With just days to go until the Creative Arts Emmys, the race for Best Comedy Guest Actress is as tight as its been this entire season. Hacks‘ Kaitlin Olson, the frontrunner in the Gold Derby odds since nominations were unveiled in July, has seen her once-commanding lead dwindle as Widow’s Bay‘s Betty Gilpin surges.
Olson started out with a comfortable margin, drawing strong support from both Gold Derby users and experts for her hilarious, scene-stealing role as Deborah Vance (Jean Smart)’s daughter, DJ, in the fifth and final season of HBO‘s Hacks. While Olson still holds a solid lead among combined users — roughly 61% to 30% — the race becomes a statistical toss-up when filtered by experts, a group of professional pundits, critics, and journalists who cover awards year round.
Comedy Guest Actress
1.
2.
Among experts, Gilpin has seen double-digit gains in the past two weeks. Over the weekend, her odds climbed another 8 points to tie Olson at 45.5%.
Comedy Guest Actress
1.
2.
Rounding out the category are Cherry Jones (Hacks), Leslie Bibb (Hacks), Jamie Lee Curtis (The Bear), Laurie Metcalf (Hacks), and Lauren Weedman (Hacks).
Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2026
There are two key factors driving Gilpin’s rise. The first has to do with Hacks‘ popularity. With five total nominees from the HBO Max comedy series, there is a growing consensus among pundits that vote-splitting could prevent a single contender from emerging victorious.
The second has to do with the Widow’s Bay wave. Apple TV‘s quirky horror-comedy earned 19 Emmy nominations — the most for any first-season comedy this year — and its momentum has been growing through the summer. Gilpin starred in a flashback episode set in the 1600s, playing the fierce wife of the town’s cursed founder. Following three previous nominations for GLOW without a win, this surge of support behind Widow’s Bay could be exactly what she needs to claim her first Emmy.
