Why ‘Industry’ Got Robbed at the Emmys, and More Thoughts on This Year’s TV Nominations

The 2026 Primetime Emmy nominations dropped this week — and IndieWire’s “Screen Talk” podcast is here to break down who and what was most and least deserved, and who got robbed, and the why of all of it.

Our Awards Editor Marcus Jones joins co-hosts Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio for an exhaustive (but hardly exhausting) rundown of the drama, comedy, and limited series categories. Netflix earned 111 nominations, which somehow feels underwhelming given their streaming sprawl across not only drama, comedy, and limited series, but also specials and variety programs.

Apple TV came into prominence with a robust 89 nominations, buoyed by kudos for cult favorite “Widow’s Bay” and “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” “Your Friends and Neighbors,” “Shrinking,” “Slow Horses,” and, of course, “Pluribus.” But as Marcus explains, “Pluribus” star Rhea Seehorn’s presumed-favorite win for lead actress won’t be an easy one; she’s up against TV veteran Keri Russell (“The Diplomat”) and 2026-ubiquitous star Zendaya (“Euphoria”).

Speaking of “Euphoria” and HBO, Ryan remains baffled (but cynically unsurprised) that Season 4 of “Industry” was totally blanked by the TV academy — even after the cabler repositioned the long-running series as a winter season release, and staged its first-ever all-out FYC campaign event for the wildly popular (online, at least) series about Gen Z financial players. It’s one of the most critically adored series of the year! But as Marcus shrewdly explains, the precedent for TV voters to catch up to Season 4 on a show that’s heretofore gone unnominated is almost nonexistent.

On the comedy side, the winds favor Jean Smart to win her record fifth consecutive Best Actress award for the final season of “Hacks.” While that’s not outdoing Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ six consecutive wins in the category for “Veep,” it would set another milestone: Smart as the only actress to win in this category for every season of a show. (Louis-Dreyfus lost one year out of “Veep’s” seven-season run.) There’s competition ahead with Lisa Kudrow, who’s been nominated for every season of “The Comeback” across more than two decades. The meta comedy show plays to the industry crowd with its trenchant satire of AI and how it’s impacting TV actors and writers, but the beloved series may prove too small for the voting bloc. (Kudrow also has an Emmy already for “Friends,” but the honor still feels overdue.)

Listen below for more analysis on this year’s nominees. Meanwhile, Anne and Ryan share what they can pre-embargo after having seen Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” in 70mm IMAX. While the leaked notion that influencers wouldn’t see the film before critics turned out to be a misdirection — many were installed in earlier junket screenings anyway — critics did get an early look at the top of this week. It goes without saying that Nolan’s massively scaled film should expect mythic levels of box-office success and award nominations as the year rolls on. It opens next Friday.

Listen to the episode below or on your preferred podcast platform.