‘Widow’s Bay’ Wins Emmy for Best Comedy Series, Setting New Freshman Record

Widow’s Bay has won the top comedy award at the 2026 Emmys , which also happened to be the final trophy of the evening. (The Emmy Awards rotate between ending on comedy and drama each year.) In doing so, it set a new record for most Emmys (14) for a first-year comedy series, topping The Studio (13) from just last year.

The category also included ABC’s Abbott Elementary , the penultimate season FX/Hulu’s The Bear , the final season of HBO Max series Hacks , Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles , Netflix’s Nobody Wants This , Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building and Apple TV’s Shrinking . Related Stories Movies Stephen Colbert Provides Update on 'Lord of the Rings' Movie After Emmy Win Music Emmys: Dolly Parton Tribute Features Moving Cover by Reba McEntire and a Nod to the Late Icon's "Bawdy" Sense of Humor

Hacks set a single-season record this year for most nominations for a comedy series with 24; Widow’s Bay led all new shows with 19 nominations.

Here is the complete list of Widow’s Bay Emmy wins: Best Comedy Series Best Actor in a Comedy Series — Matthew Rhys Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series — Kate O’Fkynn Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series — Stephen Root Best Directing for a Comedy Series — Hiro Murai Best Writing for a Comedy Series — Kate Dippold Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series Best Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour) Guest Actress in a Comedy Series — Betty Gilpin Best Score — David Fleming Music Supervision — Toko Nagata Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour) Sound Editing for a Series (Half-Hour) Sound Mixing for a Series (Half-Hour)

Last year, The Studio won the category (and a bunch of others). The Studio received 23 nominations in 2025, tying the prior record for a comedy series (the one Hacks surpassed this year). Seth Rogen’s comedy series defeated all of the same shows that are nominated this year, with one exception: the final season of What We Do in the Shadows in the spot was occupied by season one of Widow’s Bay .