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Oscars 2026: Chase Infiniti Pitches ‘One Battle After Another’ Sequel With Costar Teyana Taylor
Alas, the Best Supporting Actor succession didn't go according to plan at the 2026 Oscars.
Kieran Culkin, who won last year for A Real Pain, was on hand to present the honor, but—even though his odds had gone up since his BAFTA and Actor Award wins—Sean Penn was not at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre on March 15 to accept. (And, for the record, he didn't pick up either of those other awards in person, either.)
"Sean Penn couldn't be here this evening—or, didn't want to," Culkin suggested, "so I'll be accepting the award on his behalf." (See all the stars who did attend the 2026 Oscars.)
The One Battle After Another scene-stealer rose to the top of a field that included his costar Benicio del Toro, Sinners' Delroy Lindo, Sentimental Value's Stellan Skarsgärd, and Frankenstein's Jacob Elordi, all of whom heartily applauded despite coming up short.
Culkin also flashed the card with Penn's name on it at the camera as he exited the stage.
Del Toro won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 2000's Traffic, but everyone else in their category this year was a first-time nominee.
Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Meanwhile, this is Penn's third Oscar, the 65-year-old also a two-time Best Actor winner for 2003's Mystic River and 2008's Milk. (Statues that, as the politically minded star told Variety in 2023, he considered giving to Ukraine for the war cause, because they could "be melted down to bullets they can shoot at the Russians.")
But despite being able to sneak a cigarette (as in, smoke right there at the table) in the middle of the Golden Globes in January, he's not the biggest fan of the Hollywood rigmarole—and apparently the part governed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, especially.
Karwai Tang/WireImage
“The Academy have exercised really extraordinary cowardice when it comes to being part of the bigger world of expression," Penn said, per Variety, at the Marrakech Film Festival in 2024, where he was receiving a career tribute award, "and in fact, have largely been part of limiting the imagination and very limiting of different cultural expressions."
Award ceremonies such as the Oscars were "television shows first," he said, rather than true barometers of where the culture of filmmaking is at. “So I don’t I get very excited about what we’ll call the Academy Awards," he added, "[except for] when a film like The Florida Project or I’m Still Here, or, you know, Emilia Perez, of the things that are likely to happen this year."
So, even though he was likely to happen this year, Penn decided to walk the walk and put his cigarette where his mouth was—somewhere else.
But so far, everyone else has shown up to accept one Oscar after another at the 98th Academy Awards. Here's the complete winners list:
Best Picture
Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
Actress in a Leading Role
Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value
Emma Stone - Bugonia
Actor in a Leading Role
Timothée Chalamet - Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan - Sinners
Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent
Actress in a Supporting Role
Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value
WINNER: Amy Madigan - Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku- Sinners
Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another
Actor in a Supporting Role
Benecio Del Toro - One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo - Sinners
WINNER: Sean Penn - One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård - Sentimental Value
Director
Chloé Zhao - Hamnet
Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler - Sinners
Original Screenplay
Blue Moon
It Was Just An Accident
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
WINNER: Sinners
Costume Design
Avatar: Fire and Ash
WINNER: Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Original Song
"Dear Me" from Diane Warren: Relentless
"Golden" from KPop Deamon Hunters
"I Lied to You" from Sinners
"Sweet Dreams of Joy" from Viva Verdii
"Train Dreams" from Train Dreams
International Feature Film
The Secret Agent
It Was Just an Accident
Sentimental Value
Sirat
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Live Action Short Film
Butcher's Stain
A Friend of Dorothy
Jane Austen's Period Drama
WINNER (Tie): The Singers
WINNER (Tie): Two People Exchanging Saliva
Documentary Short Film
WINNER: All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only With A Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: "Were and Are Gone"
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness
Original Score
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
WINNER: Sinners
Visual Effects
WINNER: Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners
Cinematography
Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
WINNER: Sinners
Train Dreams
Film Editing
F1
Marty Supreme
WINNER: One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Production Design
WINNER: Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Adapted Screenplay
Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
WINNER: One Battle After Another
Train Dreams
Documentary Feature Film
The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
WINNER: Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor
Casting
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
WINNER: One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sinners
Animated Short Film
Butterfly
Forevergreen
WINNER: The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Retirement Plan
The Three Sisters
Makeup & Hairstyling
WINNER: Frankenstein
Kokuho
Sinners
The Smashing Machine
The Ugly Stepsister
Animated Feature Film
Arco
Elio
WINNER: Kpop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2
Sound
WINNER: F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirat
English (US)