Golden Globes 2026 takeaways: ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘Adolescence’ win big
- The San Juan Daily Star
- Jan 13
- 7 min read
By NICOLE SPERLING
Golden Globes voters are known for spreading the ceremony’s many awards far and wide. But quite a few of this year’s winners shared a common thread.
“One Battle After Another” was the most awarded film, taking home the night’s top prize in the comedy category, as well as those for its director, screenplay and one of its actors. “Sinners” won two prizes. And in television, the lead actors from “Hacks” and “The Pitt” each took home top acting awards. “The Pitt” also won for best television drama.
The link? All are part of Warner Bros. Discovery, the venerated film and television studio that is at the center of a high-stakes Hollywood bidding war. Netflix has proposed an $83 billion acquisition of the Warner Bros. film and television studio, and Paramount has launched a hostile takeover bid for the company. The deal has Hollywood on edge, anxious that a new owner might abandon the studio’s storied history of debuting films in theaters or cut jobs.
Warner Bros. took home nine Golden Globes in all, the most of any company, underscoring the studio’s significance in the entertainment industry.
The studios’ executives earned a few shout-outs in awards speeches, including a name check for executive Michael DeLuca from Paul Thomas Anderson, the writer and director of “One Battle After Another.”
“He said he wanted to run a studio one day and let filmmakers make whatever they want,” Anderson said while accepting his directing award. “That’s how you get ‘Sinners.’ That’s how you get my film.”
Netflix dominated in both the miniseries and animated film categories with “Adolescence” and “KPop Demon Hunters,” respectively. “Adolescence” also won best actor, best supporting actor and best supporting actress. Paramount went home empty-handed.
Here’s what to know about the show:
— “Secret Agent” success: Wagner Moura won best actor in a drama for “The Secret Agent,” becoming the first Brazilian man to win in the category and following in the footsteps of Fernanda Torres, who won best actress in a drama last year. The movie was also recognized as the best non-English language film.
— First-timers: Quite a few actors won their first Globes, including Timothée Chalamet, Rose Byrne, Rhea Seehorn and Jessie Buckley. Byrne won for her leading role in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Seehorn for her role in “Pluribus,” and Buckley for her lead role in “Hamnet,” which also won the award for best drama. Chalamet, who won for best actor in a musical or comedy movie for his role in “Marty Supreme,” was nominated for four previous Globes. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say those moments made this one all the sweeter,” he said in his acceptance speech.
— Few surprises in TV: In television, there were few big surprises. Jean Smart won for the third time for her role on “Hacks.” Noah Wyle won for the first time for “The Pitt.” (He was nominated three times for his role on “ER” some 30 years ago but never won.) In recent years, as the Globes has sought to legitimize itself, its winners have looked more and more similar to what was already awarded by the Emmys, which occurs months earlier.
— Wins for “Sinners”: The original film “Sinners,” which won awards for best original score and box office and cinematic achievement, may not have made the most money last year — fellow nominees “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2” both outgrossed it — but it was arguably the most surprising hit at the box office. The R-rated film opened over Easter weekend and stayed in theaters through July, earning $278 million in the United States alone.
— Nikki Glaser’s monologue: The comedian, who hosted for the second time this year, kicked off the show with one-liners about Hollywood’s bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery and Jeffrey Epstein. She didn’t even spare the network on which she is appearing Sunday night, calling CBS News “America’s newest place to see BS news.”
— Podcasts: “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” won the Golden Globes’ first award for best podcast. While political podcasts like those hosted by conservative commentators Ben Shapiro and Joe Rogan were eligible for inclusion, the Globes eschewed any controversial nominees, opting instead for entertainment podcasts, including those hosted by Dax Shepard and Jason Bateman, among others.
Here is a complete list of winners:
Best Motion Picture, Drama
“Hamnet”
Nominees: “Frankenstein”; “It Was Just an Accident”; “The Secret Agent”; “Sentimental Value”; “Sinners”
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
“One Battle After Another”
Nominees: “Blue Moon”; “Bugonia”; “Marty Supreme”; “No Other Choice”; “Nouvelle Vague”
Best Motion Picture, Animated
“KPop Demon Hunters”
Nominees: “Arco”; “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”; “Elio”; “Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”; “Zootopia 2”
Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
“Sinners”
Nominees: “Avatar: Fire and Ash”; “F1”; “KPop Demon Hunters”; “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”; “Weapons”; “Wicked: For Good”; “Zootopia 2”
Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language
“The Secret Agent,” Brazil
Nominees: “It Was Just an Accident”; “No Other Choice”; “Sentimental Value”; “Sirat”; “The Voice of Hind Rajab”
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Nominees: Jennifer Lawrence, “Die My Love”; Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”; Julia Roberts, “After the Hunt”; Tessa Thompson, “Hedda”; Eva Victor, “Sorry, Baby”
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”
Nominees: Joel Edgerton, “Train Dreams”; Oscar Isaac, “Frankenstein”; Dwayne Johnson, “The Smashing Machine”; Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”; Jeremy Allen White, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Nominees: Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked: For Good”; Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”; Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another”; Amanda Seyfried, “The Testament of Ann Lee”; Emma Stone, “Bugonia”
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”
Nominees: George Clooney, “Jay Kelly”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”; Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”; Lee Byung-Hun, “No Other Choice”; Jesse Plemons, “Bugonia”
Best Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture
Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”
Nominees: Emily Blunt, “The Smashing Machine”; Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”; Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good”; Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”; Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
Best Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture
Stellan Skarsgard, “Sentimental Value”
Nominees: Benicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another”; Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”; Paul Mescal, “Hamnet”; Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”; Adam Sandler, “Jay Kelly”
Best Director, Motion Picture
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Nominees: Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”; Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein”; Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”; Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”; Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Nominees: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”; Ryan Coogler, “Sinners” ;Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”; Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”; Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell, “Hamnet”
Best Original Score, Motion Picture
Ludwig Goransson, “Sinners”
Nominees: Alexandre Desplat, “Frankenstein”; Jonny Greenwood, “One Battle After Another”; Kangding Ray, “Sirat”; Max Richter, “Hamnet”; Hans Zimmer, “F1”
Best Original Song, Motion Picture
“Golden,” “KPop Demon Hunters”
Nominees: “Dream as One,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash”; “I Lied to You,” “Sinners”; “No Place Like Home,” “Wicked: For Good”; “The Girl in the Bubble,” “Wicked: For Good”; “Train Dreams,” “Train Dreams”
Best Television Series, Drama
“The Pitt”
Nominees: “The Diplomat”; “Pluribus”; “Severance”; “Slow Horses”; “The White Lotus”
Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy
“The Studio”
Nominees: “Abbott Elementary”; “The Bear”; “Hacks”; “Nobody Wants This”; “Only Murders in the Building”
Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
“Adolescence”
Nominees: “All Her Fault”; “The Beast in Me”; “Black Mirror”; “Dying for Sex”; “The Girlfriend”
Best Actress in a Television Series, Drama
Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus”
Nominees: Kathy Bates, “Matlock”; Britt Lower, “Severance”; Helen Mirren, “MobLand”; Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”; Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
Best Actor in a Television Series, Drama
Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”
Nominees: Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”; Diego Luna, “Andor”; Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”; Mark Ruffalo, “Task”; Adam Scott, “Severance”
Best Actress in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy
Jean Smart, “Hacks”
Nominees: Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”; Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”; Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”; Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”; Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”
Best Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy
Seth Rogen, “The Studio”
Nominees: Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”; Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”; Glen Powell, “Chad Powers”
Best Actress in a Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Movie
Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”
Nominees: Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me”; Rashida Jones, “Black Mirror”; Amanda Seyfried, “Long Bright River”; Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault”; Robin Wright, “The Girlfriend”
Best Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series of Motion Picture Made for Television
Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”
Nominees: Jacob Elordi, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”; Paul Giamatti, “Black Mirror”; Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”; Jude Law, “Black Rabbit”; Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me”
Best Actress in a Television Supporting Role
Erin Doherty, “Adolescence”
Nominees: Carrie Coon, “White Lotus”; Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”; Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio”; Parker Posey, “The White Lotus”; Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus”
Best Actor in a Television Supporting Role
Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”
Nominees: Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”; Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus”; Jason Isaacs, “The White Lotus”; Tramell Tillman, “Severance”; Ashley Walters, “Adolescence”
Best Stand-Up Comedy or Television
Ricky Gervais, “Ricky Gervais: Mortality”
Nominees: Bill Maher, “Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This?”; Brett Goldstein, “Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life”; Kevin Hart, “Kevin Hart: Acting My Age”; Kumail Nanjiani, “Kumail Nanjiani: Night Thoughts”; Sarah Silverman, “Sarah Silverman: Postmortem”
Best Podcast
“Good Hang With Amy Poehler”
Nominees: “Armchair Expert With Dax Shepard”; “Call Her Daddy”; “The Mel Robbins Podcast”; “Smartless”; “Up First”
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