The most shocking Oscar nominations snubs and surprises

For folks in Tinseltown, it’s the most delightful – and dreaded – morning of the year.

After six months of wall-to-wall campaigning, the Academy Awards nominations are finally upon us, and scores of Hollywood’s biggest stars struck out in the ninth inning.

Cynthia Erivo ("Wicked: For Good"), Amanda Seyfried ("The Testament of Ann Lee"), Regina Hall ("One Battle After Another") and Miles Caton ("Sinners") are just a few of the names that were conspicuously missing when nominations were announced in the early hours of Jan. 22 by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman.

The 2026 Oscars will air March 15 on ABC and Hulu (7 p.m. ET/4 PT) and will once again be emceed by former late-night host Conan O’Brien, who returns for a second year.

Here are some of the most glaring snubs and welcome surprises from this season’s nominations:

SNUB: Ariana Grande

Back in November, the actress and pop star was widely touted as the front-runner to win best supporting actress for “Wicked: For Good,” a sterling showcase for her emotional range as Oz’s good witch Glinda. But the musical sequel was met with disappointing box office and reviews, and eventually, Grande’s Oscar bid ran out of gas right at the finish line.

SNUB: Chase Infiniti

Team “One Battle After Another” took a major gamble placing Infiniti in lead actress, given that she’s on-screen for only 19% of the film, according to Oscar clock-watchers. Their bets mostly paid off: The 25-year-old newcomer coasted through the season, scooping up scores of major awards nominations, only to egregiously miss out on Oscar nominations morning.

SURPRISE: Elle Fanning

In recent weeks, awards pundits started taking Fanning out of their best supporting actress predictions for “Sentimental Value” after she was overlooked at both the Actor Awards and in the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) longlist. But motion picture academy voters ultimately warmed to Fanning’s richly nuanced (and deceptively tricky) performance as a Hollywood starlet trying to prove herself as a serious dramatic actress.

SNUB: Paul Mescal

In one of the day’s most jaw-dropping omissions, Mescal was skipped over for the William Shakespeare drama “Hamnet,” in which he portrays the grieving Bard. The Irish actor may have suffered from category confusion as Oscar prognosticators debated all season whether his role was leading or supporting. Mescal also was unable to campaign stateside as easily as many of his fellow nominees; he's in production on a series of four Beatles biopics, in which he stars as Paul McCartney.

SNUB: 'Wicked: For Good'

A house just dropped on the Oscar hopes of “Wicked.” Along with Grande, the musical sequel was blanked in all categories – no nominations for even crafts categories such as costume design and production design, both of which it won last year. It’s particularly shocking given that the first “Wicked” was an Oscar juggernaut with 10 nods, including best picture and best actress (Erivo). But the second film couldn’t capture that same magic after a truncated promotional tour that mostly kept Grande and Erivo apart.

SNUB: Adam Sandler

Seriously, what does Sandler need to do to get an Oscar nomination?! The beloved funnyman has played the game with awards campaigns for “Punch-Drunk Love,” “The Meyerowitz Stories,” “Uncut Gems” and “Hustle,” but he has never gone the distance to Oscar gold. “Jay Kelly” seemed to finally be his ticket, thanks to some career-best work as George Clooney’s sweetly devoted manager. But after netting Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards nominations, his momentum quickly evaporated, and Sandler was once again ignored.

SURPRISE: Kate Hudson

Back in December, Hugh Jackman declared at the Gotham Awards that Hudson would win an Oscar for “Song Sung Blue,” in which the A-listers portray a real-life Neil Diamond tribute band. Although critics were lukewarm on the film itself, Hudson is now one step closer to Jackman’s prophecy after steadily building momentum in recent weeks with Golden Globe, Actor Awards and now Oscar nominations. The beloved star was bolstered by a bevy of celebrity friends who hosted screenings and parties to champion her comeback narrative, having returned to the awards race for the first time since her supporting actress nod for 2000’s “Almost Famous.”

SNUB: Jesse Plemons

Plemons showed considerable strength at the Golden Globes and Actor Awards, where he earned best actor nods for "Bugonia," in which he plays a conspiracy theorist who kidnaps a potential extraterrestrial (Emma Stone). But despite affection for the pitch-black comedy in best picture and best actress (Stone), Plemons was ultimately overlooked.

SURPRISE: Delroy Lindo

Lindo was unforgivably snubbed for best actor back in 2021 for Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” which makes his surprise inclusion in best supporting actor for “Sinners” that much sweeter. The stage and screen veteran has been a formidable presence promoting the vampire movie over the past few months but hasn’t received any major solo recognition up until now.

SNUB: Joel Edgerton

Best actor is one of the Oscars' most stacked categories, thanks to A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio ("One Battle After Another"), Michael B. Jordan ("Sinners") and Timothée Chalamet ("Marty Supreme") all representing some of the year's biggest crossover hits. Given voters' love for "Train Dreams," which scored four Oscar nominations including best picture, we thought Edgerton still might sneak in. But sadly, he was passed over.