All the historic TV records on the line at the Emmy Awards

The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards are primed to be a landmark evening for television history, with a slate of major records on the verge of falling across leading acting, writing, and series categories.

Industry research compiled by ActionNetwork.com reveals that multiple performers and freshman series could establish unprecedented milestones during the telecast.

At the top of the acting milestones, Zendaya could rewrite Emmy lore twice over in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category for her role in Euphoria.

At 30 years old, a victory would make her the youngest actress in history to collect three statuettes in the category, as well as the first Black actress to ever achieve three wins in the field.

Meanwhile, Hacks star Jean Smart and The Diplomat actress Alison Janney are both within striking distance of tying the all-time record for the most Emmy wins by a performer.

The historic record of eight acting wins is jointly held by Cloris Leachman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

A victory for Smart would also make her the first performer in history to pull off a perfect five-for-five run by winning Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for every single season of her show.

Quinta Brunson could make history at this year's awards (Steve Granitz/FilmMagic)

Comedy categories feature several other milestone-level nominations:

• Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary): Could become the first Black actress to win twice in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, while also eyeing a second historic win in comedy writing.
• Matthew Rhys (Widow’s Bay): Could become the first Welsh actor to secure a victory in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series category.
• Age-Defying Frontrunners: Martin Short (Only Murders in the Building), at 76, could surpass Eugene Levy (who won at 73) as the oldest Lead Actor in a Comedy Series winner. In supporting comedy, 84-year-old Harrison Ford (Shrinking) and 74-year-old Stephen Root (Widow’s Bay) could eclipse Henry Winkler's record (set at 72) as the oldest winner in the category.
• Freshman Dominance: Dark comedy Widow’s Bay—having already banked eight Creative Arts Emmys—is nominated for seven additional Primetime categories. Tallying six wins on the night would see it break the all-time record for the most wins by a comedy series in a single year, as well as the record for a debut season.

Zendaya is also on track to carve her name into the record books (Karwai Tang/WireImage)

Historic ground could also be broken behind the camera. Salli Richardson-Whitfield (Task and The Gilded Age) or Hanelle Culpepper (Paradise) could become the first Black woman to win Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.

The potential milestones follow two historic records already secured at the Creative Arts ceremonies, where Law and Order: SVU legend Mariska Hargitay became the first person to win for acting, directing, and producing a documentary at the Emmys, and 90-year-old Julie Andrews surpassed Carol Burnett as the oldest woman to ever win a Primetime Emmy.