“When Da 5 Bloods only received one Oscar nomination, for best score, five years ago, star Delroy Lindo was “profoundly” upset that the acclaimed film missed out on the recognition it deserved. “To be ‘shut out,’ and I’m saying that in quotes … that was profoundly disappointing,” he told The Hollywood Reporter recently of Da”, — write: www.hollywoodreporter.com
“To be ‘shut out,’ and I’m saying that in quotes … that was profoundly disappointing,” he told The Hollywood Reporter recently of Da 5 Bloods. “I don’t think the film or my work ‘deserved’ that. And I’m saying ‘deserved’ in quotes, too, because nobody is owed anything. That’s a very long-winded answer to say yes, I was disappointed.”
But this year, with the 2026 Oscar nominations, Lindo himself was nominated for his role in Sinnersa best supporting actor nod that’s one of the 16 (an all-time record) received by the film. Lindo’s nod likely reflects the widespread support for Sinnersbut even for that film, many pundits expected newcomer Miles Caton to sneak into the supporting actor category. Instead, voters opted for Lindo.
Speaking of newcomers, Chase Infiniti was expected to score a best actress nod for her lead role as Willa in One Battle After Another. But despite the film receiving 13 nominations, Infiniti was surprisingly not nominated for her film debut. Instead, the best actress category featured a surprise nod for Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue. Hudson had been campaigning strongly in the weeks leading up to this year’s nominations, and a number of pundits had her on the bubble as a possible nominee.
Another expected nominee who was unexpectedly left out is Paul Mescal, who failed to land a best supporting nod for Hamnet. The film itself received 8 nominations.
Other notable acting snubs include Jesse Plemons for BugoniaJennifer Lawrence for Die My LoveJennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh for Kiss of the Spider-Woman and the actors from Train Dreams (Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H. Macy and Kerry Condon specifically).
The best actor category also featured a surprise in Ethan Hawke for Blue Moonwho was on the fence to land a nomination.
A number of films that were considered Oscar contenders earlier in the season and had strong pedigrees in past winners or nominees being involved with the projects were unexpectedly shut out.
Most notably, Wicked: For Good received no nominations a year after the first Wicked the film received 10 nods including for stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who opened the Oscars. Also shut out were Jay Kelly despite strong campaigning and the involvement of Oscar winners George Clooney, Laura Dern and frequent nominee Noah Baumbach; Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (Jeremy Strong and Scott Cooper were past nominees), The Testament of Ann Lee (Mona Fastvold and Amanda Seyfried are past nominees) and Is This Thing On?which also starred Dern and was written and directed by past nominee Bradley Cooper, who also co-starred in the film.
Oscar hopeful No Other Choice was also unexpectedly shut out while F1 was somewhat of a surprise best picture nominee.
Wicked: For Good wasn’t the only sequel to underperform with the Academy. Avatar: Fire and Ash only scored two nominations, in crafts categories, after the first film scored nine nominations and was a best picture frontrunner and the second film landed four nods, including in best picture. Avatar‘s Miley Cyrus song “Dream as One” was also a surprise omission from the best song category as was Ed Sheeran’s “Drive” from F1.
Other category-specific snubs include Oscars favorite Guillermo Del Toro missing out on a best director nom for Frankenstein and Hedda composer (and past Oscar winner Hildur Gudnadóttir) missing out on a best score nod. The best documentary feature category featured a number of notable, including surprise omissions Cover-Up, Apocalypse in the Tropics, My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 – Last Air in Moscow and 2000 Meters to Andriivka.