The 2026 Emmys kicked off over the weekend with the Creative Arts Awards, featuring a handful of nominations and wins for LGBTQIA+ productions.
Hacks and Pluribus led the charge on queer representation, while the Reality TV Host category was stacked with community icons.
For anyone out of the Emmy’s loop, the annual event is hosted in Los Angeles, beginning with the Creative Arts Awards on the 5th and 6th of September, and ending with the main Primetime event on the 14th. The Creative Arts Awards focus on excellence in artistic and technical TV achievement, while the slightly more glamorous Primetime Emmy Awards give us the acting and directing awards.
While comedy and reality series scooped up a few nominations and wins this year, concerns have been raised about a lessening queer presence in television and film.
Here’s some of the queer highlights so far at the 2026 Emmys and what to expect in the coming weeks.
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Hacks on a record-breaking trajectory
The hit HBO comedy Hacks smashed previous records for the most Emmy nominations for a comedy this year with a total of 24, leading the charge on queer-centred TV this year.
Over the weekend, the 2026 Emmys Creative Arts Awards saw a win for the series for Picture Editing for a Single-Camera Comedy Series, though fans are still anticipating the Primetime Emmys, where veteran actor Jean Smart is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
After Smart’s four-year streak of wins in the category (from 2021-2025), a win this year would see her become the first woman to win lead comedy actress for every single season of a series.
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Pluribus clean-up
The first weekend of the 2026 Emmys has seen four wins for the sci-fi drama, which follows romance author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) in the aftermath of an alien invasion/viral outbreak.
So far this year, the series has won Outstanding Main Title Theme Music, Outstanding Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series, but it’ll likely see even more success next week.
Out of 18 total nominations, the show still has 14 awaiting the Primetime ceremony.
Reality TV Host representation
The category of Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program has seen historic LGBTQIA+ representation this year, with four out of five nominees being queer!
Beloved host of “The Traitors” Alan Cumming beat RuPaul, Kristen Kish and Ariana Madix (as well as Jeff Probst) to solidify his third win in a row for the reality competition series.
Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie
Breakout star Connor Storrie appeared on the red carpet with his mother, Linda Storrie, showing off his infamous buzzcut publicly for the first time.
Though the hit Canadian series “Heated Rivalry” is ineligible for nomination, Storrie received his first Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series after hosting SNL earlier this year.
Alongside Michael J. Fox, Brett Goldstein, Hamish Linklater, and Christopher McDonald, Storrie lost to Rob Reiner, who received the win posthumously for his role in “The Bear”.
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Colman Domingo
Actor Colman Domingo continues to set the bar for men’s fashion, appearing on the red carpet in a custom Valentino suit.
Domingo doubled his lifetime count of both Emmy nominations and wins this year, winning Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
He was also nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, which he won in 2022, becoming the first ever gay Black man to win an Emmy in the category.
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Trends in queer representation
This year’s Emmys have seen some exciting nominations and wins for the LGBTQ+ community, however queer representation hasn’t skyrocketed, and may even be headed for a major dip.
Hacks has been one of the biggest drivers of queer representation at this year’s awards, especially for bisexual women and lesbians, but the beloved series has now concluded its run and will not return to the Emmys in the future.
Late last year, GLAAD released its “Where We Are On TV” report warning that 40% of the 489 LGBTQ+ characters featured across the 2024-25 TV season would disappear from television the following year due to series endings, cancellations and character exits.
While we celebrate this year’s wins, I say we keep one eye on representation in TV in the future.
For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, and community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
