The Best Photos and Moments You Missed From the 2026 Emmys

Television’s biggest night has arrived, and for the first time in 15 years, a woman is the host. Mariska Hargitay is the emcee of the 78th Emmy Awards from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, making her the first woman to do so solo since Jane Lynch in 2011 (and the rare non-comedian for the gig). It’s also Hargitay’s first time hosting an awards show at all, and it’s one she’d already won this year (earlier this month, she took home two Creative Arts Emmys for her HBO documentary My Mom Jayne)—her first since winning lead actress in a drama for Law & Order: SVU in 2006.

But Hargitay isn’t the only person making Emmys history. Matthew Rhys won two lead acting Emmys (for limited series The Beast in Me and comedy Widow’s Bay), making him the first person to take home both lead acting awards in a single night. Given his 2018 win for drama The Americans, he’s also the first man to win all three lead acting categories. Widow’s Bay director Hiro Murai became the first Asian director to win the comedy directing award for the series, which broke its own record as the most-awarded comedy season with 14 wins.

With a fifth consecutive lead actress win for Hacks, Jean Smart became the first woman in TV history to win an Emmy for every single season of a series. The fifth and final season of Hacks itself received 24 nominations, a record for a comedy series and the second-most for any other show this year, just behind The Pitt’s 25.

Zendaya returned with a nomination for the third and final season of Euphoria (though Rhea Seehorn was the one to beat, and she took home the trophy for Pluribus). Speaking of, the Vince Gilligan-created sci-fi show was one of two freshman series to lead the pack of new series with 18 nods (along with Widow’s Bay at 19).

But the allocation of the night’s golden statuettes isn’t the only draw. Part of the fun of Emmy night is what doesn’t make it to TV screens, from unexpected celebrity run-ins to off-screen celebrations. Below, all the candid, behind-the-scenes moments you didn’t see: