Biggest Takeaways From The 2026 Golden Globes Nominations!

Christmas came early for dozens of artists all around the world this morning as Awards Season officially kicked off with the Golden Globes nominations! While the television world angles for their last bids for hardware for the year, the movie world is finally getting its first view of how the Oscars could shape up next year. Let’s get into it!

TELEVISION

First, in the TV categories, it’s a bit of a case of déjà vu as many of the same names and titles from the Emmys in September crop up again here.

The insanely viral third season 3 of HBO’s "The White Lotus" led the TV categories with 6 nominations, including Best Drama Series and nods for its actors Jason Isaacs, Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Aimee Lou Wood, and Walton Goggins.

"The Pitt", which dominated the Drama Series categories at the Emmys, makes a less than impressive showing at the Globes with only 2 nominations, including Best Drama Series, and Best Actor in a Drama Series (Noah Wyle), both of which it won at the Emmys. This could be an opportunity for other shows like "Severance" or "The White Lotus" to sweep in and grab that Drama Series trophy, or perhaps even "Pluribus", Vince Gilligan’s highly-acclaimed new series.

After sweeping the Limited Series categories at the Emmys, Netflix’s groundbreaking "Adolescence" enters the fray again with 5 Globes noms, including for their Emmy winners Stephen Graham, Owen Cooper, and Erin Doherty. However, this time around, a new face has been added to the lists, with actor Ashley Walters gaining a nod for Supporting Actor alongside Cooper. Can they sweep again? Or will newer buzzy shows like “All Her Fault", “Dying For Sex", and "The Beast In Me" give it a run for its money?

Despite being a perennial fave at both the Emmys and Globes, the latest offering from Ryan Murphy’s “Monster" anthology series, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story" (which many consider to be the weakest season in the series so far), only managed to gain a single nomination this year for star Charlie Hunnam.

Sadly, the Best Drama Series category was missing both “Andor" and "The Gilded Age", both of which were nominated at the Emmys and generated a lot of online chatter this past year (not so much with the HFPA , though, I guess). However, it is good to see "Andor" star Diego Luna in the running for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Fun fact, he is the first actor in a Star Wars project to be nominated for a Golden Globe since Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars back in 1978!

Also missing from any TV categories was the final season of “Stranger Things", which may or may not be an ominous sign of how things shake out for the remainder of the season, which has not yet been released to the public, and another rather glaring snub was Pedro Pascal for "The Last of Us". The show itself failed to make the cut for Best Drama Series, but Bella Ramsey managed to squeak into the Best Actress category.  

FILM

Perhaps not surprisingly, Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly meme-able hit One Battle After Another stands above all others this year with 9 nominations, including Best Musical/Comedy, double-nods for PTA for Director & Screenplay, and a slew of nominations for its outstanding cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn, and first-time nominees Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti, making this film the presumed frontrunner at next year’s Oscars.

Timothée Chalamet has been given another shot at his much-desired Awards Season glory thanks to his third consecutive nomination (and fifth overall) for his performance in Marty Supreme. Unfortunately for him, though, this feels like Leo’s year…

Despite many foolish doubters upon its release, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners quickly silenced many detractors with its massive box office haul earlier this year, and now the movie is a bona fide Awards Season contender with 7 nominations at the Globes, including double-noms for Coogler (Director and Screenplay), double-noms for composer Ludwig Görensson (Score and Original Song, alongside Raphael Saadiq), and a nomination for star Michael B. Jordan (his first, shockingly!). The film also appears in the Box Office Achievement category.

I was personally very happy to see Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein earn a respectable 5 nominations this year, including Best Drama and nods for director GDT, actors Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi, and composer Alexandre Desplat. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the Oscars! (As it turns out, Elordi is a double-nominee this year, with his performance in Prime Video’s “The Narrow Road to the Deep North" earning him a nod in the Best Actor in a Limited Series category!)

And speaking of grotesque-yet-compelling monsters, Amy Madigan’s unhinged performance as Aunt Gladys in Zach Cregger’s buzzy Weapons earned the veteran actress her fourth Golden Globe nomination – her first in 35 years!

For the second year in a row, Wicked finds itself in the race, with the sequel Wicked: For Good also getting 5 nominations, though, surprisingly, not in the Best Musical/Comedy category. However, both Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were nominated again, but both Actress categories run extremely deep this year so they would literally have to defy gravity to come away victorious.

For instance, the frontrunner in the Best Actress category seems to be Rose Byrne, whose performance in indie darling If I Had Legs I’d Kick You has already been racking up tons of accolades. However, with Emma Stone in yet another Yorgos Lanthimos-directed role in the mix (which has already earned her 2 Oscars), Byrne might still have some work to do for full Awards Season glory.

Amanda Seyfried is also a double-nominee this year, with her work in The Testament of Ann Lee and Peacock’s "Long Bright River" being recognized.

The Best Non-English Language category is set to actually be a nail-biter this year, as 4 of its 6 nominees are also nominated in the Best Picture category – It Was Just An Accident (France), The Secret Agent (Brazil), Sentimental Value (Norway), and No Other Choice (South Korea). Sentimental Value seems to be the frontrunner, though, as it has the second-highest amount of overall nominations (8) after One Battle After Another.

K-Pop Demon Hunters is a bona fide contender this year too, with the massively popular film earning nods for Best Animated Film, Box Office Achievement, and, of course, Best Original Song for "Golden".

When it comes to movies about real-life athletes in combat sports, Dwayne Johnson proved the champ with his first Globes nomination for his role as MMA fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, while Sydney Sweeney’s hopes for her first-ever nomination for her role as boxer Christy Martin in Christy came up empty. Sorry, Sydney, I guess the HFPA found Johnson’s physical transformation more "brave"…

The Man of Steel ran into some kryptonite in the form of the HFPA, who awarded DC blockbuster Superman no noms whatsoever – not even in the Box Office Achievement category, which feels like a massive oversight for one of the biggest movies of the year.

Check out the full list of nominations here and tune in to the 83rd Annual Golden Globes on Sunday, January 11, on CBS!