Hacks is an Emmy favorite, winning 12 awards from 62 nominations across its first four seasons. While Megan Stalter has yet to be invited to the party as a nominee, that could all change this year thanks to her performance in the fifth and final season.
Stalter is up 10% this week in Gold Derby’s combined odds for playing Kayla Schaefer, the incompetent yet fiercely loyal assistant to Jimmy LuSaque (Paul W. Downs), on the HBO Max series. She’s eligible in the Best Comedy Supporting Actress category, and is neck-and-neck with Carol Burnett (Palm Royale) to claim the sixth spot.
Emmy Awards Nominations 2026
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 04: Dale Dickey attends the Los Angeles premiere of new Prime Video Series “A League of Their Own” on August 04, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)
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Niecy Nash
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sarah paulson
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PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – JULY 11: Melissa Peterman attends Hallmark Media’s session during the Summer 2024 Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, CA on July 11, 2024. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Hallmark Media)
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AUSTIN, TEXAS – MARCH 18: Molly Gordon attends the Texas Premiere of “Theater Camp” at the 2023 SXSW Conference and Festivals at The Paramount Theater on March 18, 2023 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Contour by Getty Images for SXSW)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 20: Abby Elliott attends the Los Angeles Premiere of FX’s “The Bear” at Goya Studios on June 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 14: Julia Duffy attends the World Premiere of Apple TV+’s “Palm Royale” at Samuel Goldwyn Theater on March 14, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 27: Carla Gugino, Kelly Ripa and Naomi Watts attend the Haute Living Celebrates Kelly Ripa And The Release Of “Live Wire” With Parfums de Marly And Telmont Champagne At Scarpetta at Scarpetta on September 27, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Haute Living)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 13: Judy Reyes attends The Critics Choice Association’s 2nd Annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television, proudly supported by GreenSlate at Fairmont Century Plaza on November 13, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Natasha Campos/Getty Images for GreenSlate)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 26: Lukita Maxwell attends the premiere of Apple TV+’s “Shrinking” at Directors Guild Of America on January 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 09: Teyana Taylor attends the 2023 ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Awards at Fairmont Century Plaza on March 09, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Arnold Turner/Getty Images for ESSENCE)
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As of this writing, the five predicted nominees are Hannah Einbinder (Hacks) at 94%, Janelle James (Abbott Elementary) at 93%, Jessica Williams (Shrinking) at 91%, Michelle Pfeiffer (Margo’s Got Money Troubles) at 91%, and Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary) at 88%. Stalter and Burnett are both hovering around the 52% mark.
Diving deeper into our nominations predictions, Stalter has the support of 27% of Emmy experts, 33% of staff editors, and 52% of site users. Those numbers could change as people continue to make or update their Emmy picks.
Stalter’s ascension in our predictions data coincides with the arrival of the series finale, aptly titled “Hacks,” which begins streaming Thursday night on HBO Max. While the main plot of the last episode centers around legendary Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young comedy writer Ava Daniels (Einbinder) vacationing in Paris, Stalter also gets to shine.
Stalter’s final storyline on the show involves Kayla and Jimmy clashing with her father, Michael (W. Earl Brown), for ownership of Latitude, a Hollywood talent agency. In the third-to-last episode, “The Cube,” the duo’s smaller agency, Schaeffer and LuSaque (or is it LuSaque and Schaeffer?) is absorbed into Latitude, but Jimmy is punished and sent to work in the mailroom.
While doing press for the final season of Hacks, Stalter admitted she was “screaming and crying” when she played Kayla for the last time: “We were in Vegas, and I was being very vulnerable. It was a huge crowd scene, and people were worried for me. We didn’t know the last shot was going to be the last shot, because you sometimes don’t know if they need to get another shot. … I felt really sick to my stomach, and I started getting mad and angry about everything. Leaving the show is like having a golden fork ripped from my hands, and now I have a stupid plastic fork!”
The actress also regularly makes waves for her performative appearances on talk shows and red carpets, where she often plays unique characters. And she recently went viral for a Gold Derby interview in which she and Downs improvised for several minutes about their “friendship” with Hamnet Oscar winner Jessie Buckley.
Stalter will also be on the Best Comedy Actress Emmy ballot this year for starring in Too Much, Lena Dunham’s post-Girls rom-com. The nominations will be announced July 8.
