2026 Emmy Red Carpet: Who I'm Most Excited to See Show Up
The 2026 Emmy nominees are locked in — here's who I'm most hyped to see on the red carpet, based on their style history, plus my own tier list.
Ivy 7 min read
So with this year's nominee list finally locked in, I ranked who I'm most excited to see walk the carpet using an online tier maker.
The names I'm circling on my calendar (my personal excitement tier list)
- S tier — I will drop everything to see their arrival photos: Zendaya, Ayo Edebiri, Elle Fanning, Hannah Einbinder, Jean Smart
- A tier — reliably strong, quietly the best-dressed of the night: Quinta Brunson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Carey Mulligan, Lisa Kudrow, Mariska Hargitay
- B tier — I have a good feeling about these: Sarah Pidgeon, Megan Stalter, Janelle James, Allison Janney, Claire Danes
- Wildcard tier — less predictable, which is exactly why I'm curious: Sally Field, Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif, Katherine LaNasa, Sepideh Moafi, Julianne Nicholson, Karolina Wydra, Dale Dickey, Kate O'Flynn, Jessica Williams, Youn Yuh-jung, Linda Cardellini, Joy Sunday, Constance Zimmer
Now let me actually explain myself, because a tier list with no reasoning is just noise.
S tier: the ones I already know will deliver
Zendaya. This one's not really a hot take — she and stylist Law Roach have basically redefined what a "themed" red carpet look can be, from the Cinderella-style dress-that-transforms moment to the full couture robot suit she wore on the Dune press tour. Even without Roach by her side at every event these days, she's still the nominee I expect to generate the most next-day headlines. If she's nominated again this cycle, I'm refreshing arrival photos the second they drop.
Ayo Edebiri. She went from red-carpet rookie to what Harper's Bazaar has literally called red-carpet royalty in about two years, bouncing between structured Thom Browne tailoring, whimsical Loewe florals, and the occasional plaid suit that shouldn't work and somehow does. Her stylist Danielle Goldberg (also behind looks for Olivia Rodrigo and Greta Lee) clearly isn't afraid to let Edebiri get weird, and that unpredictability is exactly why I'm excited.
Elle Fanning. A Cannes veteran since she was a teenager and now a global ambassador for Coach, Fanning has built a reputation on daring, slightly theatrical choices — sheer fabrics, dramatic trains, the occasional gown so elaborate she's described it as "a work of art" herself. If anyone's going to take a genuine swing on the Emmys carpet, my money's on her.
Hannah Einbinder. What I love about her carpet history is that she doesn't repeat a formula — Old Hollywood glamour in Valentino one season, a Greek-goddess-draped Louis Vuitton gown the next. She's become one of Louis Vuitton's go-to red carpet faces in recent years, and after finally landing her first major supporting-actress win, I'm curious whether she'll go bigger or lean even more minimalist this time around.
Jean Smart. She's been called an "ageless queen" by fans more than once, and for good reason — her looks (frequently Christian Siriano) go for timeless, elegant silhouettes rather than trend-chasing, and it works every single time. In an era where a lot of red carpet fashion is trying very hard to be a "moment," there's something genuinely refreshing about someone who just consistently looks like the best-dressed person in the room without seeming to try.
A tier and beyond: dependable, and a few genuine wildcards
Quinta Brunson has real range — dramatic bow-detailed gowns one year, romantic lace the next — and she's been dubbed a "short-girl fashion icon" for how well she works proportion and tailoring to her frame. Michelle Pfeiffer, Carey Mulligan, Lisa Kudrow, and Mariska Hargitay fall into a category I'd call quietly excellent: veteran actresses who consistently choose polished, classic elegance over headline-chasing risk, which after a long awards season of loud statement dressing is honestly a nice palate cleanser.
Then there's my wildcard tier, and I mean that as a compliment. Names like Sarah Pidgeon, Megan Stalter, Sally Field, Taylor Dearden, Julianne Nicholson, and Youn Yuh-jung don't have the same decade-long red carpet paper trail as a Zendaya or an Elle Fanning, which honestly makes them more fun to watch — there's no formula to predict, no "expected" look. Some of these are newer faces getting a bigger fashion spotlight than they've ever had before, and I genuinely have no idea what direction they'll go, which is half the appeal of awards season in the first place.
What's fueling the buzz this year
A few things have me paying closer attention to this particular Emmy cycle. Awards season has generally trended toward bolder color choices and more archival/vintage-inspired silhouettes over the last couple of years, and I'd expect that to carry into September. There's also just more nominee overlap than usual between comedy ensembles that have become genuine style presences on the circuit — the kind of shows where two or three cast members regularly show up on best-dressed lists together. That usually means more coordinated "moments" between castmates on the same carpet, which is always fun to watch play out in real time.
A random side project
After I put together my own ranking above, I got a little obsessive and turned it into an actual visual — mostly because scrolling through a wall of text isn't as satisfying as seeing everyone laid out in tiers. I used TierMakerPro's awards-show template to drag everyone into place and swap in their names, which took maybe ten minutes total. If you want to make your own version, the same Emmy red carpet template is a pretty painless way to do it.
So, who are you excited about?
This is entirely my own read on things, shaped by whoever's caught my eye on past carpets — you almost certainly have a different S tier, and I'd genuinely like to hear it. Who's your can't-miss red carpet arrival this year? And is there a nominee you think is criminally underrated when it comes to style? Drop your own ranking in the comments — I'll be checking back once the actual photos start rolling in.
FAQ
Q1: When is the 2026 Emmy Awards red carpet, and has it already happened? As of this post, the ceremony hasn't taken place yet — this is a pre-show anticipation piece based on nominees' past red carpet history, not a recap of actual looks. Check official Emmy channels closer to the date for the confirmed air date and red carpet start time.
Q2: Is Zendaya still working with stylist Law Roach? The two have scaled back walking red carpets together in recent years and have each said they're doing their "own thing" at some events, though they've continued to collaborate on individual looks. Either way, her fashion presence hasn't slowed down.
Q3: Who's generally considered one of the more consistently well-dressed nominees on the awards circuit? There's no single "correct" answer — it's subjective — but names like Jean Smart, Zendaya, and Ayo Edebiri come up often on best-dressed lists across multiple award shows, largely because of how consistent (Smart) or how experimental (Edebiri) their styling has been.
Q4: Is this list ranking acting talent or red carpet style? Purely style and personal anticipation — this isn't a performance ranking, and it's not meant to reflect who "deserves" to win. It's one fan's guess at who'll bring the most interesting fashion moment.
Q5: What is the TierMakerPro tool you mentioned, and do I need an account to use it? It's a browser-based tier list maker — you open a template, drag names or images into tiers, rename or recolor the rows, and export a PNG when you're done. I didn't need to make an account to use the Emmy red carpet template linked above.