Multiple music Emmy debuts celebrated at 2026 ceremony

Full account

The second night of the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys produced a string of milestone wins, several of them decades in the making, as the television academy handed out a run of acting awards ahead of next week's televised Primetime ceremony. Among the most celebrated was 73-year-old character actor Ernest Harden Jr, who picked up the Emmy for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for playing the alcoholic patient Louie Cloverfield in HBO Max's hospital drama The Pitt. It was Harden's first nomination in a career stretching back to 1974, built largely on supporting film roles and brief guest spots, and he described the win backstage as feeling almost unreal. Onstage he thanked The Pitt's producers, including John Wells and Noah Wyle, and paid tribute to his parents and to the late Bette Davis, his co-star in the 1980 television film White Mama, whose own Emmy nomination for that role never converted into a win.

David Harbour also collected a first Emmy, taking Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his role as Floyd Smernitch in HBO Max's DTF St Louis. Harbour had previously been nominated twice, in 2017 and 2018, for playing Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, but told the audience this win felt different because it belonged to the whole ensemble rather than to him individually. Backstage he reflected on his early years chasing acting work in New York, describing an enduring hunger to seek out interesting collaborators that he said had shaped his approach to the industry ever since. DTF St Louis, which premiered in March to strong reviews, has amassed 13 nominations this season and remains in contention for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series at the main ceremony.

Elsewhere, Spider-Noir enjoyed a striking run of success just days after Prime Video and MGM+ cancelled the Nicolas Cage series, which had marked the film star's first regular television role. Having earned 11 nominations, the most of any show on the streamer this year, the series won five Creative Arts awards covering stunt coordination, sound editing, title design, visual effects and cinematography. Members of its stunts team addressed the cancellation with good humour when asked backstage whether the wins might prompt a rethink, joking that they would happily make the case to executives if told whom to call. The series, following Cage's private investigator Ben Reilly in 1930s New York, had been intended as the opening chapter of a wider Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios venture into Marvel-related storytelling.

The night's most poignant moment came with a posthumous award for Rob Reiner, who won Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his appearance in FX's The Bear, nine months after he and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, died in December. Presenter Wendi McLendon-Covey accepted on his behalf to a lengthy standing ovation. The win was also historic: it was Reiner's first Emmy since 1978 for All in the Family, meaning the 48-year gap between his wins surpasses the previous record of 37 years, which had been held by his father, Carl Reiner, between a 1958 win for Caesar's Hour and a 1995 prize for Mad About You — coincidentally also in the guest comedy category. It marked the first posthumous acting Emmy since Raúl Julia's win for The Burning Season in 1995. An edited broadcast of the Creative Arts ceremonies airs on FXX on 12 September, ahead of the live 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, hosted by Mariska Hargitay, on NBC and Peacock on 14 September.

• deadline.com
• variety.com
• www.hollywoodreporter.com
• variety.com