The 2026 BAFTA nominations: perhaps the most diverse list in BAFTA history?

The BAFTA nominations came out today! The BAFTAs are scheduled before the Oscars, but they waited to see the Oscar noms before releasing their list. The show will be held on February 22, the last day of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Incidentally, people have had questions about the awards schedule this year – the Winter Olympics knock the schedule off-kilter every four years, as awards shows usually block out that time so that the Olympians can have all of the attention. As for this year’s BAFTA noms, they’re pretty similar to the Oscar noms, with several notable inclusions and snubs. You can see the full list here. Some of the big categories:

Best Film
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Outstanding British film
28 Years Later
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy
Die My Love
H Is For Hawk
Hamnet
I Swear
Mr Burton
Pillion
Steve

Leading actress
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Emma Stone – Bugonia

Leading actor
Robert Aramayo – I Swear
Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B Jordan -Sinners
Jesse Plemons – Bugonia

Supporting actress
Odessa A’zion – Marty Supreme
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Carey Mulligan – The Ballad of Wallis Island
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another
Emily Watson – Hamnet

Supporting actor
Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Paul Mescal – Hamnet
Peter Mullan – I Swear
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

Director
Bugonia – Yorgos Lanthimos
Hamnet – Chloé Zhao
Marty Supreme – Josh Safdie
One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson
Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier
Sinners – Ryan Coogler

EE Bafta rising star award (voted for by the public)
Robert Aramayo
Miles Caton
Chase Infiniti
Archie Madekwe
Posy Sterling

No Elle Fanning in supporting, and in “her place,” they’ve added Odessa A’zion, Carey Mulligan and Emily Watson. Interesting. Carey and Emily get priority because they’re British, but I’m not sure why Odessa got priority over Elle. I’m so pleased to see the other Sentimental Value people get BAFTA noms though, especially Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.

The BAFTAs have historically had a huge problem with nominating Black, Asian and Latin/Latin-American actors and directors. They famously have never nominated Denzel Washington ever, in the history of his career. There have also been years where they only nominate white actors and directors (and that’s happened pretty recently too). So, it’s nice to see Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti, Wunmi Mosaku and Teyana Taylor included. This might be the BAFTAs most diverse nom list in history. I’m so pleased that Chase got a big nom here as well, she was snubbed at the Oscars. Super-pleased for Wunmi and Teyana as well, they’re both amazing. Notably, the BAFTAs did not nominate The Secret Agent or Wagner Moura. BAFTA hates Brazil??

Anyway, the BAFTAs ended up solving some of the problems with the Oscar noms simply by adding one more slot in their acting categories. I wouldn’t be opposed to that for the Oscars – six nominees per category leaves less room for notable snubs.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.