Apple TV’s ‘Widow’s Bay’ dominated the 78th Emmy Awards, setting a single-season record for a comedy with 14 wins, including best comedy series.
According to the Associated Press, the supernatural comedy surpassed the previous record of 13 awards set by ‘The Studio’ in 2025, while star Matthew Rhys emerged as one of the biggest winners of the night.
Rhys won best actor in a comedy for his role in ‘Widow’s Bay’ and also took best actor in a limited series or movie for ‘The Beast in Me’.
“The celebrations will be long, varied, and I hope at times wild,” Rhys said backstage while holding two of his awards.
‘Widow’s Bay’ dominates comedy categories
The first-season series, created by Katie Dippold, follows a New England island community dealing with a centuries-old curse.
It swept several major comedy categories, with Kate O’Flynn winning supporting actress and Stephen Root taking supporting actor.
The show also won for writing and directing, adding to eight awards it had already secured at the Creative Arts Emmys.
Rhys’ victories made him the first performer to win lead acting Emmys across the comedy, drama and limited-series categories during his career.
Elsewhere, ‘The Pitt’ won best drama series for the second consecutive year, while Noah Wyle retained the best actor in a drama award.
Rhea Seehorn won best actress in a drama for ‘Pluribus’, while Jean Smart collected her fifth consecutive best actress in a comedy award for the final season of ‘Hacks’.
The night firmly belonged to ‘Widow’s Bay’, however, with its 14-award haul establishing a new benchmark for comedy series at the Emmys.
