not to work with him anymore, which I think was a mistake, and he is now also working with Ariana Grande. He is becoming a star in his own right, appearing on Project Runway and walking red carpets himself, and I think he is undeniably talented. I have not seen someone this influential in Hollywood fashion since Edith Head, though he has not done a movie yet.

Shailene Woodley's Look Was the Worst I Have Seen on a Red Carpet

Shailene Woodley's outfit was, in my opinion, the worst look I have ever actually seen on a red carpet. If someone told me she was filming a comedy or that someone had dared her, I would believe it. The colors are bad, the outfit is bad, and even the posture is bad. Everything about it is bad.

Taylor Swift, meanwhile, showed up as a surprise in Mariska Hargitay's hosting bit, playing a rookie reporter. I did not recognize her at first and thought, that is an unusually well quaffed rookie for a show like this. She still cannot act, but she was not horrible, and she was clever about dropping some of the clues she gives her fans during the bit, which I thought was a very successful move on her part.

Swift was not there for parts of the show because she was at Travis Kelce's football game, where she was seen talking to Tom Cruise, which had people online joking that they hoped she would not become a Scientologist. I do wonder about the idea of Taylor being everywhere the same night, appearing in a taped bit while also attending the game. I hope her wedding stays private rather than becoming a special, because I would have more respect for that.

Mariska Hargitay's Hosting Struggled, But Nicole Kidman and Marcello Hernandez Delivered

Mariska Hargitay's hosting felt like she was trying way too hard, doing something like an Anne Hathaway. Hosting, like writing or directing, is a special skill, and I do not think it is hers. That said, the AMC style intro bit with Nicole Kidman was the one good bit of the night. Nicole Kidman really sold it, including the joke where she said, essentially, that is my thing, you cannot say that.

I am getting pretty sick of John Mulaney auditioning to host awards shows and then turning the gig down when it is offered, the same way he did with the Oscars before Conan O'Brien took it and has been doing a very nice job. Marcello Hernandez from Saturday Night Live surprised me by being genuinely funny, funny enough that the cameras caught Mulaney's own reaction to him. I hope Hernandez gets to host the next one.

Florence Pugh and Emmy Rossum Both Look Like Future Nominees

Florence Pugh looked even better on the Emmy stage than on the red carpet, thanks to phenomenal lighting. Having seen the East of Eden screeners in advance, though I could not review it until it dropped on October 1st, I expect she will be nominated here again next year for that role.

Emmy Rossum, promoting Furious on Hulu, also looked great in an all black outfit that echoes how her character dresses on the show. I think she will likely be nominated next year too. Furious follows a female FBI agent dealing with her own abusive situation who is going after a female serial killer, and despite that focus, there are a lot of good male roles in it as well.

The House of the Dragon Queens Deserved Their Own Moment

I loved seeing the two House of the Dragon queens presented side by side, and I liked the contrast in how they each present themselves, including that it was great to have Emma D'Arcy represented as non-binary alongside that.

What I did not love was the broadcast repeatedly cutting to David Benioff, who is married to Amanda Peet and comes from an extremely wealthy family. For years he did excellent work on Game of Thrones until, in my view, the character assassination of Daenerys at the end, and he has nothing to do with House of the Dragon at all. It really bothered me that these two women had to share their moment with him instead of having it fully to themselves, and I saw a few other people online express the same frustration.

The Stalling Bit, the Reunions and a Very Sad In Memoriam

Two presenters closed out the show by stalling for about ten minutes because the telecast was running early, filling the time by talking up their upcoming show and the rumor that they might actually be brothers. They do look like brothers to me, and honestly, I do not understand why they do not just take a DNA test and settle it.

I never watched Buffy, so I could not comment on that reunion, but I was glad to see the Charlie's Angels cast still together. I enjoyed Amy Poehler's bit, and I am curious whether Baywatch, which I heard is not actually filmed on a beach, will still manage to look like it is.

I thought the In Memoriam segment was too sad this year, more than I expected. As for Michael J. Fox, I felt for him that he has regressed to needing a wheelchair, but his speech was incredible, and what he said about Bob Hope was really lovely.

Comedy Winners: Jean Smart's History and Widow's Bay's Sweep

Jean Smart made Emmy history by winning for every single season of Hacks, all five years. As talented as I think she is, it is frustrating that so many other actresses may never get an Emmy at this rate, and I do think there should maybe be a rule against winning back to back. There were so many tough calls tonight because there is simply too much good television right now.

I also have to say that in this final season of Hacks, I did not think Jean Smart did anything particularly new, and she was largely playing the same role, dealing with her character's death. I think that may be what pushed the win over the top, but I still wish other actresses had a chance to shine.

Widow's Bay took Best Comedy Series, sweeping essentially every other category. Matthew Rhys picked up his second Emmy of the night here, in a role I think maybe only he could play. The actress who plays Patricia won as well, in what was the first win of the night, for a performance in which you go from being as annoyed with her character as Matthew Rhys's character is to relying on her just as much as he does. She is British and pulls off the American accent and comedy beautifully.

Stephen Root also won. He apparently revealed on the red carpet that he is in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto, which was supposed to be a secret. He has been in the industry a long time and deserved recognition. Hiro Murai won for directing, having mostly worked with Donald Glover previously on Atlanta and some episodes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. From what I read, creator and writer Katie Dippold had been developing Widow's Bay for around 20 years, and it only finally got made because Murai wanted to direct it, with executives reportedly agreeing to meet largely because they wanted to work with him.

Katie Dippold also won for writing. She is apparently the person behind a memorable photo of someone dressed as the Babadook for Halloween a decade ago, which tracks with the show's horror lore. Accepting for Best Comedy Series, she joked, "I'd like to thank the evil entity on the island that allowed us to tell its story," treating the show's haunted island entity as if it had its own agent. Betty Gilpin had already won guest actress for the show at the earlier, non-televised Creative Arts Emmys.

Drama Winners: Noah Wyle, Rhea Seehorn, Tom Pelphrey and Allison Janney

I sense people starting to turn a little on The Pitt, but I still love it and will be watching season three as soon as screeners arrive. For a second, going through the other Best Drama nominees, I genuinely wondered whether The Gilded Age, Pluribus or Slow Horses might pull off an upset. If The Pitt keeps winning for years, some very good shows may finish their runs without ever getting that honor, which is part of why I think there is a case for a rule against repeat wins.

Noah Wyle won for playing Dr. Robby. After finishing season two, I actually messaged people at HBO to say the show was incredible but that I hoped they would include a hotline number given how dark the material gets, and they did handle it responsibly. With season three coming in January, I hope the show does not become entirely the Dr. Robby show, because I think if the rest of the cast does not get more substantial storylines, it could be a rough season. I would also love to see a Night Shift spinoff or a set of special episodes.

Rhea Seehorn won as well. Bob Odenkirk, by contrast, never won an Emmy despite Better Call Saul running for a long time, which is genuinely rough, and Seehorn herself was not even getting nominated in earlier years. Seeing her finally win, for a performance where she is very much the show, was really exciting.

Tom Pelphrey won too, and I am a huge fan of his from Ozark and Iron Fist. I was sad he did not land Professor X, though now I am not sure he would have been right for it, and given my worries about that X-Men movie, he may have dodged a bullet. His speech, about his family being the best thing that ever happened to him, felt completely sincere.

Allison Janney's win for The Diplomat was a great surprise, and she looked stunning doing it. The Diplomat never seems to get its flowers, and the whole cast, including Bradley Whitford and Rufus Sewell, is excellent. Allison Janney is, to me, the first female president I have seen portrayed as president first and woman second, and there is a scene where her character teaches Keri Russell's character using a giant map that I think is one of the best scenes I have ever seen. Pluribus also won for writing, and I love that Vince Gilligan can write Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul and Pluribus and be this good at all of them. Slow Horses picked up directing, and while The Pitt tends to be message heavy, that does not make Slow Horses any less good a show. Beef, The Gilded Age and Abbott Elementary were all shut out entirely.

Limited Series, Movie and Variety Winners, and Worries About Late Night TV's Future

In the limited series or movie category, I said I love the cast of the winning show, but I could never quite get through it myself. It got a bit too strange for my taste, though I recognize it depicts some very real and important things that clearly speak to a lot of people, which may be exactly why it won. Sally Field won Best Actress in that category, for a Netflix film about a woman who ends up in an aquarium, and she started her career on Gidget before moving into film.

The Traitors returned that week with civilian contestants after its celebrity season, and I got into it after friends kept talking about it and I saw it trending everywhere. Stephen Colbert won Best Variety Show, and in his speech he noted that his own writing staff had actually written parts of the Emmys broadcast, adding that all of those people now need jobs, which felt unfortunate given where things stand.

I do think late night TV is not going to survive much longer in its current format because a nightly show is simply too expensive to produce. I think the real strength of a late night show is the monologue, the way Johnny Carson and then Jay Leno did it, and nobody wants to put in that work anymore. Conan O'Brien is a great interviewer and a great sketch performer, but I do not think he is a great monologuer. I think these shows pivoted to political content to survive, and that bought them a couple of extra years at most, but losing the monologue was the beginning of the end.

A Few Extra Thoughts

My biggest disappointment of the night overall is just how many good shows do not get recognition. On Only Murders in the Building never winning, my theory is that it is always the same and a little too light, maybe a victim of its own success. Asked which streamer won the most Emmys tonight, I did not see the tally, but I would suspect Apple. And on whether Lanterns could be the next Game of Thrones, I think Lanterns is the new Game of Thrones, but it needs a Game of Thrones sized budget to get there.

Do you think there should be a rule against the same show or performer winning an Emmy year after year, or should the best show just keep winning?