The Most Shocking Snubs and Surprises of the 2026 Oscar Nominations: “Wicked” and Paul Mescal Shut Out as Kate Hudson Shines

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards are out — and this year’s list has plenty of snubs and surprises.

While Sinners broke an Oscars record after landing a whopping 16 nominations, Wicked: For Good was left out of the race altogether.

Read on to learn about the shocking Wicked snub and much more.

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Snub: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo

Wicked: For Good costars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were not included in the 2026 Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress. Both actresses were nominated last year for their performances in Wicked. Grande’s snub was especially shocking considering she was nominated for most of the precedent awards this season. The sequel was also completely shut out of the race, despite the first Wicked earning 10 nominations in 2025.

Snub: Paul Mescal

Paul Mescal had been cleaning up nominations all season long for his performance as a grieving William Shakespeare in Hamnet. But when the 2026 Oscar nominations were announced, he was shockingly overlooked. It would have marked the Irish actor’s second Oscar nod. He scored his first Best Actor nomination in 2023 for Aftersun.

Snub: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt

Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine was expected to smash into this awards season, but Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s MMA fighting biopic has followed up a disappointing box office performance with a noticeable lack of nominations. Both actors’ critically acclaimed performances were nominated at this year’s Golden Globe Awards, but neither were recognized by the Academy.

Snub: George Clooney and Adam Sandler

Noah Baumbach’s Hollywood tale Jay Kelly has failed to register with Academy voters. Its presumed contenders, leading actor George Clooney and supporter Adam Sandler, came away empty-handed among The Actor Award nominees, and repeated that defeat with this year’s Oscar nominations.

Surprise: Kate Hudson

For her work as half of a real-life Neil Diamond tribute band in Song Sung Blue, Kate Hudson is officially a two-time Oscar nominee after earning her first Best Actress nomination. Hudson scored her first-ever nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category 25 years ago for Almost Famous.

Snub: Chase Infiniti

This awards season’s biggest breakout story may be Chase Infiniti, the 25-year-old leading lady of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. The film dominated the 2026 Oscar nominations, but Infiniti was left out of the Best Actress race after earning nods at The Actor Awards and Golden Globes.

Surprise: Delroy Lindo

Sinners star Delroy Lindo received his first Oscar nomination on Thursday morning as his movie made history. The actor’s inclusion in the Best Supporting Actor race was a welcome surprise, as Hamnet‘s Paul Mescal was favored to secure a nomination in that category over Lindo, who was excluded from the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards.

Conan O’Brien is returning to host the Oscars live on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming on Hulu. (Starting in 2029, the award show will air on YouTube.)