Everything to Know About the 2026 Emmy Awards

The date, the host, the venue, and why this year’s ceremony carries extra weight for NBC.

Emmy season is already in motion, and this year’s ceremony comes loaded with more milestones than usual. The broadcast lands back on NBC during the network’s 100th anniversary year, with a host whose selection alone made news well before a single winner gets announced.

When Are The Emmys, And Where Can I Watch?

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards air live on Monday, September 14, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, broadcasting coast-to-coast on NBC and streaming live on Peacock. The Creative Arts Emmys, which honor behind-the-scenes and technical achievement across two nights, run Saturday, September 5, and Sunday, September 6.

Who’s Hosting?

Mariska Hargitay, star and executive producer of Law & Order: SVU, was announced as host on July 7. It’s a genuinely unusual pick. She’s the first woman to host the Emmys in 15 years, and the first host who isn’t a comedian, comedic actor, or television personality since Angela Lansbury emceed the ceremony back in 1993.

The offer came in the middle of her Broadway debut. Hargitay was backstage performing in Every Brilliant Thing when she got a call from Pearlena Igbokwe, chairman of NBCUniversal Television Studios. “I was about to go on and I got a call,” Hargitay told Today. “I thought, ‘Oh, I should answer this. Am I getting fired?’” It wasn’t a firing. NBC leadership has framed the choice as fitting the network’s centennial year, tapping an in-house icon rather than an outside host.

“Bringing important stories into the light has been the heartbeat of my career,” Hargitay said in her announcement statement. “It’s my great honor to host the 78th Emmy Awards, in the 100th birthday year of my beloved NBC, and celebrate this extraordinary community of storytellers.”

When Were Nominations Announced, And Who Leads This Year?

The Television Academy announced nominations on Wednesday, July 8, with Jeff Hiller and Liza Colón-Zayas hosting the live reading. The Pitt leads the field with 25 nominations, followed closely by Hacks. Final voting runs from August 17 through 26.

Who’s Producing The Show?

Jesse Collins Entertainment produces the ceremony, with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon, and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay serving as executive producers. NBC announced the deal on April 30, calling Collins’ track record on previous Emmy broadcasts and other major live events the deciding factor.

Where Does The Ceremony Take Place?

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards air from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, the venue formerly known as the Nokia Theatre and later the Microsoft Theater. This year’s broadcast marks the 17th time the Emmys have been held there.

How Did NBC Do Last Year?

Saturday Night Live had a massive night at the 77th Emmy Awards, winning nine Emmys once its anniversary programming is counted, including SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert. Accepting the Outstanding Variety Special (Live) award for SNL50: The Anniversary Special, creator Lorne Michaels reflected on the show’s run: “When I won this award for the first time 50 years ago, in 1975, I was younger. And I had a lot of dreams about what would happen in my life.

Not one of those dreams was that I’d still be doing the same show for the next 50 years. However, here we are.” Wicked: For Good star Bowen Yang also won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on SNL that night. Across the board, NBCUniversal took home 20 Emmys in 2025, 12 of them for SNL and five for Alan Cumming’s The Traitors.

Why Does This Year Matter So Much For NBC Specifically?

The Emmys airing during NBC’s 100th anniversary year makes 2026 a genuine milestone broadcast. This marks the network’s 26th time hosting the ceremony, more than any other network in Emmy history.

NBC also happens to be home to the show with the most Emmy wins ever: Saturday Night Live holds the all-time record with 93 wins and 349 nominations as of this August, more than any series in the award’s history.

Game of Thrones holds the record for most wins by a drama series with 59, and The Simpsons holds the animated program record with 37.

How Long Is It?

Expect somewhere between three and three and a half hours, typically wrapping by midnight ET for an 8 p.m. start, though the exact runtime varies year to year. In terms of prestige, the Emmys sit alongside the Oscars and Grammys as television’s answer to those honors. The key structural difference from the Golden Globes, which cover both film and TV through a smaller voting body, is scale: the Television Academy’s roughly 27,000-member peer-voted electorate makes the Emmys the broadest voting body in television awards.

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards air live on Monday, September 14, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, broadcasting coast-to-coast on NBC and streaming live on Peacock.

Joanthan P. Moustakas

Jonathan P. Moustakas founded The Cinema Group in 2020 during the challenges of the pandemic, after losing the vital ability to find community in theaters and escape through the captivating magic of cinema. Feeling profoundly cut off from the vibrant film community he cherished, he sought to create a welcoming home for dedicated cinema fans while providing engaging, daily curated content that resonates with their passions. Years later, The Cinema Group has blossomed from a small collective of loyal fans into a thriving brand that reaches millions of audiences every month across a diverse array of platforms and mediums.

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