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Winning an Emmy is hard. Winning one for every eligible season of a television series is almost impossible, and has never happened for a woman … until now?
Jean Smart has won lead comedy actress for every eligible season
of HBO Max’s “Hacks,” taking home trophies in 2021, 2022, 2024, and 2025. With the acclaimed comedy ending after its fifth season, Smart is nominated one final time. A fifth consecutive win would complete a flawless run across the series’ entire life span, something no woman has ever achieved in the acting categories. The victory would carry added significance for Smart’s own legacy. It would be her eighth career Emmy, moving her into a tie with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the second most acting Emmys won by a female performer.
Noteworthy, Allison Janney, a supporting drama actress nominee for “The Diplomat,” can also join Zendaya, who has won two Emmys for playing Rue on “Euphoria.” 08.10.2026 3 Variety the elite list if she wins as she’s tied with Smart and Mary Tyler Moore. Should Smart fall short, however, she would finish with the same agonizing near miss that befell Louis-Dreyfus, who won six Emmys across the seven-season run of “Veep.”
So, who can stop Smart in her tracks? Her HBO Max counterpart, Lisa Kudrow, who has the most remarkable streak of all, earning noms for every season of cringe-comedy “The Comeback” in 2006, 2015 and now 2026 — a perfect run stretched across two decades. A previous winner for “Friends,” and also a nominee with cowriter Michael Patrick King, there could be a groundswell of support to give her a trophy, similar to the performer that beat Louis-Dreyfus in 2019: Phoebe Waller-Bridge for “Fleabag.”
When you’re looking at the other woman seeking to make history, Zendaya’s streak is shorter but no less remarkable, and arguably more difficult to sustain in her competitive field. She won lead drama actress for the first two seasons of “Euphoria” in 2020 and 2022, becoming the youngest two-time Emmy winner in history. Now, after the show’s lengthy hiatus, she returns with a chance to remain undefeated for a third time, but with mixed reviews, and two deniable powerhouses — Rhea Seehorn from “Pluribus” and Keri Russell from “The Diplomat” — she has her work cut out for her.
But why does any of this matter? Because Emmy history tells us this hardly ever happens. Only Bill Cosby has won an acting Emmy for every season of a scripted series that lasted at least three seasons, sweeping all three installments of “I Spy” from 1966 through 1968. (Blythe Danner accomplished the feat on “Huff,” but that Showtime drama lasted only two seasons.) A victory by either Smart or Zendaya would end a drought that has lasted nearly six decades and would mark the first woman to achieve the milestone.
Looking strictly at nominations, the list grows considerably, with 39 performers earning Emmy nominations for every eligible season of a show’s full run. They include legends such as 11-time nominees Alan Alda (“MASH”), Ted Danson (“Cheers”) and David Hyde Pierce (“Frasier”), along with eight-time nominees Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) and Tony Shalhoub (“Monk”), plus seven-time perfect streaks from Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”), Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey (“30 Rock”), Jane Kaczmarek (“Malcolm in the Middle”), Helen Hunt (“Mad About You”), Betty White and Estelle Getty (“The Golden Girls”), Betty Thomas (“Hill Street Blues”) and Mary Tyler Moore and Ed Asner (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”).
That so few have managed it speaks to how brutal the arithmetic of television can be. A show must stay great, stay on the air and remain in the Television Academy’s good graces for years, all while its lead performer fends off an ever-changing field of challengers every awards cycle.
Even sustaining a perfect nomination streak is extraordinarily rare, and this year proved how quickly one could unravel. “The Bear” delivered the cycle’s cruelest shock: Two-time winners Jeremy Allen White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, nominated for every previous season, were shut out completely, leaving Ayo Edebiri as the show’s lone acting nominee. Interestingly, previous guest comedy actor winner Jon Bernthal had also been nominated for every season of the show before his streak ended on nomination morning. Sheryl Lee Ralph, flawless through four seasons of “Abbott Elementary,” also saw her streak snapped, one year after co-star Tyler James Williams suffered the same fate before returning to the lineup this year.
This year’s Emmy nominees include several performers who have been recognized for every season of their current series. Quinta Brunson and Janelle James are each five for five for “Abbott Elementary.” Hannah Einbinder has matched Smart with nominations for all five seasons of “Hacks.” Martin Short has been nominated for every season of “Only Murders in the Building” without breaking through for a win, while Jason Segel and Jessica Williams are each three for three for “Shrinking,” though neither is widely viewed as a front-runner.
“The Diplomat” star Russell is also on a perfect run through the show’s first three seasons, making her a legitimate spoiler after her Actor Awards victory. And let’s not forget that next year could bring back several active perfect streaks following hiatuses: the “Ted Lasso” quartet of Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham and Juno Temple, along with the possibility of “Severance” stars Adam Scott, John Turturro and Patricia Arquette extending their own runs.
That’s what makes Smart’s and Zendaya’s pursuits so compelling. A perfect Emmy streak exists only until the season it doesn’t. One missed nomination or one loss is all it takes to erase the possibility forever, forcing a performer to start over with an entirely new series. Both women already rank among the most decorated performers of their generations. What’s on the table now is something even scarcer than another statuette: A chance to finish with an unblemished Emmy record that could outlive a career.
This week’s updated Emmy winner predictions are below.
See all Primetime Emmy predictions
Variety Awards Circuit: Emmys
Emmy Predictions Tracking
(Aug. 10, 2026)
Drama Series: “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
Comedy Series: “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)
Limited or Anthology Series: “Beef” (Netflix)
Outstanding Movie: “Remarkably Bright Creatures” (Netflix)
Lead Actor (Drama): Noah Wyle, “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
Lead Actor (Comedy): Matthew Rhys, “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)
Lead Actor (Limited/Movie): Oscar Isaac, “Beef” (Netflix)
Lead Actress (Drama): Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus” (Apple TV)
Lead Actress (Comedy): Jean Smart, “Hacks” (HBO Max)
Lead Actress (Limited/Movie): Carey Mulligan, “Beef” (Netflix)
Supporting Actor (Drama): Tom Pelphrey, “Task” (HBO Max)
Supporting Actor (Comedy): Stephen Root, “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)
Supporting Actor (Limited/Movie): David Harbour, “DTF St. Louis” (HBO Max)
Supporting Actress (Drama): Katherine LaNasa, “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
Supporting Actress (Comedy): Kate O’Flynn, “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)
Supporting Actress (Limited/Movie): Dakota Fanning, “All Her Fault” (Peacock)
Guest Actor (Drama): Colman Domingo, “Euphoria” (HBO Max)
Guest Actress (Drama): Brittany Allen, “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
Guest Actor (Comedy): Rob Reiner, “The Bear” (FX)
Guest Actress (Comedy): Betty Gilpin, “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)
Variety Series: “The Daily Show” (Comedy Central), “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC), “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO Max) and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS)
Variety Special (Live): “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny” (NBC)
Variety Special (Pre-Recorded): “The Muppet Show” (Disney+)
Directing (Drama): Vince Gilligan, “Pluribus” (Apple TV) — “We Is Us”
Directing (Comedy): Hiro Murai, “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV) — “Welcome to Widow’s Bay!”
Directing (Limited/Movie): Lee Sung Jin, “Beef” (Netflix) — “Oh, the Comfort, the Inexpressible Comfort”
Directing (Documentary/Nonfiction): Mariska Hargitay, “My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay” (HBO Max)
Directing (Variety Series): Yvonne De Mare, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS) — “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Series Finale”
Directing (Variety Special): Hamish Hamilton, “The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny” (NBC)
Directing (Reality Program): Cian O’Clery, “Love on the Spectrum” (Netflix) — “Episode 1″
Writing (Drama): “Task” (HBO Max) — “A Still Small Voice” by Brad Inglesby
Writing (Comedy): “Hacks” (HBO Max) — “Hacks (Finale)” by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky
Writing (Limited/Movie): “DTF St. Louis” (HBO Max) by Steven Conrad
Writing (Variety Series): “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS)
Writing (Variety Special): “The Muppet Show” (Disney+) by Albertina Rizzo, Gabe Liedman, Nedaa Sweiss, Kelly Younger and Andrew Williams
Writing (Nonfiction): “The Daily Show Presents: Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse: Give the Man a Prize” (Comedy Central)
Game Show: “Jeopardy!” (ABC)
Host (Reality or Reality Competition): Jeff Probst, “Survivor” (CBS)
Host (Game Show): Martin Short, “Match Game” (ABC)
Competition Program: “Survivor” (CBS)
Structured Reality Program: “Love is Blind” (Netflix)
Unstructured Reality Program: “Love on the Spectrum” (Netflix)
Documentary or Nonfiction Special: “My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay” (HBO Max)
Documentary or Nonfiction Series: “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” (Netflix)
Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special: “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman” (Netflix)
Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking: “The Librarians” (PBS)
Animated Program: “South Park” (Comedy Central) — “Sermon on the ‘Mount”
See all Academy Awards predictions
Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars
