During the night from Monday to Tuesday, Los Angeles will host the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, the world’s biggest and most prestigious television prize. Across 19 categories, where winners are chosen in a ceremony hosted by actress Mariska Hargitay, several queer creators in television will be vying for recognition. Six of them have a real shot at an Emmy this year.
Colman Domingo
As with the first season of “The Four Seasons” (Netflix), Colman Domingo is once again nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of the gay architect Danny. The field is tough, including a matchup against Harrison Ford. He also earned a nomination this year as a guest star in the third and final season of “Euphoria” (after winning his only Emmy in 2022 for the show). In this category—already awarded last week at the Primetime Creative Arts Emmys—the 56-year-old fell to Ernst Harden Jr. for “The Pitt.”
Michael Urie
Dominating Domingo’s lineup of rivals once again is Michael Urie. The 46-year-old is nominated again for his role as the gay best friend to the lead character played by Jason Segel in the comedy series “Shrinking” (Apple TV). For the role in the series, which is already in production on its fourth season, the former “Ugly Betty” star earned the Critics Choice Award in 2025.
Hannah Einbinder
Once again, one of the big front-runners in the comedy category is the marvelous and very queer series “Hacks.” The fifth and final season has not yet aired in Germany (the rest are streaming on RTL+ and other platforms), but its quality remains undiminished. Last year, in addition to the leading actress and perennial winner Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder also received an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress. This year the 31-year-old queer performer—who can currently be seen in theaters in “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma”—is nominated again for Best Supporting Actress.
Ayo Edebiri
Edebiri has also been recognized by the Emmys before, for “The Bear” (Disney+). That was in 2023 for the first season, when she was still a supporting actress. Now the queer 30-year-old, who recently also appeared in the series “I Love L.A.”, is a lead and is nominated for her performance as a chef in the very dramatic comedy series for the fourth time. In the coming year she could have another chance, because the fifth and final season of “The Bear” becomes eligible for the 2027 Emmys. By then she will also be launching a new series, “Prodigies.”
Meg Stalter
Meg Stalter has been part of the “Hacks” ensemble since the first season, but for the fifth and final season she is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the first time. Regardless of this nomination, the bisexual 35-year-old has had a whirlwind year: after starring in Lena Dunham’s series “Too Much” in 2025, she released her debut album “Crave.” She also made her Broadway debut in the hit production “Oh, Mary” a few months ago.
Michael Patrick King
As one of the minds behind “Sex and the City,” Michael Patrick King helped write television history, and his controversial follow-up “And Just Like That” eventually ran for three seasons. He is now nominated in the Best Script/Comedy category for a single episode of the cult series “The Comeback” (HBO Max). He co-wrote the script with his fellow nominee and longtime collaborator Lisa Kudrow, with whom he conceived the show more than two decades ago. Kudrow is this year nominated again as a lead actress, just as she was for the first two seasons of “The Comeback.” To date, King has won two Emmys: in 2001 as a producer on “Sex and the City,” and a year later for a teleplay in the same hit show.
Plus: Reality-TV
The Emmy slate also preserves its queer-leaning edge in the Outstanding Reality Competition Program category. Nominees include “Dancing with the Stars,” Kirsten Kish (a lesbian) hosting the cooking competition “Top Chef,” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the show that dominated for four consecutive years (2018–2021). The favorite, however, is last year’s winner “The Traitors.” For the U.S. version of “Die Verräter — Trust Nobody!,” the Primetime Creative Arts Emmys have already awarded bisexual actor Alan Cumming as host (TheColu.mn reported).
Other Emmy winners announced at last week’s event included the rebooted “The Muppet Show,” Bad Bunny’s halftime show, and Hollywood legend Julie Andrews as the narrator in “Bridgerton.” The hairstyling team from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” also took home an Emmy. Connor Storie, a star of “Heated Rivalry” (a Canadian production not eligible for the Emmys), left empty-handed for his appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”
