\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\tMichael J. Fox, \u201cShrinking\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApple TV<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tOutstanding Guest Acting Categories (Updated: Aug. 21, 2026):<\/strong> The guest performers can go many different directions. The comedy side is most interesting.<\/p>\n \n\tCOMEDY GUEST ACTRESS<\/p>\n \n\tLeslie Bibb, \u201cHacks\u201d (HBO Max) | \u201cMontecito\u201d \n\tJamie Lee Curtis, \u201cThe Bear\u201d (FX) | \u201cTonnato\u201d \n\tBetty Gilpin, \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay\u201d (Apple TV) | \u201cOur History\u201d \n\tCherry Jones, \u201cHacks\u201d (HBO Max) | \u201cMontecito\u201d \n\tLaurie Metcalf, \u201cHacks\u201d (HBO Max) | \u201cThe Garden\u201d \n\tKaitlin Olson, \u201cHacks\u201d (HBO Max) | \u201cD\u2019Amazing Race\u201d \n\tLauren Weedman, \u201cHacks\u201d (HBO Max) | \u201cThe Cube\u201d \n\tCOMEDY GUEST ACTOR \n\tHis first nomination since 2016 and a reminder that he has five Emmys already, across \u201cFamily Ties,\u201d \u201cSpin City\u201d and \u201cRescue Me.\u201d Fox does not appear on television casually anymore, which means every frame of this submission carries weight the category rarely sees. This is the emotional favorite and possibly the whole night\u2019s biggest ovation.<\/p>\n \n\tBrett Goldstein, \u201cShrinking\u201d (Apple TV) | \u201cHappiness Mission\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA two-time winner for \u201cTed Lasso\u201d who submits an episode inside the show\u2019s own series tape, doubling his exposure. Goldstein is also a writer and producer on \u201cShrinking,\u201d which is the sort of thing voters remember. Beating Michael J. Fox in this particular category would require a genuinely extraordinary 40 minutes.<\/p>\n \n\tHamish Linklater, \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay\u201d (Apple TV) | \u201cSeasickness\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA first-time nominee submitting the season finale, the same episode as Stephen Root. Linklater has been doing career-best work in horror-adjacent television for years without a single mention. That the recognition arrives for a comedy is fitting for a performer whose default mode has always been unnerving lightness.<\/p>\n \n\tChristopher McDonald, \u201cHacks\u201d (HBO Max) | \u201cNo New Tricks\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tForty years of playing the guy you love to dislike, and the episode title is practically a wink at the whole career. McDonald submits outside the series six. In a category where \u201cHacks\u201d holds real estate on both sides of the aisle, being the show\u2019s lone male guest nominee is not the worst position.<\/p>\n \n\tRob Reiner, \u201cThe Bear\u201d (FX) | \u201cTonnato\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe posthumous nomination, and the tape he shares with Jamie Lee Curtis. Reiner won two Emmys for \u201cAll in the Family\u201d more than 50 years ago, and this is the last performance the Academy will get to recognize. Voters do not need a strategy memo to know what to do here. They rarely do.<\/p>\n \n\tConnor Storrie, \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d (NBC) | \u201cHost: Connor Storrie\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tA first-time nominee whose own series was ruled ineligible because it was financed outside the U.S., so the Academy found another door. That is one of the stranger footnotes in recent Emmy history. Hosting \u201cSNL\u201d as a breakout is a category tradition. Winning it as a consolation prize would be new.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Emmy Awards timeline begins with nomination-round voting from June 11-22, with nominations announced on July 8. The final voting runs from Aug. 17-26, leading into the Creative Arts Awards and Governors Gala on Sept. 5\u20136, culminating with the Emmy Awards ceremony on Sept. 14 on NBC.<\/p>\n \t<\/p>\n \n(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n \t<\/p>\n \n(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();\n<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A first-time nominee submitting the same episode as Cherry Jones, which is either a two-hander or a bloodbath depending on how it plays. Bibb had the year of her career, and \u201cHacks\u201d guest slots have become the most competitive real estate on the comedy ballot. Five of seven nominees come from this show.<\/p>\n
She won this in 2024 and returns with a submission that also carries Rob Reiner\u2019s posthumous nomination. Curtis has an Oscar and an Emmy and now the rare distinction of anchoring the single most emotionally loaded tape in the field. Donna Berzatto detonates in roughly 12 minutes. That is all this category requires.<\/p>\n
Twice nominated for \u201cGLOW\u201d without winning, Gilpin submits an episode that appears nowhere else on the ballot, meaning voters will encounter it cold. That is a risk and an advantage. She is one of the sharpest comic actors of her generation and the only non-\u201cHacks,\u201d non-\u201cBear\u201d nominee here. Someone has to break the wall.<\/p>\n
A multiple Emmy winner including \u201c24\u201d and \u201cThe Handmaid\u2019s Tale,\u201d Jones is the most decorated performer in this category and submits the same tape as Leslie Bibb. Stage royalty doing precision comedy is a hard combination to vote against. The vote split is the only thing standing between her and a trophy.<\/p>\n
A dual nominee this year and one of the most awarded television actors alive, Metcalf submits an episode inside the show\u2019s own six, which means maximum exposure. She has won guest actress before, more than once. The Academy has never needed much of an excuse. \u201cThe Garden\u201d gives them one anyway.<\/p>\n
Twenty years of \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia\u201d and the Emmy nomination arrives via someone else\u2019s show, which is its own kind of commentary. Olson submits an episode outside the series six, so the tape stands alone. DJ is the most thankless part on \u201cHacks\u201d and Olson has made her land every season.<\/p>\n
A first-time nominee submitting an episode nowhere near the series tape, which means this nomination came from voters who actually watched the whole season. That almost never happens. Weedman is a longtime comedy lifer finally recognized in a category where five of the seven slots belong to one show.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>Michael J. Fox, \u201cShrinking\u201d (Apple TV) | \u201cThe Field\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Guest Actor (Drama)<\/h2>\n
![\"ali](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Euphoria-finale-ColmanDomingo.jpg?w=300\")
Guest Actor (Comedy)<\/h2>\n
![\"SATURDAY](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/connor-storrie-snl.jpg?w=300\")
Guest Actress (Drama)<\/h2>\n
![\"Shailene](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Shailene-Woodley-_Paradise_-Hulu.jpg?w=300\")
Guest Actress (Comedy)<\/h2>\n
![\"Kaitlin](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/kaitlin-olson-hacks-1.jpg?w=300\")
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