Rhea Seehorn Jokes Beta Blocker Can't Stop Her Crying at Emmys 2026

The Pluribus actress won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series during the 2026 Emmy Awards ceremony hosted by Mariska Hargitay at Los Angeles' Peacock Theater Sept. 14

Seehorn—who bested fellow nominees Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), Keri Russell (The Diplomat), Chase Infiniti (The Testaments) and Zendaya (Euphoria)—was clearly moved by the win. (See all the winners here.)

“This is me on a beta blocker,” she joked through tears from the Emmys stage. “It’s pretty bad.”

The 54-year-old also gave a special shoutout to her fellow nominees, sharing that Russell had sent the group a “lovely gift and a card” featuring a quote from Gloria Steinem. 

"’We are linked, not ranked,’” Seehorn said, “and I feel that way about all you women. So thank you for that.”

Seehorn had previously been nominated for three Emmys for her work on the show Cooper’s Bar as well as the Breaking Bad sequel Better Call Saul. And it was having the chance to work with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan again on Pluribus that had her tapping into his hive mind.

“That’s the secret sauce of the success of it,” Seehorn emphasized to Deadline in August, adding that the series was also aided by the work of “everybody involved.”

“It’s an incredible crew, department heads, my cast, all the writers, all of the directors and the support of Sony and Apple,” she added. “It takes a very giant village to do a show like that, enable it, empower it, and get it on the air in the way that Vince envisioned it.”

Chloe Kern/WireImage

But of course, with Gilligan at the helm, Pluribus gave him the opportunity to “explore humanity and defining happiness and success instead of trying to preach anything in particular.”

And with a show as groundbreaking as the Apple TV drama, Seehorn found that viewers were able to see what they wanted in the series, with some viewing it as a commentary on AI, while others viewed it as a metaphor for grief and depression. 

“Vince is feeling very ‘yes, and’ about everybody’s interpretations, as do I,” she explained. “But while being in it, we didn’t discuss, ‘How will this be digested?’ I think we knew our RAM space was full with making it.”

For more of the big winners at the 2026 Emmy Awards, keep reading. 

Don't miss the Emmy Awards 2026 live telecast tonight, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC and streaming on Peacock. E!'s red carpet kicks off at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT.