2026 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTRESS (August)

Everything’s coming up Gladys!

Ever since the huge box office opening of Zach Cregger’s Weapons two weeks ago, the name on everybody’s lips has been Gladys. Aunt Gladys, that is, the instantly iconic witchy villain of the film portrayed by Amy Madigan. While we know that horror performances historically have had a hard time finding love in the Academy’s eyes, we’ve already seen some stars, like Sarah Paulson, proclaim it as the ‘performance of the year’ and articles from Decider and Vulture fully pleading to voters to take Madigan seriously as a contender or even a winner. One smart thing that Warner Bros/New Line did was not include Madigan in the pre-release press push for the film, as Cregger wanted to keep the role of Aunt Gladys a bit of a mystery (she’s only briefly flashed in the trailers) but now that the film is out, Madigan has been doing high profile interviews with The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly to discuss both the phenomenon of Gladys and even her Oscar chances.

With some contending performances already seen, whether in official release or festival screenings (like the dual pairs of Wunmi Mosaku and Hailee Steinfeld in Sinners and Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in Sentimental Value), Madigan’s buzz will also have to weather the upcoming festival releases of films like The Smashing Machine, Jay Kelly, Bugonia, After the Hunt and more, all with award-winning talent in contention.

A fun note, as a former Oscar nominee for 1985’s Twice in a Lifetime (in the same category), if Madigan were to be nominated next January she would pass Helen Hayes for the longest period between nominations for an actress in Academy Awards history at 40 years.

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

Next up: Fala Chen – Ballad of a Small Player (Netflix), Glenn Close – The Summer Book* (Music Box), Mia Goth – Frankenstein (Netflix), Emily Mortimer – Jay Kelly (Netflix), Katy O’Brien – Christy (TBD), Margaret Qualley – Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics), Son Ye-jin – No Other Choice (MUBI), Sissy Spacek – Die My Love (MUBI), Tilda Swinton – The Ballad of a Small Player (Netflix), Mia Threapleton – The Phoenician Scheme (Focus Features)

Other contenders: Jamie Lee Curtis – Ella McCay (20th Century Studios), Virginie Efira – Vie Privée (Sony Pictures Classics), Rebecca Ferguson* – A House of Dynamite (Netflix), Gaby Hoffmann – Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (20th Century Studios), Vicky Krieps – Father Mother Sister Brother (MUBI), Angelina LookingGrass – The Rivals of Amziah King (Black Bear), Thomasin McKenzie – The Testament of Ann Lee (TBD), Samantha Morton – Anemone (Focus Features), Alicia Silverstone – Bugonia (Focus Features), Emily Watson – Hamnet (Focus Features)

*Lead or supporting? Emily Blunt – The Smashing Machine (A24), Glenn Close – The Summer Book (Music Box), Laura Dern – Is This Thing On? (Searchlight Pictures), Rebecca Ferguson – A House of Dynamite (Netflix), America Ferrera – The Lost Bus (Apple Original Films)

2025 or 2026?: Amy Adams – Klara and the Sun (Sony Pictures), Michaela Coel – Mother Mary (A24), Kerry Condon – Pressure (Focus Features)

• Author
• Recent Posts

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.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• ‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards - December 4, 2025
• Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award - December 3, 2025
• National Board of Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ Tops in Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor; Netflix Lands Four in Top 10 - December 3, 2025