Watch: Why Emmys 2026 Is on Monday, Not Sunday
Charlie Hunnam knew a killer role when he saw one.
And the British actor not only didn’t flinch at the chance to play the titular grave-robbing killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story, his dug-in performance earned him his first career Emmy nomination, for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
“I feel like I won just getting up every day, getting to do what I love and getting paid for it,” Hunnam told Live From E!’s Keltie Knight before the Sept. 14 ceremony. “This is just a little icing on the cake, but always nice to be invited to the party.” (See all the stars on the red carpet at the 2026 Emmys.)
But Hunnam’s next iron in the fire is reuniting with the Sons of Anarchy gang for the meta-sounding spinoff Legends, a longtime passion project for the 46-year-old. And, when asked if might ever dial down the on-screen intensity he’s known for and do a rom-com, he revealed more about what to expect from the upcoming FX production.
Legends is “definitely comedic,” he shared. “A little funny, I hope.”
“I play myself in the midst of having sort of a midlife crisis, nervous breakdown,” he explained, “being invited to a 10-year reunion for Sons of Anarchy at a convention, and it all goes horribly wrong.”
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Hunnam—and his partner Morgana McNelis—narrowly avoided another sort of crisis at the Emmys when the actor happily did not cause Zendaya to suffer a wardrobe malfunction.
“Can you imagine? Devastating,” he quipped. “She was being ushered at full speed through the crowd by a little squadron of bodyguards, and so I just stepped back right as she was rushing by and almost stepped on her dress.”
McNelis “looked at me, like, ‘Dude, don’t be a dork.'”
The couple are now free to relax and enjoy the rest of their night, win or lose. The stiff competition in Hunnam’s category includes Matthew Rhys for The Beast in Me, Riz Ahmed for Bait, Jason Bateman for Black Rabbit and Oscar Isaac for Beef.
But as he said, he already feels like a winner, plus he’s eager to shoot the “spinoff-ish” Legends.
“I’d been having just a lot of dreams about being on set with that cast again,” he told E! News in a recent interview, “and I realized there was something in my subconscious that was yearning to bring that crew back together.”
Maybe that winding road will lead him right back to the Emmys in the near future. But for now, see all the red carpet fashion on the stars who made the scene at the 2026 Emmys:
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Randy Shropshire/NBC via Getty Images
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