Oscar 2026 nominations: Jessie Buckley highlights Paul Mescal's snub

Jessie Buckley reacted to the news that Paul Mescal was left out of the 2026 Oscars’ Best Supporting Actor field.

On January 22, Thursday, after nominations for the 98^th Academy Awards ceremony were announced. Mescal was left out of the awards show’s five-man Best Supporting actor group despite receiving nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Actor Awards (formerly the Screen Actors Guild Awards) this season. The 98th Academy Awards air Sunday, March 15, at 7 pm on ABC.

“Yeah, look, I think he’s extraordinary in this film. I know I’ve met a partner for life in doing this with him,” Buckley, Mescal’s costar in Hamnet, told The Hollywood Reporter after nominations were announced. “I don’t know what to say apart from he is, to me, my absolute. His artistry is something that will continue to grow and be a theme in so many different ways”.

“Hamnet” is up for eight Oscars, including Best Actress for Buckley, Best Director for Chloé Zhao, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.

Buckley is nominated against Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) and Emma Stone (“Bugonia”).

The nominees for Best Supporting Actor, for which Mescal was contending, are Benicio Del Toro (“One Battle After Another”), Jacob Elordi (“Frankenstein”), Delroy Lindo (“Sinners”), Sean Penn (“One Battle After Another”) and Stellan Skarsgård (“Sentimental Value”).

Until the Oscars, Mescal was scoring nominations the entire award season, including at the Golden Globes (where he lost to Skarsgård) and the Critics’ Choice Awards (where he lost to Elordi). He’s nominated for the upcoming 32nd Actors Awards airing March 1.