The Academy Chooses Chaos: Wicked Gets Zero Oscar Nominations, Paul Mescal is Snubbed, and Kate Hudson Pulls Off the Shock of the Year
If you thought the Golden Globes were unpredictable, the Academy just said, “Hold my champagne.”
The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards Oscar Nominations dropped this morning, and the timeline is in shambles. While Ryan Coogler’s Sinners made history with a record-breaking 16 Oscar Nominations (beating Titanic and La La Land), the real story is about who got left out in the cold.
Here is the “Daily News Edit” breakdown of the brutal snubs and the wildest surprises.
The Disaster: Wicked: For Good Gets Nothing
Last year, Wicked: Part One was the belle of the ball with 10 Oscar Nominations. This year? Zero. The sequel, Wicked: For Good, was completely shut out.
- Ariana Grande (Supporting Actress)? Snubbed.
- Cynthia Erivo (Best Actress)? Snubbed.
- Best Picture? Snubbed. The Academy clearly suffered from “Oz Fatigue.” For a film that cost $200 million and dominated the box office conversation, to get zero nods is a historic embarrassment for Universal. The “For Good” era has ended… for bad.
The Heartbreak: Paul Mescal (and Hamnet)
We all prepared our “Paul Mescal Oscar Winner” tweets. We were ready. But in the most shocking twist of the morning, Paul Mescal was left off the Best Supporting Actor list for his role as William Shakespeare in Hamnet.
- Who Took His Spot? The legendary Delroy Lindo (Sinners). While nobody can be mad at Lindo finally getting his flowers, leaving Mescal out of a film that did get a Best Actress nod for Jessie Buckley feels personal.
- Hamnet is still in the race for Best Picture, but without its leading man, its chances of winning just plummeted.
The Resurrection: Kate Hudson is Back
If you had “Kate Hudson Best Actress Nominee” on your 2026 Bingo card, go buy a lottery ticket. Hudson secured a shock Oscar Nominations for Best Actress for her role in the Neil Diamond tribute band drama Song Sung Blue.
- She beat out massive favorites like Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee) and Jennifer Lawrence (Die, My Love).
- This is Hudson’s second nomination, coming 25 years after Almost Famous. The “Rom-Com Queen” has officially re-entered her serious actor era.
The History Maker: Sinners
We have to talk about the juggernaut. Ryan Coogler’s horror-musical Sinners didn’t just lead the pack; it destroyed the record books. With 16 nominations, it is now the most nominated film in Oscar history.
- Michael B. Jordan (Actor), Wunmi Mosaku (Supporting Actress), and Delroy Lindo (Supporting Actor) all got in.
- It is rare for a horror movie to get this kind of love, but clearly, the Academy is trying to prove it can still be cool.
Outrage
The 2026 Oscars are shaping up to be a battle between the “New Cool” (Sinners) and the “Classic Cinema” (One Battle After Another, which got 13 nods).
But for Ozians and Paul Mescal stans? It’s going to be a long, sad winter.
