An actor from the popular HBO Max drama The Pitt has become a new frontrunner to win an Emmy in 2026 alongside Noah Wyle and Catherine LaNasa. Both of these actors won Emmys last year for the medical series, which also took home the award for Outstanding Drama Series, providing momentum for the rest of the cast — it’s an embarrassment of riches, really — to earn their own statues at the upcoming 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. While Wyle and LaNasa are looking like locks once again, there’s still room for supporting actress and both guest acting categories. The nominations voting round for the 2026 Emmys has already closed with the full list of nominees to be announced on July 8. The ceremony is set to air on September 14 on NBC and Peacock.
Patrick Ball is leading the Emmy nominations race for Drama Supporting Actor
Actor Patrick Ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon in The Pitt, is in the lead to be nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 2026 Emmys, according to the odds from Gold Derby (as of June 24). The poll combines votes from experts, editors, and users.
The full list of odds for the potential nominees in the category reveal that Ball has plenty of competition and will need to face off against a pair of other actors from The Pitt to win:
- Patrick Ball (The Pitt) – 81.53%
- Shawn Hatosy (The Pitt) – 74.95%
- Tom Pelphrey (Task) – 68.47%
- Billy Crudup (The Morning Show) – 66.80%
- Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) – 62.38%
- Gerran Howell (The Pitt) – 60.90%
- Carlos-Manuel Vesga (Pluribus) – 49.51%
- James Marsden (Paradise) – 23.48%
- Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) – 13.95%
- Dexter Sol Ansell (A Knight of the Seven Kingdsom) – 9.92%
- Ken Leung (Industry) – 6.58%
A similar bet on Kalshi that asks who will win in the category has Patrick Ball as one of the frontrunners too, though the race is much tighter. At the time of writing, Tom Pelphrey has a thin lead at 26% over Ball’s 22%, Crudup’s 21%, Elordi’s 15%, and Colman Domingo’s 10% for his performance in Euphoria. However, the bet has not been updated to include Hatosy.
Meanwhile, early Emmy nomination predictions from Variety have Ball in fourth place behind Pelphrey, Crudup, and Hatosy. Rounding out the top seven are Vesga, Lowden, and Howell, with Kurt Russell from The Madison, David Harbour from Stranger Things, and Ato Essandoh from The Diplomat on the cusp of being given the nod.
One of the obstacles Ball faces in winning the category is the inclusion of Hatosy and Howell, who could split the vote for The Pitt among the members of the Television Academy. On the other hand, an advantage Ball has over Hatosy is that Langdon appears in every episode of the second season, while Dr. Jack Abbot is absent in nine of the fifteen. More than that, the redemption arc for Langdon has more dramatic heft, as he attempts to get back in the good graces of Dr. Robby and Dr. Santos, than the storylines for Abbot and Howell’s Dennis Whitaker.
Apart from Ball, Wyle, and LaNasa, a handful of other actors on The Pitt are in the hunt for an Emmy win as well. The GoldDerby nominations poll has Tal Anderson (Becca King) and Brittany Allen (Roxie Hamler) in second and third place behind Paradise’s Shailene Woodley for Outstanding Guest Actress (Drama). Meanwhile, Jeff Kober (Duke) is in second place as well for Outstanding Guest Actor (Drama). Potentially joining LaNasa for a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress are Taylor Dearden (Dr. Mel King) in second place, Sepideh Moafi (Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi) in sixth, and Fiona Dourif (Dr. Cassie McKay) in seventh.
HBO Max confirmed in June that the third season of The Pitt is in production and is set to release in early 2027.
