Apple TV’s horror-comedy series Widow’s Bay shattered records at the 78th Emmy Awards on September 14, 2026, by securing 14 wins in a single season. The dark comedy, created by Katie Dippold and starring Matthew Rhys, surpassed the previous comedy benchmark set by The Studio.
An Unprecedented Night for a Dark New England Comedy
A “Widow’s Bay” wave slammed into the Emmy Awards on Monday night (Tuesday NZT) as the Apple TV show set a single-season record for a comedy with 14 wins, including best comedy series and best actor for star Matthew Rhys, who personally took home three trophies. The series leans hard into both comedy and horror as it tells the story of a New England island community reckoning with a centuries-old curse, featuring a mayor, played by Matthew Rhys.
Created by Katie Dippold, the first-season show surpassed the record set last year by “The Studio” when it won 13. Every other comedy award went to “Widow’s Bay,” which unequivocally owned the night. At Monday’s Emmys ceremony, the first-year series beat out “Hacks”.
Historic Wins and Individual Trophies Across Categories
Matthew Rhys had an especially historic night during the 78th Emmy Awards on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles. In addition to winning best actor in a comedy for “Widow’s Bay,” he won best actor in a limited or anthology series for The Beast In Me,
becoming the first man to win two leading actor categories in the same year. He also received a best comedy series trophy as an executive producer of “Widow’s Bay.”
The celebrations will be long, varied, and I hope at times wild,
Rhys said backstage while holding two of his Emmys. Katie Dippold and the team from ‘Widow’s Bay’ accepted the award for outstanding comedy series during the 78th Emmy Awards on Sept 14. The series took home a record-breaking 14 Emmys, the most-ever for a comedy series, with wins that include lead and supporting actor, supporting actress, directing and writing. Those wins included Best Comedy, Best Actor for Matthew Rhys, Best Supporting Actor for Stephen Root, Best Supporting Actress for Kate O’Flynn and many more.
Where Other Heavy Nominees Stumbled
While “Widow’s Bay” dominated the comedy field, other programs faced mixed results at the ceremony. “The Pitt” won best drama series for the second straight year, and star Noah Wyle repeated as best actor in a drama, but the HBO Max emergency room drama won no other Emmys and underperformed its expectations. Meanwhile, Rhea Seehorn won best actress in a drama for Pluribus.
Additionally, Jean Smart won her fifth best actress in a comedy award for the fifth and final season of Hacks. No actor had won an Emmy every year for a series that lasted more than three seasons until Smart did it Tuesday.
Production Timeline and What Lies Ahead
Widow’s Bay fans are celebrating, of course, but the question then turns to: when will there be more? When is season 2? We do have some season 2 release date updates that came just before all these Emmy wins. In an interview with Screenrant, star and now Emmy-winner Kate O’Flynn said that production on Widow’s Bay season 2 is set to begin hopefully around March 2027, which would be around six months from now.
Production started on Widow’s Bay season 1 in June 2025, and the show premiered on April 29, 2026, around 10 months later. So, if production for season 2 starts in March 2027, 10 months after that would be a January 2028 release date. And January 2028 would be a one-year, eight-month wait between season 1 and season 2, delivered as a 10-episode comedy horror series.
