Here’s everything that happened at this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards. Check out our “what you need to know” article for even more Emmy coverage!
The Winners
The awards ceremony will begin at 8pm ET/5pm PT. You can see a full list of the nominees here, and we’ll update you on winners as they’re announced. If you want to try to predict the winners, you can fill out mock ballot from Vanity Fair here.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Tony Shaloub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series – Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series – Harry Bradbeer, Fleabag
Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series – Bill Hader, Barry
Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series – Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag
Outstanding Competition Series – RuPaul’s Drag Race
Outstanding Supporting Actress in Limited Series or TV Movie – Patricia Arquette, The Act
Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series or TV Movie – Johan Renck, Chernobyl
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie – Ben Wishaw, A Very English Scandal
Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series of TV Movie – Craig Mazin, Chernobyl
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie – Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us
Outstanding Television Movie – Bandersnatch
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie – Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon
Outstanding Limited Series – Chernobyl
Outstanding Variety Series – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Outstanding Variety Sketch Series – Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series – Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live
Outstanding Variety Talk Show Series – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series – Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series – Jesse Armstrong, Succession
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series – Julia Garner, Ozark
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series – Billy Porter, Pose
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series – Jason Bateman, Ozark
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series – Jodie Comer, Killing Eve
Outstanding Comedy Series – Fleabag
Outstanding Drama Series – Game of Thrones
Red Carpet Highlights
The pre-show red carpet starts at 6pm ET/3pm PT, and will be streamed online by PeopleTV. You can watch the red carpet here.
3:00 – The red carpet- oh, excuse me, purple carpet- has begun! Excitement is building as the hosts are on the lookout for all the celebrities.
Rather than a red carpet, the purple carpet this year is to honor “television royalty,” according to Fox.
3:05 – William Jackson Harper talks about learning about moral philosophy for The Good Place.
3:09 – Alfie Allen talks about his character from Game of Thrones: “I’m very happy about the ending.”
3:14 – Cast members of Pose talk about how the show is working to represent the LGBT+ community.
3:17 – Cast members of This Is Us talks about which stars they want to see tonight on the purple carpet and what shows they’ve been watching.
3:23 – Betty Gilpin of GLOW talks about how her role on the show has helped her find “a braver version” of herself.
3:27 – Sterling K. Brown of This Is Us talks about how he gets “geeked out” at awards shows.
3:33 – Jameela Jamil of The Good Place talks about the excitement of being nominated with fellow cast-mate Ted Danson.
3:35 – Anna Chlumsky talks about getting emotional on the last day on the set of Veep.
3:41 – Patricia Arquette of The Act talks about her fellow cast-mate Joey King finding out about their nominations for the show.
3:47 – Tony Hale of Veep talks about his character’s ending on the show.
3:50 – Stephen Root of Barry talks about the success of the show and his excitement to work with cast-mate Henry Winkler.
3:53 – The cast of Better Call Saul calls the most recent season the “most magical.”
3:55 – Milo Ventimiglia of This Is Us talks about the first time he heard cast-mate Mandy Moore’s most recent single.
4:01 – Taraji P. Henson talks about the cast of Empire after losing Jussie Smollett, describing the cast of the show as a family.
4:05 – D’Arcy Carden of The Good Place talks about Kristen Bell giving her an inside look into the next Frozen movie.
4:09 – Mandy Moore talks about the new music she’s released and the excitement and confusion of being nominated.
4:10 – Anthony Carrigan of Barry talks about how he used to have doubt in his own acting career because of his alopecia and how he gained self-confidence.
4:15 – Kristen Bell talks about how she started her work on The Good Place at a time when she was “preoccupied with what it meant to be a good person.”
4:17 – Gwendoline Christie talks about how she submitted herself for nomination for Game of Thrones.
4:20 – The cast of Schitt’s Creek talk about their goals for the show, wanting to make a show that could “sit on a shelf with Veep.”
4:23 – Sian Clifford of Fleabag talks about the long journey it took for the show to get on air, and confirms that there will not be season 3 of the show.
4:31 – Karamo Brown talks about the past success of Queer Eye and his experience on Dancing with the Stars.
4:36 – Fiona Shaw of Killing Eve and Fleabag talks about her very different roles on the two shows. She had a great and joyful moment running into Sarah Snook of Succession.
4:46 – Asante Blackk of When They See Us talks about how Ava DuVernay congratulated him on his Emmy nomination.
4:50 – Rachel Brosnahan of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel talks about the process of filming on set and reveals that she keeps her Emmy on the toilet in her apartment.
4:55 – We’re beginning to see some fashion trends on the red carpet; the red-and-pink dress combo seems to be the most popular this year.
4:57 – The crowds are starting to disperse just before the ceremony begins!
Top Moments
As the ceremony progresses, we’ll be sharing some of our favorite moments from the show!
5:00 – The show has begun! We’re welcomed with an opening speech from none other than Homer Simpson… before a cartoon piano falls on him. We then jump into a humorous opening skit backstage, led by members of the Empire cast.
5:05 – The opening speech by Bryan Cranston makes reference to the most popular shows of the year; “Television has never been this damn good.”
5:08 – Ben Stiller talks about the history of TV comedy, featuring wax figures of George Burns and Lucille Ball, and a very much alive figure of Bob Newhart. Stiller then presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, a category which had 4 nominees from the show Barry. The award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series went to Tony Shalhoub of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
5:16 – The characters of Family Guy open up the next act, poking fun at past Emmy winners Bill Cosby and Roseanne Barr.
5:18 – Amy Poehler and Catherine O’Hara presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series to Alex Borstein. She accepted her award with a powerful speech, saying “Step out of line, ladies. Step out of line.”
5:27 – Nick Cannon and Ken Jeong came onstage ready to make a fun Tik Tok with the audience before presenting the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. The award goes to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for Fleabag.
5:32 – Lilly Singh introduced Luke Kirby and Jane Lynch to present the award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. The award went to Harry Bradbeer of Fleabag.
5:36 – Maya Rudolph and Ike Barinholtz presented the award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series, humorously pretending to mispronounce all of the nominees’ names (except for Ted Danson). The award went to Bill Hader for Barry.
5:43 – Jimmy Kimmel and Stephan Colbert arrived onstage, making fun of the Emmys for not having a host. “Hosting is the only thing we know how to do!” They then presented the award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, which went to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, her second win of the night!
5:47 – Kim Kardashian-West and Kendall Jenner presented the award for Outstanding Competition Series, which went to RuPaul’s Drag Race. RuPaul and the rest of the team of the show expressed their love for all the contestants of the show, and encouraged everyone to register to vote.
5:55 – Tim Allen came out onstage to introduce the accountants of Ernst and Young that worked with the TV Academy to count the votes for the awards. Thingamajig, one of the cast members of The Masked Singer, also made an appearance.
5:56 – Seth Meyers came onstage to give a tribute to Game of Thrones, in honor of the show’s last season. The cast of Game of Thrones then arrived onstage, thanking their fans. They then presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in Limited Series or TV Movie, which went to Patricia Arquette for The Act. Arquette spoke out for trans rights, demanding “Let’s give them jobs!”
6:03 – Zendaya and RuPaul came out to present the award for Outstanding Directing in a Limited Series or TV Movie, which went to Johan Renck for Chernobyl.
6:11 – Bill Hader and Phoebe Waller-Bridge arrived onstage to present the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie, which went to Ben Wishaw for A Very English Scandal. Wishaw thanked the writer for the series Russel T. Davies and his partner, Mark.
6:14 – Jimmy Smits and Brad Whitford arrived to present the award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series of TV Movie, which went to Craig Mazin for Chernobyl.
6:17 – Angela Basset and Peter Krause arrived to present the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie to Jharrel Jerome for When They See Us. Jerome thanked his parents, Ava DuVernay, and the “Exonerated 5” on whom the series was based.
6:26 – James Corden came up onstage to present the award for Outstanding Television Movie, offering the audience a sort of “choose your own adventure” a-la Bandersnatch for how he would present the award. The award, in accordance with the bit went to Bandersnatch. The team of the film thanked their families and the other nominees in the category.
6:30 – Hugh Laurie arrived onstage to give a tribute to the show Veep in honor of its last season. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the cast of Veep then arrived onstage to present the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie, which went to Michelle Williams for Fosse/Verdon. Williams in her acceptance speech talked about the importance of women standing up for themselves and being treated equally. She emphasized that women of color typically make 52 cents on the dollar, and advocated for change and support for women.
6:38 – Naomi Watts and John Hamm arrived onstage to present the award for Outstanding Limited Series to Chernobyl. The team of the show expressed their thanks to Lithuania, where the show was filmed, and the people of Kyiv, Ukraine.
6:46 – Lin-Manuel Miranda arrived onstage to introduce a humorous musical number from Adam DeVine about the variety show category.
Miranda then presented the award for Outstanding Variety Series, which went to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. The team from the show thanked many people, including their office dog, Bruce.
6:52 – Randall Park and Anthony Anderson arrived to present the award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series to Saturday Night Live. This it the third consecutive win for the show in this category.
7:00 – Max Greenfield and Cedric the Entertainer arrived to present the award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series, which went to Don Roy King for Saturday Night Live.
7:03 – Billy Porter came onstage to present the award for Outstanding Variety Talk Show Series. The award went to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
7:05 – Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard arrived onstage to pay tribute to many shows that had their last season this year. Before presenting the award, the two of them made mention of the loss of Jussie Smollett from their show, Empire. The tribute highlighted many popular shows, including The Big Bang Theory.
7:12 – Frank Scherma, the CEO of the TV Academy, came onstage to thank people for watching television, calling the modern day the “Platinum Age of Television.”
7:14 – Viola Davis came onstage to present a sort of miniature play honoring the process of TV production. She then presented the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, a category with 3 different nominees from Game of Thrones. The award went to Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones, his 4th Emmy win. Dinklage emphasized the importance of diversity and respect within the TV industry, and expressed his gratitude for being able to work on Game of Thrones.
7:18 – Jharrell Jerome came onstage to introduce Cherry Jones of The Handmaid’s Tale. Jones then presented the award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series to Jesse Armstrong for his work on Succession.
7:21 – Kristen Bell and Don Cheadle came out to present the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, which had 4 nominees from Game of Thrones. The award went to Julia Garner of Ozark, her first Emmy nomination and win.
7:28 – Regina King came up to introduce the “In Memoriam” tribute for this year. The tribute highlighted prominent TV professionals that passed away since the last awards, including Doris Day, Cameron Boyce, and Stan Lee. Halsey performed the tribute song for the segment.
7:38 – Kerry Washington arrived onstage to present the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series to Billy Porter for Pose. His acceptance speech highlighted his journey to self acceptance and learning that he had “the right to be here.”
7:43 – Brittany Snow and Timothy Hutton arrived to present the award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, which went to Jason Bateman for his work on Ozark.
7:45 – Gwyneth Paltrow came onstage to present the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, which went to Jodie Comer for Killing Eve. Comer thanked her co-star Sandra Oh, who was also nominated in this category.
7:53 – Marisa Tomei and TV legend Norman Lear arrived onstage to present the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. The award went to Fleabag. This makes Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s third win of the night. In her acceptance speech, she thanked Andrew Scott for helping to make the second season of the show a success.
7:58 – Michael Douglass arrived onstage to present the final award for Outstanding Drama Series. The award went to Game of Thrones. Writer/producers David Benioff and D. B. Weiss thanked their cast and crew, as well as HBO and George R. R. Martin.
8:00 – That’s the end of the 2019 Emmys! Congrats to all the winners!