LOS ANGELES — The Television Academy and NBC named more than two dozen presenters Tuesday for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, constructing a lineup that puts Zendaya on both sides of the telecast’s central tension: she will hand an award to someone on a night when she is herself one of the most likely people in the room to collect one.
Zendaya is nominated for Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the third consecutive year, for Euphoria in its final season on HBO, and the presenter list released by the Television Academy includes her name alongside Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Amy Poehler, Jon Hamm, and Sally Field. The full roster, spanning television’s recent and not-so-recent past, will make Monday a referendum on what the medium has been as much as what it is.
The ceremony airs live from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on September 14 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, hosted by Mariska Hargitay, the first woman to solo host the Emmys in fifteen years.
Among the confirmed presenters are Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd — the surviving original Angels — whose appearance Monday will coincide with the 50th anniversary of Charlie’s Angels.
The 1976 ABC series became a defining piece of television culture for its generation, and bringing its three surviving original stars together on a live awards stage gives the anniversary a significance beyond a routine nostalgia appearance. Jackson, who famously turned down Happy Days before taking the lead role, has made relatively few broadcast appearances in recent years. Smith and Ladd have remained more visible, but seeing all three together at a major live ceremony is a rare reunion in its own right.
Their appearance is expected to be one of the evening’s most overt acknowledgments of television history, particularly on a night already built around milestone moments.
The nostalgia extends beyond Charlie’s Angels. Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz are also scheduled to appear, effectively creating a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion ahead of the show’s 30th anniversary in March 2027.
The series ran from 1997 to 2003 on the WB and UPN, transforming Gellar and Boreanaz into household names while maintaining a lasting place in popular culture. Boreanaz’s appearance carries an additional connection to the ceremony: his NBC drama The Rockford Files, which concluded its first season this spring, received nominations at the event.
The Television Academy’s presenter lineup therefore does more than assemble familiar television faces. It places recognizable pieces of television history directly within the ceremony’s competitive framework, weaving anniversary nostalgia into the main event rather than separating it into a standalone tribute.
That choice gives Monday’s ceremony two timelines at once: the shows and performers that helped define earlier eras of television, and the contemporary programs competing for recognition on the same stage.
She is nominated this year for Euphoria’s final season, which the Television Academy pointedly declined to nominate for Outstanding Drama Series, an omission that leaves the show’s lead actress as its only major category contender. Her competition includes Rhea Seehorn of Pluribus, which leads the drama race this year, along with Keri Russell of The Diplomat, Chase Infiniti of The Testaments, and Carrie Coon of The Gilded Age. Seehorn is the industry consensus pick, according to The Hollywood Reporter, in a race that will resolve itself by the end of Monday night.
The main ceremony on September 14 follows two earlier nights. September 12 carries craft and below-the-line awards, with its own presenter lineup that includes Noah Wyle and Taylor Dearden from The Pitt. That series leads all programs this year with 25 nominations, while Hacks, in its record-setting final season with 24 nominations, is the dominant comedy contender. Wyle, nominated for his own acting work, finds himself in the same position as Zendaya: presenting before the outcome is known.
Other presenters confirmed for the main ceremony include Macaulay Culkin, Alan Cumming, Dan Levy, Julianna Margulies, Annie Murphy, Niecy Nash-Betts, Keke Palmer, Amanda Peet, Rachel Sennott, Odessa A’zion, Peter Krause, Marcello Hernández, and Linda Cardellini. Sally Field, appearing at the Emmys in a presenting capacity for the first time in years, will take the stage for the drama awards.
What the Television Academy has not confirmed, and will not release before Monday night, is which presenter opens which envelope. The assignments remain under wraps. The presenter list released this week by the Television Academy and NBC is something else: a deliberate composition of what the network and the Academy want the ceremony to mean before the competition begins. The original Charlie’s Angels together on stage, Buffy alums appearing five months before that show’s 30th, a two-time winner who could become a three-time one. These are not incidental choices. They are the program note before the program begins.
