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One of the best surprises of the 2026 awards season has been Amy Madigan, as the 75-year-old actress received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Weapons. The honor wasn’t unexpected because of her quality of work or career: Madigan is an accomplished actress and a previous supporting actress nominee for 1985’s Twice in a Lifetime. However, Weapons is a horror movie, a genre that has never been a favorite of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences — at least until now.
“One of the sweetest things of the whole process of making Weapons has been to see Amy step up to the plate, knock it out of the park, and then see people respond,” director Zach Cregger told me in a recent phone interview. “It’s so satisfying. I’m so happy for her. Whether she wins or doesn’t is kind of immaterial to me. I’m just thrilled that she’s been recognized for something extraordinary.”
Over the Oscars’ nearly 100-year history, horror movies have often been recognized in behind-the-scenes categories: 1973’s The Exorcist won for adapted screenplay and sound, as one example, while 1986’s The Fly won for its make-up effects. The instances of a horror movie’s acting being nominated are far fewer: Fredric March was the first actor to win in the genre for his work in 1931’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Ruth Gordon being the first actress to triumph after her spine-tingling work in 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby.
Outside of those firsts, the other actors to win Oscars for this kind of genre performance can be counted on one hand: Kathy Bates had a hard time dating after playing the deranged stalker of 1990’s Misery, but she did get a lead actress trophy for it, and the following year Jodie Foster won for playing Clarice Starling in Oscar juggernaut The Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins also won lead actor for Silence, and depending on your interpretation of 2010’s Black Swan, Natalie Portman also belongs to this very exclusive club.
Even nominations are hard to come by for horror performances, though Daniel Kaluuya was recognized as a lead for Get Out (he’d later win in the supporting category for Judas and the Black Messiah), Johnny Depp was celebrated for speak-singing his way through Sweeney Todd, and Sigourney Weaver more than deserved her Aliens (1986) nod just for the line “Get away from her you bitch!”
This history makes Madigan’s Weapons success all the more exciting. Madigan was an unforgettable spitfire as Kevin Costner’s wife in Field of Dreams, creeped us out in the HBO drama Carnivále, and broke some hearts in the movie adaptation of The Laramie Project. However, Weapons is her highest-profile role in years. When I reviewed Cregger’s twisty, often hilarious thriller last summer, I didn’t hesitate to praise Madigan as “an instantly iconic new horror villain — visually distinct, fully committed, and utterly terrifying.” I didn’t dare to predict the kind of run she would end up having, though.
As awards season tapers to a close, Madigan has so far won Best Supporting Actress from the Critics Choice Awards, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Online Film Critics Society, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and, most recently, the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She was also nominated for her work by the Golden Globes, the Saturn Awards, and multiple critics groups — there are currently over 60 instances of her being recognized on IMDB
It’s the Screen Actors Guild triumph that dramatically increases her chances: Since 2009, the winner of the newly rebranded Actor Award for supporting actress has gone on to receive the Oscar in the same category. There’s been exactly one exception to this rule in the last 17 years: In 2018, Emily Blunt won at SAG for A Quiet Place — If Beale Street Could Talk’s Regina King, who would take the Academy Award home, was bizarrely snubbed by SAG.
Now, the other nominees for supporting actress this year are all formidable contenders. Teyana Taylor beat Madigan at the Golden Globes for bringing One Battle After Another’s Perfidia Beverly Hills to life; Sentimental Value was a sentimental favorite for Academy voters, with both Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas getting honored. Oh, and speaking of horror: the luminous Wunmi Mosaku is also in play here, one of the 16 record-setting nominations Ryan Coogler’s Sinners received this year.
Any of these actors could conceivably win here, but Madigan now has serious momentum and a long history of goodwill behind her. Also, Aunt Gladys really was one of the year’s most terrifying (fictional) villains, with her too-red wig, clenched chin, and ruthless disregard for others. When initially introduced in Weapons, she’s easy to see as a comical figure, before revealing the full extent of her powers — a beautifully executed misdirect, thanks to a perfect collaboration between script and performer.
The nominations success of Sinners is its own powerful indicator that the genre has hit a new level of recognition for awards voters — perhaps in part because the genre itself is thriving these days. As Cregger says, “I think that horror is a very exciting area right now for movies. It’s one of the few areas in Hollywood where you’re able to do daring, outrageous stuff at a big budget, and people are going to show up. And I think that’s awesome.”
If that critical acclaim and box office success can also be accompanied by a well-deserved trophy? All the better.
Weapons is streaming now on HBO Max. The Academy Awards will take place on March 15th, 2020, with Conan O’Brien hosting.
English (US) · 