HBO Max's Emmy Surge
The Pitt Leads 2026 Emmy Nominations; HBO Max Dominates With Record 122 Total
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Key Points
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HBO Max's 122 Emmy nominations are heavily concentrated, with Hacks and The Pitt alone accounting for about 41% of the total.
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Hacks earned 24 nominations, setting a new record for the most nominations ever for a comedy series in a single year.
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Prime Video's Spider-Verse spinoff received 11 nominations, tying for seventh place, yet had no nominations in the marquee categories.
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Bad Bunny is a first-time Emmy nominee, with the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show collecting nine nominations across numerous categories (e.g., Production Design, Choreography, Directing, and more).
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Sabrina Carpenter earned her first Emmy nomination for The Muppet Show, listed as Executive Producer/Performer, with Seth Rogen also nominated as an executive producer.
HBO Max's medical drama *The Pitt* led the 78th Primetime Emmy nominations with 25 nods, while the final season of *Hacks* made history with 24 — the most ever for a comedy series in a single year, according to Billboard. The two shows alone account for roughly 41% of HBO Max's network-leading 122 total nominations. The ceremony airs September 14, 2026, from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, hosted by Mariska Hargitay.
Netflix and Disney each tallied 111 nominations, while Apple TV+ set a company record with 87. Amazon MGM's Prime Video more than doubled its 2025 total to reach 28, powered largely by *Spider-Noir*'s 11 nominations, according to Coming Soon.
Hacks and The Pitt Rewrite Comedy and Drama Records
*Hacks* 24 nominations shattered the single-season comedy record, surpassing the 23 nominations each held by *The Bear* (2024) and *The Studio* (2025). The show also broke *Schitt's Creek*'s record for the most-nominated comedy in a final season. Meanwhile, *The Pitt* landed 13 acting nominations — one shy of the all-time record of 14 set by *Succession*, NY Daily News reported.
Two *Pitt* actors nearly missed the celebration entirely. Brittany Allen and Jeff Kober, who played Roxy and Duke, had to self-submit their own performances after HBO left them off its official FYC campaign, according to The Daily Beast. Both earned nominations anyway.
Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift, and Sabrina Carpenter Score Variety Nods
The Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny collected nine Emmy nominations — a record for any Super Bowl halftime show. The nominations span categories including Production Design, Choreography, and Directing. It marks Bad Bunny's first-ever Emmy nomination, this time as a producer, according to Billboard.
Taylor Swift earned five nominations for *The Eras Tour | The Final Show*, her second Emmy nod overall. Sabrina Carpenter was also nominated as Executive Producer and Performer for *The Muppet Show Starring Sabrina Carpenter*, with Seth Rogen nominated as a co-executive producer on the same project.
Snubs, Rule Changes, and Colbert's Bittersweet Farewell
HBO's *Industry* was shut out of every major acting and series category for the fourth straight year — despite a widely praised fourth season. The show's only nomination was for Outstanding Writing. Critics called the omission 'baffling,' NY Daily News reported. Meanwhile, *Heated Rivalry*, a hit HBO show, got zero nominations because it was a Canadian production acquired after filming ended, making it technically ineligible under Academy rules, according to Coming Soon.
CBS's *The Late Show with Stephen Colbert* earned a record nine nominations for its final season — a season that aired after CBS canceled the show. Many insiders saw the sweep as a symbolic farewell. The Television Academy also overhauled its variety categories this year, merging Variety Talk and Scripted Variety into one 'Area Award,' where multiple shows can win if 90% of voters say they deserve it.
Apple TV+ Hits a Record While Streaming Reshapes the Race
Apple TV+ set a company record with 87 nominations (89 including commercial categories), driven by rookie hits *Widow's Bay* (19 nominations) and *Pluribus* (18). Apple's head of programming Matt Cherniss called it validation of the platform's strategy: 'This has been a few years running now, where we've been rewarded for this quality over quantity strategy.'
Despite Apple's milestone, HBO Max still led the pack by a wide margin at 122 nominations. *The Pitt*, shot entirely in Southern California, also drew praise as an economic lifeline for Los Angeles crews at a time when many productions have moved out of state for tax incentives, according to NY Daily News.
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