SAG Awards nominations: 10 Biggest Snubs and Surprises (Television)

Tyler Doster January 12, 2022

The Succession boys – Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin and Brian Cox – make SAG history (Photo: Graeme Hunter/HBO)

The Screen Actors Guild handed out their nominations today and, as always, there were some surprises. Never failing to go slightly different than what everyone thinks, the Screen Actors Guild always hands out a few snubs every year as well. With so much different TV having come on in the past year, it should be no surprise that this year is no different.

Here are some of the snubs and surprises in the TV categories from the Screen Actors Guild nominations:

Surprise: Succession boys make history

Succession’s first two seasons were both snubbed by SAG, but the highly praised third season of the HBO drama brought in praise for the cast. SAG followed suit, nominating the show for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series and Sarah Snook for Actress in a Drama Series. The show made history today by taking up three slots in Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, being nominated for Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong (who were thought to be shoo-ins), but Kieran Culkin also made the cut for his supporting role in the show.

Snub: Pose

Hot off two recent Emmy nominations for its two leads (Mj Rodriguez and Billy Porter), Pose was thought to have a good chance at getting those leads nominations from the Screen Actors Guild for the first time. This morning proved the opposite, however, as the series walked away with zero nominations.

Surprise: Yellowstone gets first nomination

Having just aired its fourth season, Yellowstone has been largely ignored by awards bodies, not having landed much at the Emmys and never having received a SAG nod. That all changed this morning, as SAG honored the show with a nod for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series. The show recently finished up its 4th season finale on Paramount+ with over 10M viewers, a monumental achievement in this age of television.

Snub: Issa Rae (Insecure)

As of today, SAG will go down as an awards body that never once honored Issa Rae’s triumphant five-season series Insecure. While it would have been competitive to get the series into the Ensemble category, Issa Rae’s lead performance should have secured her a spot in the five nominees for Outstanding Female Actor in a Comedy Series. At least the show qualifies for the 2022 Emmys.

Surprise: Squid Game has entered the competition

Netflix’s mega-hit Squid Game made history today by being the first foreign-language TV nominee, grabbing three nominations: Lee Jung-jae and HoYeon Jung were both nominated for their individual performances on the show, while the cast was nominated for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Snub: Nicholas Hoult (The Great)

Nicholas Hoult was previously nominated for his lead role in Hulu’s The Great, and while his co-star Elle Fanning was nominated this year for her performance, Hoult was left out in the cold. SAG instead elected to go with two men from both Ted Lasso and Only Murders in the Building, with Michael Douglas rounding out the five for The Kominsky Method. Perhaps next year Hoult will find himself back in the race.

Surprise: Jean Smart is in!

It was a safe bet to assume that recent Emmy winner Jean Smart was going to be nominated for her lead performance in HBOMax’s Hacks, but today she defied expectations by grabbing a second individual nomination in the Female Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie category.

Snub: Julianne Nicholson is out!

Julianne Nicholson, who just recently won an Emmy for her performance in Mare of Easttown, was (strangely) the only person from the main cast in the show to not receive a SAG nod. Very disappointing when considering the strength of the performance, but it’s how SAG goes.

Surprise: The Morning Show overperforms

If today proves anything, it’s that SAG viewers watch and love Apple’s The Morning Show. Jennifer Aniston won for the first season of the show and has been nominated again, but today also found her co-star Reese Witherspoon receiving some attention for her performance on the show. Taking up two spots in the Female Actor in a Drama Series category and one in Male Actor in a Drama Series (Billy Crudup), with one more in Ensemble? The Morning Show made away with four nominations today!

Snub: Thuso Mbedu

Perhaps the most infuriating snub (made even worse by this show’s constant snubs) is Thuso Mbedu from Amazon’s The Underground Railroad. Mbedu’s performance holds the entire show together yet has been almost entirely overlooked by awards bodies (she wasn’t nominated for an Emmy or a Golden Globe). Shameful!

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Tyler Doster

Tyler is the TV Awards Editor for AwardsWatch and from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He’s been obsessed with movies and the oscars since he was about 14. He enjoys reading, but even more, talking about Amy Adams more and will, at any given moment, bring up her Oscar snub for Arrival. The only thing he spends more time on than watching TV is sitting on Twitter. If you ever want to discuss the movie Carol at length, he’s your guy. You can find Tyler at @wordswithtyler