When Mariska Hargitay was announced as host of the 2026 Emmys, the Law & Order: SVU star seemed like a surprising choice: After all, she’s not a comedian or a TV host like most awards show emcees.
And it seems like Hargitay herself was surprised, even “shocked,” when she got the call to host, particularly since it came from a top NBCUniversal exec.
“I was backstage, doing my play, and I was about to go on and I got a call,” Hargitay said on Thursday’s Today show of getting the ask while performing in Every Brilliant Thing on Broadway. “It was Pearlena [Igbokwe], who’s head of the network, and I thought, ‘Oh, I should answer this. Am I getting fired?’ ”
But no, Igbokwe, who serves as chairman of television studios, NBC Entertainment and Peacock scripted, was asking her about hosting the Emmys.
“I thought she was kidding. I actually thought she was kidding,” Hargitay said, adding that she “couldn’t understand” why she was being offered the job, “because I thought, ‘I’m not a comedian, and it’s historically comedians.'”
