Succession, The Power of the Dog, Ted Lasso and House of Gucci were out in front with the announcement of this year’s Screen Actors Guild nominations.
The awards, voted on by members of the guild, honour both film and TV and are often seen as an indicator of who will go on to win Oscars.
Jane Campion’s acclaimed Netflix drama The Power of the Dog picked up three nominations for Benedict Cumberbatch as lead actor and Kirsten Dunst and Kodi-Smit McPhee in supporting roles.
Cumberbatch, whose role as a closeted rancher has won him the finest reviews of his career, will face off against Will Smith for King Richard, Denzel Washington for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Andrew Garfield for Tick, Tick … Boom! and Javier Bardem for Being the Ricardos.
For lead actress, Lady Gaga’s performance in the fact-based drama House of Gucci is up against Olivia Colman for The Lost Daughter, Nicole Kidman in Being the Ricardos, Jennifer Hudson in Respect and Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Spencer’s Kristen Stewart, who many had expected would be a major player, was a notable omission.
Dunst’s beleaguered mother sits alongside Cate Blanchett’s Nightmare Alley femme fatale, Ruth Negga in Passing, Ariana DeBose in West Side Story and Catriona Balfe in Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical Belfast.
In the supporting actor category, Smit-McPhee is challenged by Bradley Cooper in Licorice Pizza, Ben Affleck in The Tender Bar, Troy Kotsur in Coda and Jared Leto’s divisive performance in House of Gucci.
Ridley Scott’s drama about the assassination of a Gucci family member was also nominated for best ensemble alongside the casts of King Richard, Coda, Don’t Look Up and Belfast.
On the television side, the third season of HBO’s drama Succession picked up nominations for Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong in the category of best actor in a drama series, Sarah Snook for best actress and the cast as a whole for best drama ensemble.
The ensemble category also features the casts of The Handmaid’s Tale, Yellowstone, The Morning Show and Squid Game, making history as the first ever foreign language TV nominee.
The actor in a drama series category also features The Morning Show’s Billy Crudup and Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae while the actress category also features The Morning Show’s Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, Elisabeth Moss for The Handmaid’s Tale and Squid Game’s Jung Ho-yeon.
Comedy nominees were led by Ted Lasso picking up nods for Brett Goldstein and Jason Sudeikis as actor and Juno Temple and Hannah Waddington as actress. The hit Apple show was also nominated for best comedy ensemble alongside freshman shows Hacks and Only Murders in the Building, The Great and The Kominsky Method.
Jean Smart was nominated for best comedy actress for her role in Hacks, facing off against Elle Fanning in The Great, Sandra Oh in The Chair and the aforementioned Ted Lasso nominees. Smart was also nominated for best actress in a limited series for Mare of Easttown where she will be challenged by co-star Kate Winslet, The White Lotus’s Jennifer Coolidge, Maid’s Margaret Qualley and Cynthia Erivo for Genius: Aretha.
Goldstein and Sudeikis are up against Steve Martin and Martin Short for Only Murders in the Building and Michael Douglas for The Kominsky Method. The category for best actor in a limited series features Ewan McGregor for Halston, Oscar Isaac for Scenes from a Marriage, Evan Peters for Mare of Easttown and Murray Bartlett for The White Lotus.
The nominations arrive after last weekend’s Golden Globes which saw lead actor wins for Will Smith, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Garfield and Rachel Zegler. This year’s Oscar nominations will be announced on 8 February.