Joy Sunday is officially Emmy-nominated.
The actress earned her first Emmy nomination in the supporting actress category for her performance as Agent Jodie Plumb in DTF St. Louis, the acclaimed limited series, which also landed 13 nominations, including for best limited or anthology series, when 2026 Emmy nominations were announced July 8.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter shortly after nominations were announced, Sunday says she learned the news alongside her castmates.
“It was all happening very quickly,” Sunday recalls. “Gosh, I was actually on the phone with [series creator] Steve [Conrad]’s assistant/co-producers when it all happened, and then my phone just kind of rang up, and the entire cast is all in the group chat with the producers, so pretty much everyone [found out] at the same time. It really speaks to the kind of family feel we had on set. We were all just celebrating together.”
Sunday’s been seen on major series such as Netflix’s Emmy-winning supernatural comedy Wednesday and Blank Slate Pictures’ Yas Kween, but it was DTF ST. Louis that would land her first acting Emmy nomination – and she wasn’t surprised.
“I really have so much faith in this show. It’s an honor and a gift to be recognized for my work on it, but amongst everything, it’s the fact that everybody’s gotten recognition that’s just so beautiful; I’m really happy for everyone,” says Sunday. “Working on the set was my dream job. Of course, there’s so much that makes that meaningful, but to be recognized by the [TV] Academy on top of it was just the cream of the crop.”
Sunday wasn’t the only DTF cast member to be recognized, as co-stars Linda Cardellini, Richard Jenkins, David Harbour and Jason Bateman also received acting nominations. Sharing scenes with the latter was a full-circle moment for Sunday, who somewhat manifested the opportunity before she even auditioned for the HBO series.
“My first day working with him was probably about a month into shooting. I had flown in on a red-eye from Wednesday, had no sleep, and was about to spend a straight week interrogating Jason Bateman,” she says with a laugh. “And it was seamless. It speaks to how easygoing and warm the energy on set was. Working opposite Jason and Richard Jenkins just all came together. I’m so grateful to both of them for being such fantastic scene partners.”
She adds, “Almost a year to the date of when I auditioned, I had texted my manager, ‘I want to shadow Jason Bateman,’ and, in a sense, I ended up doing that.”
Although she left most of Agent Plumb’s wardrobe behind when filming for the series wrapped, Sunday didn’t leave the set entirely empty-handed.
“That was very much a Christmas came early kind of set. There are sweaters, T-shirts, keychains. I think I made Richard some golf balls that say ‘Indiana Jones Jack Off Classics.’ There are so many different mementos from that. I’ve got a hat here. “There are so many things that I’ve kept,” Sunday admits. “I mean, my wardrobe was fabulous, but I didn’t take any of it,” she adds, laughing.
Reflecting on building Agent Plumb, Sunday says, above all, she wanted the special crimes investigator to lead with compassion.
“I did want to infuse a lot of warmth and empathy into this person who is taking a very holistic approach to how she’s going about this investigation, so kind of straddling between the two was a really exciting challenge for me,” says Sunday. “Getting to do that opposite Richard Jenkins was just — I can’t even put into words how amazing that was.”
