2026 Emmy nominations: All of the snubs, surprises & LGBTQ+ nominees

Image Credits, clockwise from top-left: ‘Hacks,’ HBO Max | ‘SNL,’ NBC | ‘Shrinking,’ Apple TV | ‘Top Chef,’ Bravo | ‘Pluribus,’ Apple TV | ‘Euphoria,’ HBO

This morning, the Television Academy unveiled the nominees for the upcoming 78th Annual Emmy Awards, which will air on September 14 (broadcast on NBC and streaming simultaneously via Peacock) and honor the best & brightest from the past year of TV.

Now, in our estimation, hockey romance Heated Rivalry was the TV event of the last year, but you may have noticed the massively popular show was suspiciously absent from the lineup…

Unfortunately, the Academy guidelines stipulate it couldn’t compete here since it’s technically a Canadian production, and they couldn’t get their act together in time to change that—guess they didn’t want the year’s hottest breakout stars at the ceremony, eh?

Nevertheless, the Emmys did manage to find a way to score Connor Storrie an invite to this year’s show. And, beyond that, there are plenty of other beloved queer series and out LGBTQ+ in the mix, all of whom are worth celebrating!

The lineup was announced in a lively livestream hosted by Liza Colón-Zayas (a fan favorite on The Bear) and out star Jeff Hiller who, if you’ll remember from last year, clinched a surprise victory in Supporting Actor for his work on Somebody Somewhere, which had his fellow queer nominees jumping to their feet with glee.

So, without further ado, here’s our round-up of nominees in the most notable categories—as well as some hot takes on who did (and who didn’t) make the cut. To the best of our knowledge, we’ve indicated openly LGBTQ+ nominees with a 🌈 & series with specific LGBTQ+ themes or prominent queer characters with a 🍭.

You can find a complete list of nominees  on the Emmys website.

Outstanding Comedy Series

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Oof, this was always going to be a tough one, but they couldn’t make room for eternal gay favorite The Comeback in its final season? For shame! Other notable queer-inclusive comedies that deserved some love here: Big Mistakes, I Love LA, The Four Seasons, and of course we would’ve loved to have seen gays-in-the-military series Boots get in, especially after Netflix unceremoniously gave it the boot after just one season.

Outstanding Drama Series

Queerty’s Hot Takes: This is probably a Pluribus vs. The Pitt showdown, but congrats to all the others for making it in the mix, especially our beloved The Gilded Age, Clock Twinks and all! Interestingly, neither Euphoria nor Stranger Things—both major cultural moments & previous heavyweights at the Emmys—managed to score nods here for their final season. Guess they didn’t stick the landing!

Lead Actress, Comedy

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Oh thank GOODNESS our queen Valerie Cherish Lisa Kudrow is here, at least giving The Comeback some love somewhere. Notably, her brilliant work’s been nominated for both of the show’s previous seasons, but never won (losing both to Julia Louis-Dreyfus in two different shows), so could this finally be her year? Well, she’s going to have to go up against the Emmys behemoth that is Jean Smart for Hacks‘ final season, who’s won each & every chance she could over the past few years, so we’re not holding our breath…

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Lead Actor, Comedy

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Congrats to these lovely gentlemen—it’s exciting to see some new faces in here, especially handsome ones like Yahya Abdul-Mateen’s and Matthew Rhys’s, who is the honorable Mayor Daddy of word-of-mouth hit Widow’s Bay. Fun/wild fact: Did you know Steve Carrell somehow never won for his work on The Office back in the day? How is that possible???

Lead Actress, Drama

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Hell yes, ladies! Thrilled to see our diva, Carrie Coon, make it in here for The Gilded Age, and rising star Chase Infiniti continues an impressive awards run with The Testaments. But, really, this category is a battle of the lesbians, with Zendaya’s Rue—returning after winning for the previous two seasons—going head-to-head with Rhea Seehorn’s Carol. We’d give the latter the edge because, well, remember what we said about people not feeling like Euphoria stuck the landing?

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Lead Actor, Drama

Queerty’s Hot Takes: No disrespect to the others, but our beloved “Dr. Robby” is about to march right up to that stage to claim his second consecutive Best Actor trophy, doctor’s orders. And speaking of doctors, it was probably a long shot, but we’re a little bummed Zachary Quinto didn’t get recognized for his work on NBC medical drama Brilliant Minds, especially now that that queer-inclusive series is coming to an end this season.

Supporting Actress, Comedy

Queerty’s Hot Takes: It’s a Hacks two-fer! This is Hannah Einbinder’s fifth nomination, looking for a repeat win after last year, and it seems like the Television Academy has finally wisened up to the brilliance of Megan Stalter’s Kayla Schaeffer, giving “The Prettiest Girl In America” her first-ever Emmy nomination! We’re also quite fond of the ooky-spooky comedy Widow’s Bay, so it’s a delight to find both veteran character actress Dale Dickey in here and Kate O’Flynn, whose Patricia is, for our money, the breakout TV character of the year.

Supporting Actor, Comedy

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Now this was the category last year that had the gays jumping to their feet when Jeff Hiller won for Somebody Somewhere. Thankfully, both Colman Domingo and Michael Urie are back in the conversation for their respective shows, though what a bummer to see Bowen Yang left out for his final stint on the show after being nominated here four times previously. Though, in fairness, he wrapped up his tenure midseason, so we didn’t get as much of him as usual. Bowen, come back to our TV screens, we miss you!

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Supporting Actress, Drama

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Absolutely incredible to see such a great turnout for The Pitt here, but we are notably missing Isa Briones—who plays controversial queer doc, Santos—and out queer star Supriya Ganesh, whose Dr. Mohan sadly won’t be returning next season. Also, a big YAY! for Karolina Wydra as Pluribus dream girl Zosia, and BOO! for the Academy once again snubbing Industry & leaving Marisa Abela off the roster.

Supporting Actor, Drama

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Expectedly, The Pitt had a great showing here as well. Do you like your doctor’s to be daddy? Vote Shawn Hatosy! Handsome but with a dark side? Patrick Ball! Or how about twink-y? Go Gerran Howell! See, there’s something for everybody!

Guest Actress, Comedy

Queerty’s Hot Takes: It’s a proper Hacks-a-palooza, with five incredible women from the show taking up seven of the slots. Kaitlin Olson & Lauren Weedman have been reliably great throughout the comedy’s run, and the return of Laurie Metcalf’s Weed nearly stole the season with just one scene. But you know we’ve got to give it up for Cherry Jones & Leslie Bibb, playing a formidable lesbian couple in “Montecito,” which might just be our favorite episode in the show’s entire herstory.

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Guest Actor, Comedy

Queerty’s Hot Takes: See? Look at that, the Emmys figured out how to get some Heated Rivalry representation in the show after all, giving Connor Storrie a highly deserved nod for his accent-spouting, happy-slapping, strip-teasing turn as a host of Saturday Night Live, technically the only performer to be nominated from the sketch series this year, period. Of course, we also would’ve loved to have seen Colman Domingo recognized for his fantastic work as host, too, but we’ll take what we can get.

Guest Actress, Drama

Queerty’s Hot Takes: But wait, there’s more! Love for The Pitt‘s cast, that is! Out star Ayesha Harris was unfortunately blanked for her guest appearance on the show, but her fan-favorite Dr. Parker Ellis has been upped to a series regular next year, so hopefully her time will come!

Guest Actor, Drama

Queerty’s Hot Takes: That’s double-nominee Colman Domingo to you, sir! Here he’s nominated in the same category he won back in 2022, and considering Ali’s explosive turn in Euphoria‘s final episode, we’d imagine he’s the one to beat here, even if the season as a whole didn’t sit well with everyone. Also, hello to Jeff Hiller, feeling that afterglow from last year’s win with a memorable guest spot in Pluribus.

Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Love Story felt like one of the most talked about shows of the year, so we’re glad it made it in, though it has an uphill battle against returning winner Beef‘s buzzy second season and DTF St. Louis, a thoughtfully queer-inclusive mystery/comedy series which got even more Emmys love this morning than most expected. Shockingly, Richard Gadd’s Baby Reindeer follow-up Half Man didn’t make the cut, but perhaps it just felt too dark, too heavy for many voters’ taste.

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Outstanding Television Movie

Queerty’s Hot Takes: People We Meet On Vacation has some great queer supporting players, and Remarkably Bright Creatures has Sally Field befriending an octopus, so they’re both good in our book. But catch us rooting for Miss You, Love You, out writer/director Jim Rash’s lovely dramedy featuring Allison Janney as a grieving mother bonding with her son’s gay assistant, played by Andrew Rannells!

Lead Actress, Limited/Anthology/Movie

Queerty’s Hot Takes: This one really feels like anybody’s game: Could Claire Danes’ miserable middle-aged lesbian take the prize? Or will folks go wild for Sally Field and that dang octopus? Or how about Sarah Pidgeon’s true a-star-is-born turn as Carolyn Bessette? Despite the tight race, we still would’ve liked to see the category make room for out stars Lili Reinhart & Tessa Thompson for their work in Hal And Harper and His And Hers, respectively.

Lead Actor, Limited/Anthology/Movie

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Wow, a category exclusively made of hotties! The shocker here is probably Charlie Hunnam, considering the messy, dark, complicated season of Monster wasn’t exactly adored, though we suppose you can’t say it wasn’t transformative work. Justice for Andrew Rannells in the aforementioned Miss You, Love You, as well as Jamie Bell’s breathtakingly nuanced work in Half Man.

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Supporting Actress, Limited/Anthology/Movie

Queerty’s Hot Takes: And look at that, Laurie Metcalf’s a double nominee, too! Though, to be honest, we’d rather have seen her work in Dan Levy’s Big Mistakes get nominated over Monster: The Ed Gein Story, a show we have very complicated feelings about.

Supporting Actor, Limited/Anthology/Movie

Queerty’s Hot Takes: Despite the show being snubbed in every other category possibly, Richard Gadd did at least manage to get recognized here for his beefy, brutal work in Half Man. But he’s got stiff competition, especially in the form of David Harbour, considering DTF St. Louis got so much love (unless the guys split the votes!). And pour one out for Alessandro Nivola, who we think did a fantastic job of bringing legendary queer designer Calvin Klein to the screen in Love Story.

Outstanding Reality Or Competition Program

Queerty’s Hot Takes: As ever, reality TV is so gay, with all five nominated series prominently featuring LGBTQ+ cast members in their latest seasons. Of these, Drag Race has had the most wins with five, while The Traitors has been on a hot streak, winning the past two years, though keep an eye out for Survivor which went big for its all-star 50th season. And, hey, Dancing With The Stars is back with its first nom in a decade—chalk that up to the power of Robert Irwin’s abs!

Host For A Reality Or Competition Program

Queerty’s Hot Takes: In keeping suit with the previous category, this one’s very gay, too—are you surprised? Eight-time winner RuPaul remains the queen of the category, though our favorite Scot Alan Cumming’s taken the prize the past two years, and it’s good to see her one-time Faithful Kristen Kish back in the mix. However, the real surprise is Ariana Madix, the Vanderpump Rules bi-con who’s now the hostess with the mostest of Love Island USA—could the first time be the charm for her?

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Gavin Boyd
Author: Gavin Boyd

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