The 2026 Emmy Awards honored a long list of television favorites who died over the past year, but viewers quickly noticed several familiar faces missing from the tribute. Among the most striking omissions were Walker, Texas Ranger star Chuck Norris and longtime Days of Our Lives actor Patrick Muldoon.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Emmys in memoriam segment included emotional acknowledgments of stars such as Dolly Parton, Catherine O’Hara, and Rob Reiner, yet the absences of several well-known performers sparked criticism online. For fans who spent years watching Norris and Muldoon on television, their exclusion from the broadcast proved difficult to overlook.
Emmys In Memoriam Leaves Out Chuck Norris, Patrick Muldoon, And More
Norris, who died in March at age 86, built one of television’s most recognizable action careers around Walker, Texas Ranger. The CBS series ran for 196 episodes from 1993 to 2001 and turned his character, Cordell Walker, into a fixture of ’90s television. Given that history, viewers were quick to question why the longtime TV star did not appear during the televised memorial.
Muldoon was another notable absence. The actor, who died in April at 57, became familiar to soap fans as Austin Reed on Days of Our Lives and later appeared in projects including Starship Troopers. Other omitted names included Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor Nicholas Brendon, Lilo & Stitch voice star Daveigh Chase, The Gong Show personality Jaye P. Morgan, and legendary voice actors Peter Cullen and Tom Kane.
The Ceremony Still Delivered Several Emotional Farewells
This year’s tribute began after Macaulay Culkin, Annie Murphy, and Dan Levy remembered Catherine O’Hara, whose work connected generations of viewers through projects including Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek. Noah Kahan then performed “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as the ceremony honored television figures including Tim Curry, James Van Der Beek, Anthony Geary, Demond Wilson, June Lockhart, Diane Ladd, Robert Duvall, and Sam Neill.
The Emmys also devoted separate moments to several major stars. Reba McEntire performed in honor of Dolly Parton, while Jamie Lee Curtis remembered her friend Rob Reiner. Those tributes delivered some of the ceremony’s most heartfelt moments, but they did not stop viewers from focusing on the missing names. Every televised memorial has limited time, yet fans form deep connections with the performers who shaped decades of television. For many watching the Emmys in memoriam, leaving out figures as recognizable as Chuck Norris and Patrick Muldoon made those gaps especially noticeable.