2026 Emmys: Taylor Swift cameo, Sally Field's Canada shout

2026 Emmys: Taylor Swift cameo, Sally Field's Canada shout-out gild an unpredictable ceremony

Mariska Hargitay hosts the 78th Emmy Awards

The 2026 Emmy Awards kicked off Monday night with a host of old favourites vying for top awards, up-and-comers making some early upsets, a shout-out to Canada from Sally Field — and Taylor Swift?!

The drama though, was mostly focused on the first two categories — the question of whether the old or new would triumph. That was most shown by medical drama The Pitt, which led the pack with 25 nominations, including for best drama series, and supporting actress (Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Katherine LaNasa and Sepideh Moafi).

Its star Noah Wylie was awarded with outstanding lead actor in a drama series about midway through the ceremony — his second win in the category after triumphing last year as well. Though The Pitt lost best supporting actor to Tasks' Tom Pelfry: that show's first of the night off of its six nominations.

And despite The Pitt's dominance in the best supporting actress in a comedy category, it was The Diplomat's Allison Janney who took home the award. It is her eighth career Emmy, following her last win in 2021 for Mom. That relatively huge upset, the first of the night, set the stage for what would potentially be a night of them in a ceremony that could have gone either toward the expected juggernauts — or surprise new finds.

When it comes to expected juggernauts, that would definitely be The Pitt. It already took home a number of those awards last year, leading to a surprise shut-out of competing drama Severance. This year, its already snagged four at the earlier ceremonies — nabbing prosthetic makeup and best guest actor awards — and is gunning for another strong performance tonight.

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Interspersed with all the wins though, was the comedy. Mariska Hargitay hosted this year's Emmys, off of two wins herself for documentary My Mom Jayne. Her skits and jokes largely played off of her Law & Order; Special Victims Unit fame, and gobbled up much of the time for a show that hardly let its stars speak for a minute in their speeches.

One of the big moments of the night though was a scene-specific recreation of Law & Order, in which the show's actual stars — including Ice T — tried to predict whether or not Taylor Swift would show up at the Emmys.

Swift herself appeared in disguise as one of the SVU detectives, theorizing along with the rest of them.

"Maybe she's going to do one of those cool pre-taped sketch things to support the host," Swift said in the pre-taped sketch.

"Do you think she'll sing?" asked one of the other detectives.

Slightly behind is Hacks, another strong performer at the seminal TV awards show. Its nominations for its fifth and final season put it ahead of all comedies with a record-breaking 24 nominations.

Lead Jean Smart was, in many bettors' cards, perhaps the biggest lock of the night for best actress in a comedy — an award she won early on. She therefore became the first woman to win an Emmy for every season of their show. Hannah Einbinder, who had a breakthrough win last year as best supporting actress in a comedy after four nominations, was up against Kate O'Flynn, who wowed with a breakout performance in the debut season of Widow’s Bay — and who ended up taking home the prize.

Her win was followed shortly after by a best supporting actor in a comedy award for Widow's Bay star Stephen Root — a category for which Hacks' Paul W. Downs was nominated.

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And it is that series that represents what may be a shift for this year's awards: that show's first season, about a series of mysteries plaguing a struggling resort town, was a smash success in a way that hasn't been seen in years.

The Emmys' track record suggests they would shower Hacks in awards for its final, send-off season. But with 19 nominations — and eight wins this weekend — for a show with a real campaign and argument for best comedy series, the trajectory of Widow's Bay is one to watch tonight.

Fellow newcomer Pluribus, from Breaking Bad phenom Vince Gilligan, is just behind with 18 off the back of its first season. A stunningly bizarre dramedy about an alien invasion and mind control, it is similarly positioned in opposition to The Pitt. With four early wins already, the narrative has long been circling around star Rhea Seehorn.

Given the entire show's focus on her singular performance, voters rewarded the Better Call Saul star with her first Emmy after four nominations. Whether or not it earns best drama series is another story.

A laughing, tearful Seehorn briefly thanked her co-nominees, cast and crew, her family and Vince Gilligan. She was eventually played off in the longest speech thus far of the night — where all other winners barely took a minute before rushing off the stage.

One of the speeches with a bit more heft though, was Sally Field, who won outstanding lead actress in a limited anthology series or movie for Remarkably Bright Creatures. The actress, who recieved her first nomination in 17 years for this role, barrelled off the thanks for different people in her life — before arriving at a familiar one.

“And Canada! Blessed Canada!" she said, smiling. Remarkably Bright Creatures was filmed in Deep Cove, B.C. "Our neighbours, our friends!”

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Elsewhere, the limited series categories had a diminished role at the main Emmys show after four of them were demoted to the early Emmys weekend.

HBO Max's DTF St. Louis was the big winner of those awards, taking best supporting actor and actress for David Harbour and Linda Cardellini.

Beef brought star power to the lead acting categories, with Carey Mulligan, the consensus favourite for best actress in a limited series, however losing to Field. The show's Oscar Isaac was favoured for best actor, but was similarly upset by Matthew Rhys for The Beast in Me. Rhys also won best lead actor in a comedy series for his role in Rooster, making him the first man to win two lead actor awards in the same night.

And after another year of antagonizing U.S. President Donald Trump, the late night shows of Jimmy Kimmel and the now-cancelled Stephen Colbert were both up for outstanding variety series, the latter of whom won.

That show received nine nominations for this Emmys ceremony, following the news that CBS announced its end earlier this year. In his acceptance speech, Colbert joked that if the audience enjoyed the comedy they should thank his old writers — as they wrote it all.

"I got some great news, they are all 'tech avail,'" he said, before speaking earnestly. "We hope you enjoyed the show, we had a great time doing it for you ... we'll catch you all on the flip."

Jackson Weaver is a reporter and film critic for CBC's entertainment news team in Toronto. You can reach him at jackson.weaver@cbc.ca.