Mariska Hargitay attends the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards Press Preview at L.A. LIVE on Sept. 10. Kevin Winter/Getty Images The countdown to the Emmys is officially on, as host Mariska Hargitay rolled out the carpet in downtown L.A. on Thursday.
She was joined at the photo-opp by executive producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, as well as TV Academy chair Chris Abrego and NBC’s Jen Neal. Just outside of the Peacock Theater, the group unveiled this year’s carpet — which is not the typical red, but instead blue in honor of NBC’s milestone 100th anniversary. The group also made a handful of announcements ahead of Monday’s show, revealing that Noah Kahan will lead this year’s in memoriam tribute and the telecast will feature special celebrations for Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s 30th anniversary and Charlie’s Angel‘s 50th.
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Hargitay is coming off of her own pair of Emmy wins at last weekend’s Creative Arts ceremony, where she was recognized for her documentary My Mom Jayne. After her wins, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star revealed backstage that she was working with The Late Show with Stephen Colbert writing team on her hosting material and added, “I just can’t believe at this place in my life — the third act is starting and it’s pretty awesome.”
At the carpet rollout, Collins confirmed that former Colbert head writer Ariel Dumas was leading the writing team and the writers have “been working with Mariska for the last couple months.” Harmon added, “They set up shop actually at the SVU offices so that she can pop in and out,” and had been collaborating with the writers during downtime on her show.
“It’s pretty weird to see Captain Benson come up with the gun and the badge and be like, ‘Welcome to the Emmys, everybody! Here we go!’ and like telling jokes,” Collins added, “But that’s what it was like” during their prep in New York.
#Emmys host Mariska Hargitay joins producers ahead of show day to roll out the blue carpet for the 2026 #EmmyAwards 💙 pic.twitter.com/Z1KXf28F7H
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 10, 2026
Asked if Christopher Meloni or any of her other SVU cast mates may make an appearance, Harmon said coyly, “she has a lot of friends.” As for Hargitay herself, she’s “not giving spoilers” for what famous friends may show up and isn’t looking too closely at past hosts for inspiration.
“I think one of the most important things is that I, to quote Frank Sinatra, I gotta do it my way,” Hargitay told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m a very different, sort of unconventional host and I love that because I’m not a comedian, so that’s not necessarily what we’re doing. But you’ve gotta be me, right, you’ve gotta show up as your best self, so that’s what I’m doing.”
Hargitay hosts the 78th Emmy Awards live from Los Angeles on Monday, airing on NBC and streaming on Peacock.
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