While down-the-line voting has often scored huge, the 2026 Emmys may shake up the usual tradition. Some of the biggest shows of the year are only recognized in the acting categories but miss in series nods. Below, Variety breaks down the contenders in a few major categories. (And here’s a full list of the nominations, in case it helps!)

In the drama category, last year’s winner, “The Pitt,” which also took home lead actor, supporting actress and guest actress trophies, is back with its second season. It leads the pack in overall nominations with 25 — 13 of which are for actors. This time, “The Pitt” faces two other HBO Max series in the category: “The Gilded Age” and “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” Netflix’s “The Diplomat” and Hulu’s “Paradise” landed series nods, one of the seven total noms for each show. Apple TV also scored three noms in the category; “Slow Horses” earned its third nomination in the category while new series “Pluribus” and “Your Friends & Neighbors” both broke into the race. While “Pluribus” garnered a whopping 18 nominations for its first season (and Rhea Seehorn is the front-runner for lead actress), the recognition in this category is the sole nom for “Your Friends & Neighbors.” Meanwhile, Brad Ingelsby’s “Task” didn’t earn a series nod, but did get recognition for writing, directing, cinematography and editing, as well as acting noms for Mark Ruffalo (lead actor) and Tom Pelphrey (supporting).

Last year, “The Pitt” racked up 13 nominations; this year, that’s the number of actors from the show that received their kudos, with five in the guest actor and guest actress categories. Ernest Harden Jr., Jeff Kober, Brittany Allen, Tal Anderson and Tina Ivlev all landed recognition for the medical drama, despite some not even being submitted by HBO; instead, they self-submitted. But will they cancel each other out? It’s always a possibility with multiple nods in one show. The guest actor category includes other heavy hitters too: Colman Domingo for the final season of “Euphoria,” Jeff Hiller for “Pluribus,” Bradley Whitford for “The Diplomat” and Jonathan Pryce for “Slow Horses.” On the guest actress side is early front-runner Shailene Woodley for “Paradise,” Miriam Shor for “Pluribus” and Merritt Wever for “The Gilded Age.” 

With “Hacks” breaking the record for most-nominated comedy series (24), and it being the final season of the beloved HBO Max comedy, it seems like an easy front-runner. That being said, it’s not an easy category, with mostly returning shows filling the category — FX’s “The Bear,” ABC’s “Abbott Elementary,” Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This,” Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” and Apple TV’s “Shrinking.” But the two new series in the batch are serious contenders: Apple TV’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” which racked up eight nods, and, even more so, the spoiler of the race, Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay.” The horror-comedy scored 19 nominations, including six acting noms — Matthew Rhys earned lead actor noms for both this and limited series “The Beast in Me” — and nods for writing, directing and casting.

Some of the biggest stars landed in the guest actor and actress in a comedy categories this year. Two-time Emmy winner Rob Reiner earned a posthumous nomination for his role in “The Bear,” one that will be hard to beat. But if anyone could do it, it’d likely be the beloved Michael J. Fox, who landed a nomination for “Shrinking.” Elsewhere in the stacked category is Christopher McDonald for “Hacks,” Hamish Linklater for “Widow’s Bay,” Brett Goldstein for “Shrinking” and “Heated Rivalry” star Connor Storrie for his hosting role on “Saturday Night Live.” For guest actress, Jamie Lee Curtis (“The Bear”) and Betty Gilpin (“Widow’s Bay”) are the only two not from “Hacks,” as Cherry Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Leslie Bibb, Lauren Weedman and Kaitlin Olson account for the remainder of the group. Once again, canceling out could happen, but the odds are good that “Hacks” could do very well on Emmy night.

For its first season, Netflix’s “Beef” won the trophy for best limited/anthology series. This time around, the show hasn’t generated quite as much buzz, but it still earned 16 nominations, including for lead actor and actress and supporting actor and actress. Elsewhere in the category is Netflix’s “The Beast in Me,” FX’s “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette,” Peacock’s “All Her Fault” and HBO Max’s “DTF St. Louis.” The latter also landed a slew of acting noms with Linda Cardellini, Joy Sunday, Jason Bateman, David Harbour and Richard Jenkins filling up the supporting categories. Although “All Her Fault” was an early drop, released in November, star Sarah Snook took home a Critics’ Choice trophy and the show snagged two Golden Globe nominations and an Actor nod. Although “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” came up short in the series nomination, star Charlie Hunnam still snagged a lead actor nom, and Laurie Metcalf earned her second nom of the year for her supporting role in the Netflix horror drama. Netflix’s “Death by Lightning” and Prime Video’s “Bait” failed to land series noms, but the actors were recognized; Nick Offerman landed a supporting nod (his second of the year alongside a supporting comedy actor nod for “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”) and Riz Ahmed earned a limited lead actor nomination.

As we seem to write over and over again, one of the most difficult categories to break into has always been reality competition, with years of the same winners. At one point, “The Amazing Race” won in seven consecutive years, then “RuPaul’s Drag Race” won four years in a row. For the last two years, “The Traitors” has taken the trophy. This year, “The Amazing Race” is out of the running and ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars” is back for the first time in 10 years, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise after its massive 34th season. “Top Chef” and “Survivor,” which also had a huge season with its 50th, round out the category with four of the five nominees also recognized in host: RuPaul, Jeff Probst, Kristen Kish and Alan Cumming. Ariana Madix was the surprise fifth spot for her hosting of Peacock’s “Love Island USA.” Who becomes a front-runner may come down to who campaigns best during phase two.