2026 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTOR (August)

Feeling stronger about Adam Sandler each month and there’s certainly going to be a healthy campaign for him by Netflix (only he and Clooney have character posters for Jay Kelly) and between the surprise SAG nom for Hustle a few years ago and number of people who felt he was snubbed for Uncut Gems, there is a possibility of groundswell support that could accompany that.

Elsewhere, like Ayo Edebiri in Supporting Actress, I’m feeling a bit less enthused by After the Hunt overall and Andrew Garfield takes a hit this month. Small notch down for Jeremy Strong and Stephen Graham in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, as well as Bradley Cooper in his self-directed third feature Is This Thing On? and Andrew Scott in Blue Moon. But each of these downs mean moves up for Josh O’Conner in Wake Up Dead Man, who enters the top 10, and Jonathan Bailey in Wicked For Good, Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein, Jack O’Connell in Sinners, William H. Macy in Train Dreams and Mark Hamill in The Life of Chuck on the lower rungs of the chart.

Here are my 2026 Oscar nomination predictions in Supporting Actor for August.

Next up: Russell Crowe – Nuremberg (Sony Pictures Classics), Akira Emoto – Rental Family (Searchlight Pictures), Ben Foster – Untitled Christy Martin biopic (TBD), Tom Hiddleston – The Life of Chuck* (NEON), Conan O’Brien – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24), Dylan O’Brien* – Twinless (Roadside Attractions), Josh O’Connor – The History of Sound (MUBI), Michael Shannon – Nuremberg (Sony Pictures Classics), Christoph Waltz – Frankenstein (Netflix), Jeffrey Wright – Highest 2 Lowest (Apple Original Films/A24)

Other contenders: Christopher Abbott – Ann Lee (TBD), A$AP Rocky – Highest 2 Lowest (Apple Original Films/A24), Sean Bean – Anemone* (Focus Features), Adam Driver – Father, Mother, Sister, Brother (MUBI), Idris Elba* – A House of Dynamite (Netflix), Robert Pattinson – Die My Love (MUBI), Woody Harrelson – Ella McKay (20th Century Studios), Lewis Pullman – Ann Lee (TBD), Matt Smith – Caught Stealing (A24), Michael Stuhlbarg – After the Hunt (Amazon MGM)

*Lead or supporting? Sean Bean – Anemone (Focus Features), Idris Elba – A House of Dynamite (Netflix), Tom Hiddleston – The Life of Chuck (NEON), Dylan O’Brien – Twinless (Roadside Attractions)

2025 or 2026?: Mamoudou Athie – The Drama (A24), Murray Bartlett – At the Sea (TBD), Brendan Fraser – Pressure (Focus Features)

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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