My Generally Pleased Reactions to the 2026 Emmy Nominations, Conclusion: Limited Series/TV Movie

 

 

I guess the only surprise – and it’s a slight one – is just how few nominations Half Man received from the Emmys. It's not that I'm not fine with their selection as its replacement but I did expect given how favorable the early critical response was as well as the number of nominations that it would manage to get in. Otherwise…

Well, we'll see. Here are my reactions.

 

OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

I picked four of the five nominees and sure enough All Her Fault, Season 2 of Beef, The Beast in Me and Love Story are here. And since I did want DTF St. Louis to be among those considered as an alternative, I can't really complain about it being here instead of Half Man. I will confess to being surprised it did as well it did among the nominations but again that's actually a pleasant surprise for once. Not all of the nominations here are.

For example…

 

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES (TV MOVIE)

Here by far I have the most issues of any single category among the nominees. (That in itself is refreshing as my long time readers will know.)

I advocated for Oscar Isaac and Matthew Rhys being here. And I can accept, if not be thrilled by the fact that Charlie Hunnam is here for playing Ed Gein in Season 3 of Monster. He was nominated for multiple awards at the end of 2025 so that wasn't impossible.

But Jamie Bell for Hard Man and Paul Anthony Kelly for Love Story being overlooked for Riz Ahmed for Bait and Jason Bateman for Black Rabbit is a bridge too far. In Ahmed's case he's the only major nomination Bait got and its not like Bateman was lacking for recognition this cycle. Kelly and Bell's performances were among the best given in any limited series this year; that neither were even nominated is a travesty. Fortunately its one of very few travesties this cycle so I'll vent about it a little less.

 

OUTSTANDING LEAD ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES (TV MOVIE)

Here I can't complain at all. Claire Danes, Carey Mulligan, Sarah Snook and Laura Pidgeon are all more than deservedly here. And I'll be honest: I expected Sally Field to be here for her work in Remarkably Bright Creatures. She had been nominated by the Astras and a few other groups so it was nearly inevitable she'd be picked above anyone from The Girlfriend or Alison Janney.  And considering how few nominations actors from TV movies are getting from the Emmys or really any awards show group these days I'm more than fine with it.

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES

I expected David Harbour and Jason Bateman to be here for DTF St. Louis and Charles Melton for Beef. I expected Richard Gadd to be here for Half Man, I didn't know he'd be the only nominee for the show.

As for the other two nominees I could have advocated for either one in my predictions with no real problems. Richard Jenkins work in DTF St. Louis was just as good at his co-stars but I honestly didn't think the Emmys would be that generous to the show. I'm glad I was proven wrong.

And Nick Offerman had received more than  a few nominations for his work in Death by Lightning for playing Chester Arthur. But I really did think that if the Emmys were going to nominate anyone as an actor from that series it would be Michael Shannon.  As it is I'm happy for this nomination for two reasons. First it shows that the Emmys are clearly making up for lost time with Offerman after years of ignoring his work on Parks & Rec. And second as a historian Chester Arthur need positive representation. (By the way Offerman could have made a living as a Chester Arthur impersonator if the acting thing hadn't worked out.)

I guess I'm irritated Jake Lacy was shut out yet again for his work but what else is new?

 

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES

I was right about Dakota Fanning and Linda Cardellini. The other four are not what I expected – but that's not entirely a bad thing unlike with Best Actor.

First while I'm disappointed neither Grace Gummer nor Naomi Watts were nominated for Love Story I'm more than fine with Constance Zimmer being nominated. Zimmer's work was just as superb as theirs but it was comparatively a smaller role, the kind that the Emmys almost always overlook for showier ones. Zimmer's nomination is a triumph for that kind of performance and the acting itself.

Similarly Youn Yuh-Jeng being nominated for Beef instead of Callie Spaeny is only slightly surprising. Many people believed she deserved to be nominated as much as her co-star and while Spaeny deserved recognition she should have gotten it.

I found Joy Sunday's work as the porn-positive detective in DTF St. Louis one of the most quietly hysterical and endearing performance in the entire series. I overlooked her for the same reason I thought the Emmys would overlook Jenkins, I didn't think they give it this much recognition but they did and I'm grateful.

Honestly I'm not even that upset that Laurie Metcalf was nominated for Monster ahead of such actresses as Naomi Watts and Grace Gummer. Metcalf has been one of the great actors in TV during the last decade and I'm basically happier she double-dipped then I am Jason Bateman. This category just became a lot harder to predict a winner but that's fun.

I'm slightly surprised there are only four nominations for directing in this category and two of them seem to have gone to Beef. I'm glad to see All Her Fault, Beef and Beast in Me have individual Emmy nominations and Death By Lightning and DTF St. Louis both had their main writers nominated.

As for TV Movie it's about what you'd expect which is not much. I'm glad to see Jack Ryan was nominated for its wrap up and I'm fine with Miss You, Love You and Remarkably Bright Creatures. As an Emily Henry fan I'm glad to see People We Meet on Vacation nominated. Heads of State…sigh.

 

So the nominations are out and I'm good with anywhere from 80 to 85 percent of them. I won't be cursing the Academy for much of the next two months, which will leave me more time to catch up on the nominated series – most of which I already love.

I'll be back in the middle of August to get to my breakdown of the potential winners. In the meantime keeping watching this space as I look at how Phase Three plays out and how it might affect the winners in two months' time.