Matthew Rhys made Emmy history this year as the first male performer to be nominated in all three lead acting categories. This year he secured double bids this year for the Apple TV horror comedy Widow’s Bay and the Netflix limited series The Beast in Me to go with his previous Emmy recognition for The Americans in the drama category. Now, Rhys can make history again as the first performer ever to win all three races at the Emmys.
Rhys won a Best Drama Actor Emmy for The Americans in 2018, one of his three total noms for the spy show. He was also previously recognized as a guest actor on Girls (2017) and a lead actor on Perry Mason (2021). This year, he is also nominated as a producer for Widow’s Bay in Best Comedy Series.
(Note: Jason Bateman, who joined Rhys in the history-making achievement of being nominated across the three lead categories, has yet to win an acting trophy, so he wouldn’t be able to match the feat.)
But how likely is Rhys to complete the trifecta? The odds are pretty high.
Starting with Best Comedy Actor, Rhys is the overwhelming favorite, with a 90% chance of winning for his role as Widow’s Bay‘s beleaguered Mayor Tom Loftis, per the current Gold Derby combined prediction data. The horror comedy performed exceedingly well across the board, nabbing 19 nominations. Should Rhys be victorious, he will join an exclusive group of actors that have won Emmys for two lead performances in different genres, including Andre Braugher, Edie Falco, Glenn Close, Sally Field, Peter Falk, Kirstie Alley, and his The Beast in Me co-star Claire Danes.
Primetime Emmy Awards 2026
Best Limited/Movie Actor is much longer shot. Rhys currently stands at a distant second with an 18% chance of winning, behind Oscar Isaac with 78% for the sophomore installment of Beef.
Primetime Emmy Awards 2026
However, this year’s limited series race is without a solid frontrunner, and while the second season of the Netflix anthology performed well, garnering 16 nominations, it is not a lock for any of its major categories, leaving room for a potential upset. The Beast in Me still earned nine Emmy nominations, getting in many of the major races it needed to, and Rhys was cited at all of the precursor award shows earlier this year — Golden Globes, Critics Choice, and Actor Awards — for his manipulative performance that is completely unlike his ambitious, yet timid character on Widow’s Bay. The broad range could certainly work in his favor.
Final-round voting ends Aug. 26 and the 2026 Emmys will take place on Sept. 14.
