According to historical Emmy data compiled by ActionNetwork.com, the 2026 Emmy Awards could make history multiple times over — and Black talent is at the center of nearly every record on the line.

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards will be hosted by Mariska Hargitay and air live on Monday, September 14, at 8 p.m. ET from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. The ceremony will stream live on Peacock and if the nominations are any indication, it’s going to be a night worth watching in full. From RuPaul potentially extending his record as the most decorated Black artist in Emmy history to Zendaya chasing a third win in the drama category, here is what’s at stake.

RuPaul and RuPaul’s Drag Race

RuPaul is already the Black artist with the most Emmys ever won, holding 14 to his name. A win this year in the Outstanding Reality Competition Program category as a producer of RuPaul’s Drag Race would push that number to 15. The show itself holds its own record, 30 Emmy wins as the most awarded reality competition program in Emmy history. A win this year would bring that total to 31.

Quinta Brunson: Two Categories, Two Chances at History

Abbott Elementary star and creator Quinta Brunson is positioned to make history twice in one night. In the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, a win would make her the first Black actress to ever win twice in that category. She first won in 2023, becoming the first Black actress to take the honor since Isabel Sanford in 1981, a 42-year gap. In the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series category, a win would make her the first Black woman to win twice there as well. She already holds the record as the Black woman with the most nominations in that category with four.

Colman Domingo

Colman Domingo, nominated for Four Seasons in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category, could become the first Afro-Latino actor to ever win in the category and only the second Black actor to win it, 47 years after Robert Guillaume‘s historic win for Soap in 1979.

Tyler James Williams

Williams, also from Abbott Elementary, is nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category as well. A win would make him only the second Black actor to win there, joining Robert Guillaume, who won for Soap in 1979. That’s a 47-year gap between the first and potentially the second.

Zendaya: Chasing History in Two Ways

Zendaya returns to the Emmy stage with Euphoria and two potential records within reach. She became the youngest winner ever in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category when she won her first Emmy at age 24 in 2020. A third win would make her the youngest actress in history to win the category three times. It would also make her the first Black actress to win the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category three times.

Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Hanelle Culpepper

Perhaps the most overdue milestone on this list lives in the Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series category, where no Black woman has ever won. Salli Richardson-Whitfield, nominated for her work on both Task and The Gilded Age, already made history in 2024 as the first Black woman ever nominated in the category. This year she became the first Black woman to receive two nominations in the category in the same year. Hanelle Culpepper, nominated for Paradise, gives the category a second Black woman in contention. Either way, history is possible.

The 2026 Emmy Awards take place this fall. The record books are ready.