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Awards season loves a fresh face, but this one also loves a weathered one.
When the Television Academy announced its nominations in July, the story wasn’t about the ingenues.
It was about the lifers, the character actors, the movie stars and the beloved figures we lost along the way. Voters have handed us a September ceremony where nearly every envelope could contain a piece of Emmy history.
Harrison Ford, 84 on Emmy night, is back for Apple TV’s “Shrinking” — still chasing the first major acting trophy of a 60-year screen career. The oldest winner in the category’s history is Henry Winkler, who was 72 when he won for the first season of “Barry” in 2018. Ford would shatter that record. He would also supplant Bob Newhart — 84 when he finally won for “The Big Bang Theory” in 2013 — as the oldest man ever to win a comedy acting Emmy, by a matter of weeks.
And here’s the beautiful part: If Ford doesn’t do it, Stephen Root might. The 74-year-old, nominated for the freshman horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay” after some 250 credits and zero wins, would top Winkler’s mark. Two men older than the standing record, in the same category, in the same year, is pitch perfect.
The lead comedy actor race carries the same energy. Martin Short, 76, lands his fifth consecutive nomination for Hulu’s mystery romp “Only Murders in the Building” — his eighth acting nod overall, but still without an acting win. A victory would make him the oldest lead comedy actor champion ever, sailing past Eugene Levy, who was 73 when “Schitt’s Creek” swept in 2020. His competition includes a fellow member of the 0-fer club: Steve Carell, 64, whose pivot to the dark comedy “Rooster” brings his career acting ledger to 0-for-7 — six straight losses for “The Office,” one for “The Morning Show.” Will he ever win?
The women’s races are just as historic. Sally Field, 79, returns to the limited series/TV movie field in the film adaptation of the acclaimed novel “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” finally getting the kind of showcase that may remind voters what she’s capable of. Her last Emmy came in 2007 for the ABC drama “Brothers and Sisters”; a win here would make her, by a matter of months, the oldest winner in the category’s history, something Kathy Bates missed last year with “Matlock.” Jessica Tandy was also 79 when she won for “Foxfire” in 1988.
Youn Yuh-jung, 79, may have the best narrative in the entire field. Five years after becoming the first Korean performer to win an Oscar for “Minari” (2020), she earned her first Emmy nomination as the imperious Chairman Park in the second season of the anthology series “Beef.” A win would make her the first Korean actress to take a Primetime acting Emmy — Lee Jung-jae broke the barrier for the men with “Squid Game” in 2022 — and the first Korean performer to own both an Oscar and an Emmy for acting. She’d also join Eva Le Gallienne (1978) and Ellen Burstyn (2013) as only the third woman 79 or older to win the category.
Michelle Pfeiffer, 68, finally gets the television vehicle worthy of her in Apple TV’s “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” earning her second career nomination and positioning herself for a first Emmy that would double as a coronation for her small-screen era.
And spare a cheer for Dale Dickey, 64, whose first nomination ever — supporting comedy actress for “Widow’s Bay” — arrives after four decades of being the best thing in everything from “Winter’s Bone” onward. That show, it should be said, is a veterans’ full-employment act all by itself.
And then we have the lifers and character actors who are constantly referred to as “that guy” or “that gal.” Jeff Kober, 72, is having the kind of season character actors dream about: a guest drama nomination for his quietly devastating turn as the patient Duke on HBO Max’s medical drama “The Pitt,” paired with a Daytime Emmy nomination this year for revisiting “General Hospital” — the show that won him a Daytime trophy in 2022, for which he also self-submitted. Forty years after “China Beach” and “Sons of Anarchy” made him television’s most reliable menace, he’s on both Emmy ballots at once.
Richard Jenkins, 79, nominated in supporting limited for “DTF St. Louis,” would become the second-oldest winner in his category’s history — behind only Paul Newman, who was 80 when he won for “Empire Falls” in 2005. There are worse men to follow.
Which brings us to the nomination that will have the tear ducts full in the room. Rob Reiner, who was taken from us alongside his wife, Michele, in December at age 78, received a posthumous nod as guest comedy actor for his warm, funny arc as Albert, the franchising mentor in the fourth season of “The Bear.”
The history here is almost unbearable. Reiner’s two Emmys came as Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the classic comedy “All in the Family,” the last of which was in 1978 — meaning a win would arrive 48 years later, the longest gap between acting victories in Emmy history. The man whose record he’d break would be his father. Carl Reiner famously waited 38 years between wins, from “Caesar’s Hour” in 1957 to “Mad About You” in 1995 — a victory that came in this very category.
A posthumous win would also be the Emmys’ first for an on-camera performance since Raúl Julia in 1995 for “The Burning Season.” (Chadwick Boseman’s 2022 win was for voice work.)
None of these wins are guaranteed.
Emmy voters are not a sentimental bunch, and the categories are stacked and fiercely competitive. But with a veteran class that includes Ford and Field, Short and Root, Youn and Jenkins, Kober and Dickey — and Reiner above them all — the industry that spent decades treating its veterans as scenery would love to hand them their due on the big stage.
On Sept. 14, somebody’s going to make history just by standing up.
This week’s updated Emmy winner predictions are below.
See all Primetime Emmy predictions
Variety Awards Circuit: Emmys
Emmy Predictions Tracking
(Aug. 21, 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): Sepideh Moafi, “The Pitt” (HBO Max)
Supporting Actress (Comedy): Kate O’Flynn, “Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)
Supporting Actress (Limited/Movie): Linda Cardellini, “DTF. St. Louis” (HBO Max)
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 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): “Taylor Swift | the Eras Tour | the Final 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): Alexandria Stapleton, “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” (Netflix)
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): Ben Archard, “The Traitors” (Peacock)
Writing (Drama): “The Pitt” (HBO Max) — “1:00 P.M.” by Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman and R. Scott Gemmill
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): “Wanda Sykes: Legacy” (Netflix) by Wanda Sykes
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): Jimmy Kimmel, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (ABC)
Competition Program: “Survivor” (CBS)
Structured Reality Program: “Queer Eye” (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
