Oscar Nominations 2026 Snubs and Surprises: Paul Mescal Is Out, Delroy Lindo Is In

The 2026 Oscars nominations are here, and, naturally, a lot of people mad about it. Hey, it wouldn’t be the Oscars if there weren’t a bunch of people on social media getting mad at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The nominations for the 98th annual Academy Awards were announced on Thursday morning by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman. If you missed it, you can watch the playback on the official Oscars YouTube page. Eligible films must have been released in the 2025 calendar year, and had at least a one-week run in theaters in one of at least six major U.S. cities (Los Angeles County, the City of New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta). The 98th Oscar ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 15, and will be hosted Conan O’Brien.

Heading into the Oscar noms, there were already some locks for Best Picture, including One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme, and Hamnet. This year also marked the first year that the Oscars introduced a new category, for casting. But it wouldn’t be the Oscars without a few upsets. Read on for a breakdown of the 2026 Oscar snubs and surprises, and check out the list of 2026 Oscar nominations on Decider.

OSCAR SNUBS 2026:

Paul Mescal for Best Supporting Actor: Oof, this one hurts, considering Hamnet got nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress (for Mescal’s co-star, Jessie Buckley). It even got nominated for the new “best casting” category. But Paul couldn’t get a nomination? Did that scene where he covers himself in plaster mean nothing to you people? Poor Paul. It’s tough to be the only one left out.

Chase Infiniti for Best Actress: It was a tough year in the Best Actress category. Even though One Battle After Another fans had high hopes the young breakout star would nab a nom for her playing Leonardo DiCaprio’s on-screen daughter, that nomination slot ultimately went to Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue, instead. Maybe Infiniti would have had better luck in the supporting category.

Odessa A’zion for Best Supporting Actress: Tough break for fans of both Marty Supreme and I Love L.A.—Odessa A’zion didn’t get her predicted nomination for Best Supporting Actress, for her role as Timothée Chalamet’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. It’s hard being an actual supporting actress in a category filled with leads. Justice for our raspy-voiced queen!

Wicked: For Good for everything: Last year, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande nabbed noms for Best Actress and Best Supporting actress respectively, for the first Wicked film. But though they both submitted for both categories again this year, it seems Hollywood is over the Wicked fever. That doesn’t really feel like a snub—they already got their nods—but what does feel like a snub is that Wicked: For Good was passed over for even the technical awards it swept last year, like production design and costume.

Eva Victor and Sorry, Baby for everything: Not only did I want to see Victor nominated for Best Screenplay—which was the only real snub according to the “numbers”—but I wanted to see them get Best Director and Actress, too. It was always a long shot for Victor’s critically-acclaimed directorial debut, even after they nabbed a surprise nomination for Best Actress at the 2026 Golden Globes. Still, with Sorry, Baby, Victor established themselves as one independent film’s next big voices, with their clever, devastating character study of an English professor dealing with the fallout of sexual assault.

Joel Edgerton for Best Actor: You’re telling me Joel Edgerton delivered the most heartbreaking performance of his career in Train Dreams—as an introverted logger, living in the American West in the 1920s, who loses everything—and he didn’t get a nomination for Best Actor? As much as I loved Leo talking to himself in One Battle, he had nothing on Edgerton’s quiet grief. Plus, Leo already has his Oscar. It was Edgerton’s turn! Thank god we at least got the best picture nomination.

Amanda Seyfried for Best Actress: It’s really too bad that The Testament of Ann Lee didn’t start picking up awards momentum until too late in the game for Seyfried to be a real contender in this race. Her role as Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect in the 18th century, would have been the perfect opportunity for her first-ever Best Actress nomination. Ah, well.

Jay Kelly for everything: Not Noah Baumbach writing a veritable love letter to Hollywood with Jay Kelly, only to get shut out of the Oscars completely. No love for George Clooney, who gave his best performance in over a decade as an aging, self-centered movie star? No love for Adam Sandler as Clooney’s long-suffering manager, especially after the Sandman was already snubbed for Uncut Gems? Oof. After Baumbach’s big Oscar year with Marriage Story, this one hurts. But maybe the Academy is tired of handing out nominations to Netflix.

No Other Choice for Best International Feature: Maybe this dark satire from Korean director Park Chan-wook was just too wacky for the Academy. But with the rising popularity of Korean film and culture among Americans, I really thought it had a good shot.

OSCAR SURPRISES 2026:

F1 for Best Picture: Thanks to the Academy’s expanded Best Picture category, which allows for up to 10 nominations, there’s often a Best Picture wildcard. This year, that honor belongs to Brad Pitt’s fast-paced, Formula One sports drama. Man, Hollywood really loves fast cars.

Delroy Lindo for Best Supporting Actor: Finally, vindication for Lindo’s Best Actor snub five years ago, for Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, as well as for Lindo’s many years of great performances being overlooked by the awards machine. For his Oscar-nominated role in Sinners, Lindo stars as Delta Slim, a legendary blues singer and musician, who helps the Smokestack Twins achieve their short-lived dream of opening a juke joint. Oscar-nominated actor Delroy Lindo, I know that’s right!

Kate Hudson for Best Actress: I guess I have to see the Neil Diamond cover band movie now—Song Sung Blue—because Hudson got a surprise nod for her performance as Claire Sardina, aka “Thunder,” who was one-half of the real-life tribute band. It’s not a total shock, given that Hudson also got a Golden Globe and Actor Award nomination. Plus, the Academy loves it when actors sing classic karaoke songs. (See: Bohemian Rhapsody).

Elle Fanning for Best Supporting Actress: Dakota Fanning’s little sister is now an Oscar-nominated actor in her own right, for her performance in the Norwegian drama, Sentimental Value, from Joachim Trier. Though the film is set in Norway, Fanning stars as an American actress who plays the lead in celebrated Norwegian director’s (Stellan Skarsgård)’s film. So meta!

Wunmi Mosaku for Best Supporting Actress: There was some chatter leading up to awards season that Sinners would be snubbed by the Academy, including anticipation for an egregious snub for Nigerian-British actor Wunmi Mosaku, who plays Smoke’s estranged wife. Thankfully, that was not the case. We successfully scared the Oscars straight!

Come See Me in the Good Light for Documentary Feature Film: This nod for a truly heartbreaking documentary—featuring American poet and activist Andrea Gibson, frankly discussing her life, sexuality, and terminal ovarian cancer diagnosis—was a very pleasant surprise indeed. The film—directed by Ryan White, now streaming on Apple TV+—ends with Gibson’s wife, Megan Falley, reflecting on Gibson’s death. It’s heavy stuff, but deeply moving.

Blue Moon for Best Original Screenplay: Thank god Ethan Hawke got his expected Best Actor nod for his role as Lorenz Hart—a lyricist known for his work with composer Richard Rodgers—in this delightful little Richard Linklater film. But I was pleasantly surprised when Linklater also got a well-deserved nomination for his screenplay. The whole film takes place over the course of one night in a single location, so the snappy, clever screenplay really shines.