Seven Emmy winners were Variety cover stars first
Seven newly crowned Emmy winners had already stared out from a Variety cover in the past year.
Variety reported on 15 September 2026 that its cover stars over the previous 12 months included seven winners at the 2026 Emmys, tying the magazine's front page directly to awards night Variety.
The seven are Noah Wyle, Jean Smart, Matthew Rhys, Rhea Seehorn, Sally Field, David Harbour and Linda Cardellini. Wyle won lead actor in a drama series for The Pitt, which Variety lists as an HBO Max series. Seehorn won lead actress in a drama series for Pluribus.
Smart won lead actress in a comedy series for Hacks, also identified as an HBO Max series. Smart keeps winning. She had already won the same lead comedy actress prize for Hacks in 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025 Variety. At the 2026 ceremony, Smart and Allison Janney tied the all-time Emmy record with eight wins apiece Gold Derby.
In the limited categories, which cover a single closed story rather than a returning series, Sally Field won lead actress in a limited or anthology series for Remarkably Bright Creatures. David Harbour won supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie for DTF St. Louis, with Linda Cardellini winning the supporting actress prize for the same title.
Matthew Rhys, linked in the coverage to Widow's Bay and The Beast in Me, was listed among the 2026 Emmy winners in lead actor categories. Variety lists Widow's Bay, starring Rhys, as an Apple TV series Variety.
What makes this stand out is the runway. The Pitt, led by Wyle, entered the 2026 Primetime Emmys with the most nominations in the field ABC News. Variety had already labelled Wyle a “Variety cover star” in its 2026 Emmys predictions coverage Variety.
For fans, this means the faces were familiar before the envelopes opened. Wyle also appeared among the presenters for Night Two of the 78th Emmy Awards, alongside Betty Gilpin and Jeff Hiller, according to the Television Academy. Separately, winners of the 2026 Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards were announced on 25 July, with the complete list compiled by the independent accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP.
