Oscars 2026: What to expect and who will win

Irish actress Jessie Buckley is the favourite to win best actress for her performance in Hamnet

Hollywood stars are gearing up for Sunday night’s Oscars, in an exciting year for the awards race where several categories are too close to call.

Political thriller One Battle After Another is the favourite to win best picture, but it faces tough competition from vampire horror Sinners, which has a record-breaking 16 nominations.

Irish star Jessie Buckley is considered the firm frontrunner to win best actress for her performance in Hamnet.

But the other acting races are tighter, with stars such as Michael B Jordan, Timothée Chalamet, Amy Madigan, Wunmi Mosaku and Sean Penn all in contention.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Sunday’s ceremony.

How to watch the Oscars 2026

The Academy Awards will be broadcast on ITV in the UK, with red carpet coverage starting at 22:15 GMT before the ceremony kicks off at 23:00 GMT.

The unusually early start is down to a combination of the ceremony being an hour earlier than it used to be, as well as the clocks having already changed in the US but not the UK.

For US viewers, the ceremony begins at 16:00 PT/19:00 ET, and can be watched on ABC and streamed on Hulu.

Who is presenting the Oscars?

Conan O’Brien is returning to hosting duties this year, after a barnstorming performance in 2025 where he performed comedic musical numbers and affectionately roasted the nominees in his opening monologue.

Several guest stars have also been enlisted to give out some of the statuettes throughout the night.

Actors who appear in some of this year’s major films but weren’t nominated individually have been invited to present awards, such as Paul Mescal (Hamnet), Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Marty Supreme).

Other category presenters will include Nicole Kidman, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Robert Downey Jr, Anne Hathaway and Chris Evans, as well as last year’s quartet of acting winners – Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña.

Which films are the frontrunners?

There might be 10 films nominated for best picture, but the race for the top category has boiled down to two films – political thriller One Battle After Another and vampire horror Sinners.

One Battle is the clear frontrunner after a string of big wins at precursor ceremonies, and its director Paul Thomas Anderson is widely predicted to finally win his first Oscar for directing.

But there is also huge passion within the Academy for Sinners. Director Ryan Coogler is widely respected for what he was able to pull off with the film, which has a whopping 16 nominations. Don’t bet against a Sinners surprise on the night.

A close best actor race

Best actor is one of the most interesting acting races this year, and in recent weeks has been veering all over the place like a broken shopping trolley.

The Golden Globes went with The Secret Agent’s Wagner Moura from its drama category and Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet for musical or comedy, a prize the 30-year-old also won at the Critics Choice Awards.

Bafta threw us a real curveball, opting for I Swear’s Robert Aramayo, who isn’t even nominated at the Oscars (the film hasn’t yet been released in the US), while the Actor Awards went with Sinners star Michael B Jordan.

The late surge of momentum for Jordan puts him in a strong position ahead of the Oscars, but this is a wobbly and wide open category.

Best actress is much easier to predict, with Jessie Buckley almost certain to win for Hamnet after dominating the category throughout awards season.

Supporting stars

Last year’s supporting actor and actress races were fairly predictable – with Culkin and Saldaña sweeping the two categories across the season.

In contrast, this year’s supporting races have been a rollercoaster ride. Frankenstein’s Jacob Elordi won best supporting actor at the Critics Choice Awards, while Sentimental Value’s Stellan Skarsgård picked up the Golden Globe.

However, in recent weeks, things have started to coalesce around One Battle After Another’s Sean Penn. His portrayal of white supremacist Colonel Lockjaw has seen him take the trophy at the Bafta and Actor Awards – two key precursors.

Supporting actress has been even more split. One Battle’s Teyana Taylor took the Golden Globe, Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku scored the Bafta, and Weapons actress Amy Madigan won at the Critics Choice and Actor Awards.

Any of the three could feasibly win the statuette on Sunday. Madigan got a boost of momentum with a win at the Actor Awards, but Taylor and Mosaku have the advantage of both appearing in best picture-nominated films.

Who will perform at the Oscars?

This year, only two of the five tracks nominated for best original song will be performed during the Academy Awards.

They are I Lied to You from Sinners, performed by Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq and Misty Copeland, and Golden, performed by girl group Huntr/x from KPop Demon Hunters.

Not only are these the two frontrunners in the category, but they are also the two songs most likely to appeal to young audiences in particular, something the Academy will be keenly aware of.

The show will also include appearances by Josh Groban and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that Barbra Streisand will perform at the ceremony to honour her former The Way We Were co-star Robert Redford, who died last year aged 89.

A new casting category

Five of the films nominated for best picture this year have an additional nomination in the newly created casting category.

They are The Secret Agent, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another and Sinners.

From 2028, there’ll be yet another new category, when the Oscars will follow the Actor Awards in recognising best stunt design.

But how will they make room for these new categories given the ceremony already runs late every year?

That’ll become less of an issue when the Oscars moves to YouTube in 2029, without the tight time restrictions and commercial breaks that come with terrestrial television.

Why are the Oscars so late, and when did voting close?

You might have noticed this year’s awards season has dragged on a bit, with the Academy Awards coming two weeks later than they did last year.

The Oscars date tends to bounce around a bit anyway, but one of the reasons it’s a bit later this year is the Academy usually tries to avoid being too close to the Winter Olympics. (The ceremony was even later in 2022, although the impact of the Covid pandemic was also a factor then.)

Even awards pundits had run out of things to talk about by last week, as Jessie Buckley’s feelings towards cats and Timothée Chalamet’s feelings towards opera and ballet took over the headlines.

Voting for this year’s Oscars took place from 26 February to 5 March – which means those controversies sparked up too late to influence the race.

Best picture contender Sinners has had a particularly long road to the Academy Awards, having been released in cinemas last April.