Widow's Bay won the award for Best Comedy Series at the 2026 Emmy Awards, taking the top prize in its first season on air.
The horror-comedy beat Abbott Elementary, Margot's in Trouble, The Bear, Nobody Wants This, Only Murders in the Building, Telling It Real and Hacks for the honor, according to CNN Brasil. Only Murders in the Building, which stars Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, has been a frequent nominee in the category in recent years.
The Emmy Awards are presented annually by the Television Academy to honor the best in American television across categories including drama, comedy and limited series.
A record haul for a debut season
Widow's Bay debuted in April 2026 and received 19 nominations right out of the gate. By the end of the ceremony, the show had collected 14 wins.
Along with Best Comedy Series, Widow's Bay took home Best Supporting Actress for Kate O'Flynn and Best Supporting Actor for Stephen Root. Matthew Rhys won Best Actor for his role in the series, and the show also picked up the awards for directing and writing in the comedy categories.
Rhys previously won an Emmy for his lead role in The Americans, while Root is a veteran character actor known for his work in Office Space and Barry.
Hacks sets a nomination record but wins little
Widow's Bay was not the most nominated comedy of the night. Hacks, which follows a veteran stand-up comedian played by Jean Smart as she mentors a young writer, went into the record books as the most nominated comedy series in Emmy history.
Despite the record haul of nominations, Hacks won only two awards. One of them went to Smart, who took Best Actress in a Comedy Series for a fifth consecutive year, a feat no performer had achieved before her, CNN Brasil reported.
The story behind Widow's Bay
Widow's Bay mixes comedy with horror and follows a small, isolated ocean island that time seems to have forgotten, where residents live alongside a web of local legends. Rhys plays Mayor Tom Loftis, who is determined to boost tourism in the town while confronting a string of strange occurrences that suggest the island is cursed.
CNN Brasil, which first reported the results, said a full list of winners from the 2026 Emmy Awards ceremony was available separately.
