Cape Town immersive studio Virtual Worlds Company and Los Angeles-based Ferryman Collective have officially taken home the Outstanding Emerging Media Program award at the 78th Emmy Awards for Uncanny Alley: A New Day, a groundbreaking VR production set in an original virtual universe created by South African artist and worldbuilder Rick Treweek.
The award-winning immersive theatre production is performed live inside the social VR platform VRChat.
Treweek was present at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on 5 September 2026 to accept the Emmy alongside the Ferryman Collective team, holding off stiff competition from Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema and The World of Fallout.
Dedicating the win to his home country, Treweek noted that South Africans do not wait for perfect conditions, building under load-shedding skies and still managing to send a virtual city across the ocean.
After sharing the news with his mother in the middle of the night, he enjoyed celebrating at the Governors Gala and connecting with fellow Kommetjie local Marcus Hebbelmann from the Emmy-nominated Survivor camera crew.
Inside the Virtual Universe of Uncanny Alley: A New Day
In Uncanny Alley: A New Day, audiences become escaped detainees fleeing Adaptive Learning Industries, a corporation aiming to erase citizens’ memories.
Alongside professional actors playing 15 characters in real time, participants must evade capture and decide whether to abandon the alley or fight for their home, ensuring no two performances are ever the same.
To bring the live show to life, Virtual Worlds Company built over 30 entirely new environments engineered to run on standalone Meta Quest headsets.
Ferryman founders Stephen Butchko and Deirdre V. Lyons wrote and directed the experience, while technical director Christopher Lane Davis contributed original music, visual effects, and live show controls.
Check out the trailer for Uncanny Alley: A New Day below:
Rick Treweek: From Lockdown to Global Recognition
The concept for the universe began in 2020 when Rick Treweek, confined to a Johannesburg flat during strict COVID-19 lockdowns, built a cyberpunk back alley of the internet where people could gather virtually. The universe’s first narrative experience, The Search for Gh0st, garnered significant acclaim before Treweek teamed up with Ferryman Collective in 2024 to stage a live theatrical performance.
The project has since enjoyed a massive global run, winning the Fanheart3 XR Fan Experience Award at Venice Immersive 2024, the XR Immersive Award at the Kaohsiung Film Festival, and Gold at the XRMust Awards, alongside presentations at SXSW and Raindance Immersive.
The Emmy win capped off an extraordinary week for Treweek, who was simultaneously exhibiting at Continuum ’26 in Saudi Arabia. As a mentor-artist, he presented a physical bronze sculpture of Gh0st, bringing his virtual creation into the real world just as it was being honored in Los Angeles.
With plans already in motion for toys, 360-degree dome experiences, and Steam games, the future of the franchise looks brighter than ever. For now, however, Rick Treweek is simply focused on figuring out how to fly home with his heavy new trophy.
Watch this space for update for updates in the Television category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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