Pamela Anderson and Jonathan Bailey Lead Shockingly Fun SAG Awards Nominations

The typically splashy—or, at least, splashy-adjacent—live SAG Awards nominations announcement was canceled Wednesday morning as fires raged in Los Angeles. But not even its own city that’s burning can keep Hollywood from its duty to celebrate itself.

If it’s possible to ignore the smoke engulfing Tinseltown and focus on the SAG nominations themselves, which were announced unceremoniously Wednesday via a press release, then the takeaway is: They’re actually really fun! I would daresay even good, in the way that not every category married itself to the presumed big contenders and very famous celebrities who would be considered “shoo-ins” were passed over for hopefuls who are just plain, again, fun to root for.

The Oscar race also just got a lot more exciting in a few categories. Unlike at the Golden Globes, there is actual overlap between SAG and Academy voters, so it’s more compelling to read the SAG tea leaves when thinking ahead at possible Oscar nominations.

The biggest talking points?

Demi Moore is continuing her cannon blast of momentum, following her Golden Globe for The Substance with a SAG nod for Best Actress, besting presumed contenders Angelina Jolie (Maria) and Nicole Kidman (Babygirl). Pamela Anderson was a surprise inclusion in the category for her comeback performance in The Last Showgirl. She took what could be considered a “critical darling” slot over hopefuls like Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths) and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here).

Jonathan Bailey made it into Best Supporting Actor for Wicked! Not just because my crush on Bailey approaches nuclear levels of intensity, this is a great nomination, recognizing the kind of magnetic, cataclysmically charismatic Movie Star performance that make loving movies such a thrill. Jeremy Strong also shows up in the category for his turn as Roy Cohn in the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice. After getting several nods at the Globes too, this hints that enthusiasm for the hot-button flick hasn’t dissipated like some pundits thought. Most conspicuously missing from the category: Denzel Washington, a SAG favorite, for Gladiator II.

The Best Supporting Actress category also got a shake up. Monica Barbaro, who scored great reviews for playing Joan Baez in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, officially arrives as a major Oscar contender with her first SAG nod. The biggest “oh, OK, sure…why not?!” of the category is Jamie Lee Curtis getting in for her turn in The Last Showgirl. This one I chalk up to a “well, the actors love her…” SAG curio. But a jolt of surprise during Oscar season is always fun. It’s also nice to see Danielle Deadwyler recoup some momentum for her stunning turn in The Piano Lesson.

It’s curious, too, to see what films did and didn’t do well overall. The Brutalist and Conclave, widely considered among the strongest contenders in every Oscar category, including Best Picture, really underperformed with SAG voters. Both are missing from the Motion Picture Cast category, SAG’s version of Best Picture. And only their respective leads, Adrien Brody and Ralph Fiennes, were nominated. The Brutalist’s Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones were overlooked, as were Conclave’s Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini.

SAG was good news, however, for A Complete Unknown and Wicked, which scored nods in every category they were predicted—including Motion Picture Cast—and then some. No one precursor award show is a perfect bellwether of what will happen when Oscar nods are announced, nor should the Oscar list be considered the end-all, be-all of what matters. But it’s a nice shake up that the surprising SAG roster makes the Oscar nominations at least harder to predict.

On the TV side, things were a bit more predictable, with The Diplomat, Shōgun, and Slow Horses dominating the Drama categories, and Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Hacks, and Only Murders in the Building making a run of the Comedy ones.

It’s always nice when awards shows recognize the value in populist fare, breaking the mold of prestige rubber-stamping that typically occurs. So it’s fun to see Bridgerton do so well, scoring nods in Drama Series Ensemble and Best Actress in a Drama Series for Nicola Coughlan. And it continues to delight me that two of the TV’s most endearing screen presences, Adam Brody and Kristen Bell, continue to collect accolades for Nobody Wants This, a very enjoyable rom-com series that I could easily have seen dismissed as too slight for awards.

It’s nice to see that Colin Farrell and, especially, Cristin Milioti scored nods in the TV Movie or Limited Series categories for The Penguin. These were two of the most riveting performances of the year, but in a genre show that is not always taken seriously. A card-carrying superhero series hater, I didn’t have becoming obsessed with that show and their performances on my Bingo card for this year.

I’m also glad that Andrew Scott’s spellbinding work in Ripley hasn’t been forgotten. And it’s no surprise, but deserved, that Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning are major contenders once again for Baby Reindeer—with Gunning included among the heavy-hitting lead actresses because SAG doesn’t delineate between lead and supporting performances in the TV categories.

That brings me to my one gripe: It’s time to stop that! The TV landscape is so expansive now that it’s ludicrous to combine the categories. It’s also ridiculous that there isn’t an award for TV Movie or Limited Series Ensemble category, given how Limited Series have taken over as the marquee television event.

Anyway, rant over. Check out all of the 2025 SAG Award nominees below. The awards will stream Feb. 23 on Netflix.

FILM

Motion Picture Cast

Anora

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

Male Actor in a Leading Role — Motion Picture

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

Daniel Craig, Queer

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Ralph Fiennes, Conclave

Female Actor in a Leading Role — Motion Picture

Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl

Cynthia Erivo, Wicked

Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez

Mikey Madison, Anora

Demi Moore, The Substance

Male Actor in a Supporting Role — Motion Picture

Jonathan Bailey, Wicked

Yura Borisov, Anora

Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown

Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

Female Actor in a Supporting Role — Motion Picture

Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown

Jamie Lee Curtis, The Last Showgirl

Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson

Ariana Grande, Wicked

Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez

Stunt Ensemble

Deadpool & Wolverine

Dune: Part Two

The Fall Guy

Gladiator II

Wicked

TELEVISION

Drama Series Ensemble

Bridgerton

The Day of the Jackal

The Diplomat

Shōgun

Slow Horses

Comedy Series Ensemble

Abbott Elementary

The Bear

Hacks

Only Murders in the Building

Shrinking

Male Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series

Javier Bardem, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Mendenez Story

Colin Farrell, The Penguin

Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer

Kevin Kline, Disclaimer

Andrew Scott, Ripley

Female Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series

Kathy Bates, The Great Lillian Hall

Cate Blanchett, Disclaimer

Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country

Lily Gladstone, Under the Bridge

Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer

Cristin Milioti, The Penguin

Male Actor in a Drama Series

Tadanobu Asano, Shogun

Jeff Bridges, The Old Man

Gary Oldman, Slow Horses

Eddie Redmayne, The Day of the Jackal

Hiroyuki Sanada, Shōgun

Female Actor in a Drama Series

Kathy Bates, Matlock

Nicola Coughlan, Bridgerton

Allison Janney, The Diplomat

Keri Russell, The Diplomat

Anna Sawai, Shōgun

Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This

Ted Danson, A Man on the Inside

Harrison Ford, Shrinking

Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building

Jeremy Allen White, The Bear

Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Kristen Bell, Nobody Wants This

Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary

Liza Colon-Zayas, The Bear

Ayo Edebiri, The Bear

Jean Smart, Hacks

Stunt Ensemble in a TV Series

The Boys

Fallout

House of the Dragon

The Penguin

Shogun