Matthew Rhys makes Emmys history with double lead wins — SkimNews
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- Matthew Rhys won outstanding lead actor in a comedy for Apple TV's Widow's Bay and outstanding lead actor in a limited series for Netflix's The Beast in Me — the first actor in 78 years to win multiple lead Emmys for different shows in the same year, and with his 2018 drama win for The Americans, the first male performer to sweep all three lead acting categories.
- Widow's Bay dominated the ceremony with 14 of 19 nominations, taking best comedy series plus supporting actress for Kate O'Flynn, supporting actor for Stephen Root, writing for creator Katie Dippold, and directing for Hiro Murai.
- Noah Wyle won outstanding lead actor in a drama for The Pitt — the first drama actor to take consecutive Emmys since Bryan Cranston on Breaking Bad — while the medical drama also won best drama series and six awards overall from 25 nominations.
- Jean Smart won her eighth acting Emmy and fifth for lead actress in a comedy for the final season of Hacks, tying Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cloris Leachman for the most acting wins ever and becoming the first woman to win an Emmy for every season of a show.
- Alison Janney reached her own eighth acting Emmy with a supporting actress win for The Diplomat, tying Smart, Louis-Dreyfus, and Leachman.
- DTF St Louis swept limited series categories with seven wins, including best series plus acting wins for David Harbour and Linda Cardellini.
- Stephen Colbert won the variety show Emmy for The Late Show's final season after its controversial cancellation, using his speech to urge the room to "hire" the show's over 200 former staff members.
Why it matters: Matthew Rhys becomes the first actor ever to sweep all three lead acting Emmys, while Apple TV's Widow's Bay's 14-of-19 haul signals its biggest comedy breakthrough to date. The relatively apolitical ceremony still featured Vince Gilligan and R Scott Gemmill calling for honest storytelling amid a reality Gilligan called "so sci-fi."
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