Apple TV's Widow's Bay Leads Creative Arts Emmys Night 2 With Eight Wins, HBO's DTF St. Louis Takes Four
Apple TV's dark comedy horror series Widow's Bay dominated the second night of the Creative Arts Emmys on September 6, taking home eight awards — the most of any show that night. The series, starring Matthew Rhys, had entered the 78th Emmy Awards with 19 nominations, the highest count for any new show this year The Hollywood Reporter.
Widow's Bay swept across craft categories: Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series, Outstanding Cinematography for a Series (Half-Hour), Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program (Half-Hour), Outstanding Sound Editing, Outstanding Sound Mixing, and Outstanding Music Composition for a Series. It also picked up Outstanding Music Supervision. Betty Gilpin won Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance, bringing the show's Night 2 total to seven craft wins plus Gilpin's acting award Deadline. Variety independently confirmed Widow's Bay led Night 2 with eight wins Variety.
HBO's limited series DTF St. Louis had a strong night of its own, winning four craft awards: Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Picture Editing, Outstanding Directing, and Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Deadline. David Harbour and Linda Cardellini both won their first Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Supporting Actor and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, respectively. Jason Bateman was also nominated in the supporting actor category for his role as Clark Forrest in the same series Television Academy.
The Pitt, which arrived as the most-nominated show of 2026 with 25 nominations, won two below-the-line awards on Night 2: Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup and Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. Ernest Harden Jr. won an Emmy for his performance as Louie in The Pitt, beating fellow nominees Colman Domingo and Jeff Hiller. The show had taken home five Emmys from 13 nominations the previous year Deadline.
The Creative Arts Emmys are spread across two nights, honouring the people behind the camera — cinematographers, editors, casting directors, production designers, sound teams, makeup artists, costume designers, and stunt coordinators — alongside supporting and guest actors. The two nights are combined into a broadcast airing on Hulu and FXX on September 12, ahead of the live NBC and Peacock Primetime Emmys broadcast on September 14 Deadline.
Spider-Noir, a Prime Video series cancelled just two days before the ceremony, won five Emmy awards on Night 2, all in craft categories. The cancellation was announced by Prime Video earlier in the week Deadline.
What makes this year's Creative Arts stretch unusual is how many of the night's biggest winners were first-year shows. Widow's Bay was described by The Hollywood Reporter as the breakout of spring 2026 The Hollywood Reporter. The Pitt and Hacks led the overall nomination field, followed by Pluribus and Widow's Bay Variety. With the primetime ceremony still a week away, several of the most-nominated series have already banked craft wins — and a few, like Spider-Noir, have done it after being cancelled.
