A medical show has never won Best Drama Series twice at the Emmys — not even ER, the mega-hit that quasi-inspired The Pitt. That milestone is expected to finally be achieved this year.
HBO Max's The Pitt is Gold Derby's front-runner for Best Drama Series, with a leading 97% chance of earning a repeat nomination. The lineup is expected to include Apple TV's Pluribus (95%), Apple TV's Slow Horses (94%), Netflix's The Diplomat (94%), Hulu's Paradise (89%), HBO's Task (89%), HBO's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (69%), and HBO's Euphoria (41%).
Emmy Awards Nominations 2026 Comedy Series Comedy Actress Comedy Actor Comedy Supporting Actress Comedy Supporting Actor Comedy Guest Actress Comedy Guest Actor Drama Series Drama Actress Drama Actor Drama Supporting Actress Drama Supporting Actor Drama Guest Actress Drama Guest Actor Limited Series Movie Movie/Limited Actress Movie/Limited Actor Movie/Limited Supporting Actress Movie/Limited Supporting Actor Contender Odds 1. The Pitt 96.1% 2. Pluribus 95.1% 3. The Diplomat 93.7% 4. Slow Horses 93.3% 5. Paradise 89.2% 6. Task 87.9% 7. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms 69.3% 8. Euphoria 40.5% 9. The Gilded Age 36.7% 10. Stranger Things 22.6% 11. Industry 10.5% 12. The Morning Show 8.7% 13. The Testaments 6.7% 14. The Boys 4.2% 15. Fallout 3.1% 16. IT: Welcome to Derry 2.7% 17. Alien: Earth 1.9% 18. Landman 1.5% 19. The Madison 1.2% 20. Daredevil: Born Again 0.7% 21. Bridgerton 0.7% 22. Squid Game 0.6% 23. The Night Manager 0.6% 24. Cross 0.6% 25. House of Guinness 0.4% 26. Scarpetta 0.4% 27. Down Cemetery Road 0.4% 28. Outlander 0.3% 29. Dark Winds 0.3% 30. Matlock 0.1% 31. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 0.1% 32. The Boroughs 0.1% 33. Vanished 0.1% 34. The Audacity 0.1% 35. Talamasca: The Secret Order 0.1% 36. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 0.1% 37. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters 0.1% 38. For All Mankind 0.1% 39. Hijack 0.1% 40. Outlander: Blood of My Blood 0.1% 41. Smoke -- 42. High Potential -- 43. The Last Thing He Told Me -- 44. The Abandons -- 45. The Beauty -- 46. Tempest -- 47. Marshals -- 48. Your Friends and Neighbors -- 49. Memory of a Killer -- See All Predictions
Last year, The Pitt received 13 Emmy nominations and won five: Best Drama Series, Best Drama Actor for Noah Wyle, Best Drama Supporting Actress for Katherine LaNasa, Best Drama Guest Actor for Shawn Hatosy, and Best Drama Casting.
Wyle leads The Pitt ensemble as Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, a senior attending physician at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. He originally rose to fame as John Carter, a medical student-turned-attending physician, on ER. Both shows are produced by R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells, who years ago considered making The Pitt a spin-off of ER focused on Carter. Warner Bros. Television ultimately failed to reach an agreement with the late ER creator Michael Crichton's estate, so the concept was scrapped.
During its 15-year run on NBC, ER received 124 Emmy nominations and won 23, including Best Drama Series in 1996 for its second season. It was never able to reclaim that title, losing six other times to NYPD Blue (1995), Law & Order (1997), The Practice (1998 and 1999), and The West Wing (2000 and 2001).
Noah Wyle and the 'ER' cast NBC
The only other hospital show to win Best Drama Series at the Emmys was Marcus Welby, M.D. The ABC show starring Robert Young in the titular role prevailed in 1970, but couldn't claim a repeat win, losing its two other bids to The Bold Ones: The Senator (1971) and Elizabeth R (1972).
Shows about doctors are often nominated at the Emmys, and frequently win statuettes in other categories — just not Best Drama Series. Fan favorites like Grey's Anatomy, House, Quincy, M.E., and St. Elsewhere were nominated multiple times in the top series race, but all came up empty-handed.
Some might argue that two-time Best Drama Series winner Picket Fences (1993 and 1994) counts as a medical show since co-lead Kathy Baker played Jill Brock, a practicing physician. However, that program was more about the broader townsfolk of Rome, Wis. — including the police force, the judicial system, and the Brock family — and wasn't solely about Jill's medical practice.
Likewise, 1992's Emmy winner for Best Drama Series, Northern Exposure, starred Rob Morrow as Joel Fleischman, a New York physician forced to practice medicine in Alaska. The show was about the entire town of Cicely, and wasn't specifically focused on Joel's doctor's office.
Emmy Awards Nominations 2026 Comedy Series Comedy Actress Comedy Actor Comedy Supporting Actress Comedy Supporting Actor Comedy Guest Actress Comedy Guest Actor Drama Series Drama Actress Drama Actor Drama Supporting Actress Drama Supporting Actor Drama Guest Actress Drama Guest Actor Limited Series Movie Movie/Limited Actress Movie/Limited Actor Movie/Limited Supporting Actress Movie/Limited Supporting Actor Contender Odds 1. Noah Wyle 96.0% 2. Sterling K. Brown 95.4% 3. Mark Ruffalo 94.7% 4. Gary Oldman 94.1% 5. Walton Goggins 65.3% 6. Peter Claffey 56.0% 7. Jon Hamm 25.4% 8. Rufus Sewell 14.4% 9. Billy Bob Thornton 13.3% 10. Tom Hiddleston 8.6% 11. Antony Starr 8.2% 12. Morgan Spector 2.9% 13. Idris Elba 1.8% 14. Kurt Russell 1.6% 15. Karl Urban 1.1% 16. Jack Quaid 0.8% 17. Billy Magnussen 0.8% 18. Lee Jung-jae 0.8% 19. Zahn McClarnon 0.6% 20. Luke Thompson 0.6% 21. Evan Peters 0.5% 22. Charlie Cox 0.5% 23. Jovan Adepo 0.3% 24. Jeremy Renner 0.3% 25. Taron Egerton 0.3% 26. Kurt Russell 0.3% 27. Sam Heughan 0.3% 28. Aldis Hodge 0.3% 29. Anson Mount 0.2% 30. Nicholas Denton 0.2% 31. Bill Pullman 0.2% 32. Gabriel Basso 0.2% 33. Louis Partridge -- 34. Jamie Roy -- 35. Jeremy Irvine -- 36. Milo Callaghan -- 37. Patrick Dempsey -- 38. Luke Grimes -- 39. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo -- 40. Anthony Boyle -- 41. Gang Dong-won -- 42. Sam Claflin -- 43. Joel Kinnaman -- 44. Zachary Quinto -- See All Predictions
In addition to Best Drama Series, The Pitt is also predicted to receive Emmy bids for Best Drama Actor (Wyle), Best Drama Supporting Actress (LaNasa and Taylor Dearden), Best Drama Supporting Actor (Patrick Ball and Gerran Howell), Best Drama Guest Actress (Tal Anderson and Brittany Allen), and Best Drama Guest Actor (Hatosy and Jeff Kober).
The 2026 Emmys nominations will be announced July 8.