Golden Globes 2026: ‘One Battle After Another’ is set to dominate awards season

The 2026 Golden Globes featured a Leonardo DiCaprio joke. This is going to be a staple of every single award ceremony this year. A joke about age, or dating twentysomethings. DiCaprio smiled the weary smile of a man who has heard this song and knows the chorus by heart. Settle in, Leo. Maybe like the iconic Jack Nicholson, you should take to wearing sunglasses at prizegiving shows. Awards season is a long-haul flight with turbulence, uncomfortable shoes, and no escape. And this year, One Battle After Another is boarding early and taking the best seats.

The film by Paul Thomas Anderson took home the prizes for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), with Anderson deservedly winning both Best Director and Best Screenplay. The first Globe of the night went to Teyana Taylor for her combustible performance that powers the film. Her heartfelt and excitable speech did what good speeches do, widening the room. “Most importantly, to my brown sisters and little brown girls watching tonight,” she said, “our softness is not a liability.” She went on, impassioned and striking. “We belong in every room we walk into. Our voices matter and our dream deserves space.”

That the second award did not go to Taylor’s co-stars Sean Penn or Benicio Del Toro — but instead to A Sentimental Value actor Stellan Skarsgård, an excellent, undervalued performer — is because both beloved actors must surely have split the vote. Either way, Sean Penn will certainly win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It is the best, showiest, most unforgettable performance. It’s undeniably good.

Comedian Nikki Glaser proved to a sharp host, one who really nailed the all-important award-show balance between a sharp jibe (“[Kevin Hart] and The Rock together are like my favourite comedy duo. Such a classic comedy duo. You’re like a Steve Martin and Martin Short for people under 50… IQ.”) and an immediate “I love you” to the recently pricked. This is her second year as host and she opened the night asking for people to bid on Warner Brothers.

“There are so many A-listers,” Glaser said, marvelling at the roomful of stars in attendance, with several Hollywood heavyweights having films and shows in contention, something that immediately makes the ceremonies feel more monumental this year. “And by A-listers I do mean people who are on a list that has been heavily redacted. And the Golden Globe for Best Editing goes to the Justice Department.” The Hollywood elite cheered, but some must have squirmed with this reference to the Jeffrey Epstein files that will end up exposing more famous faces.

The standout bit of trolling, however, came from Wanda Sykes. Presenting the award for Best Stand-Up Comedy on Television, she roasted absent nominee Ricky Gervais and then used the stage to make a pointed cultural comment. “Ricky Gervais, I love you for not being here,” she said, “If you win, I get to accept the award on your behalf, and you’re going to thank God and the trans community.” When Gervais did win for his Netflix special Mortality, she made good on that promise. That moment — equal parts roast, political poke, and inclusive shout-out — was among the night’s most memorable, precisely because it was unexpected and sharp.

The two comedians demonstrated how awards shows need to, first and foremost, be a space for personality and context, even when shiny trophies become the headline.

There were oddities. Some wins felt like they reflected popularity or switcheroos rather than foregone conclusions, and the new categories — like Best Podcast — brought a reminder that the Globes are still desperately experimenting with relevance, and trying to figure out what Hollywood excellence looks like in 2026. The Pitt (JioHotstar) dominated the TV shows in the drama categories and The Studio (Apple TV) swept the comedies. Rhea Seehorn finally won Best Actress in a Drama for her powerhouse performance in Pluribus (Apple TV), while there was tremendous applause for 16-year-old Owen Cooper winning Best Supporting Actor for his memorable role in Adolescence (Netflix).

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (JioHotstar) did not win everything it deserved. It did not even win most things. Yet, Sinners is a miracle of a movie. Angry, musical, larger than life, intimate, political, and deeply original. It refuses genre, it refuses comfort, it refuses predictability. Coogler made a film that does not explain or conform, but instead trusts the viewer to keep up. That may have been a bit much for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the dubious and starstruck body that hand out the Golden Globes. They gave it polite applause and limited trophies, giving Hamnet the award for Best Picture (Drama) while handing Sinners a prize for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. That is fine. This movie will outlast the awards.

One Battle After Another has announced itself and is here to dominate the season. Yes, I will bet good money on Sean Penn marching all the way to an Oscar stage, mumbling an isn't-all-this-silly acceptance speech with self-deprecation and twinkly eyes. We are, however, getting ahead of ourselves. All in all, these were a fine Golden Globes, even if overlong, and even if JioHotstar’s telecast was glitchy and erratic. The season, like DiCaprio’s forced patience during that opening monologue, has just begun. It’s going to be one award show after another.

Raja Sen (@rajasen) is a screenwriter and critic. He has co-written Chup, a film about killing critics, and is now creating an absurd comedy series.