The 2026 Writers Guild Awards were handed out Sunday in New York.
Sinners took the prize for best original screenplay, with star Miles Caton accepting on Ryan Coogler’s behalf and reading from a note Coogler sent. One Battle After Another took home the award for best adapted screenplay. Paul Thomas Anderson also was not present to accept the prize, so Shayna McHayle, who plays Junglepussy in the film, accepted on his behalf with a prepared statement from the writer-director.
The Writers Guild Awards’ adapted screenplay category features the same nominees as the Oscars’ adapted screenplay category. The Oscars’ original screenplay category, however, features some different selections from the Writers Guild nominees.
In the TV categories, The Pitt won for best drama series, best new series and best episodic drama. The Studio won for best comedy series, while The Righteous Gemstones won for best episodic comedy. Dying for Sex won in the limited series category. While The Pitt and The Studio winners weren’t present at the New York ceremony, the writers for The Righteous Gemstones and Dying for Sex were there and delivered speeches. Accepting for The Righteous Gemstones, Danny McBride said in part that he was “really glad we didn’t ditch this” and instead attended the ceremony.
While the Writers Guild traditionally holds simultaneous ceremonies in New York and L.A., this year the East Coast event took place after the West Coast ceremony was canceled amid an ongoing strike by the Writers Guild of America West’s own staff.
The WGA West staff union has been on strike since Feb. 17, alleging that management committed unfair labor practices amid first contract negotiations. The guild canceled the Los Angeles ceremony last week, with WGAW president Michele Mulroney writing in part, in a letter to presenters and participants, “An alternative celebration for this year’s Los Angeles-based nominees will be scheduled at a later date.”
“Currently, the non-supervisory staff of the WGAW, represented by the Pacific Northwest Staff Union (PNWSU), is on strike,” Mulroney added. “While I respect the staff’s right to strike, I also believe that you deserve an uncomplicated celebration of your achievements. We would not ask you, your guests, talent and crew to cross a picket line to attend.”
WGAW members received a similar message.
Though the East and West branches of the Writers Guild work jointly on contracts, they are separate unions, and the WGAE’s staff union is organized with the United Steelworkers and is not on strike.
Roy Wood Jr. hosted the East Coast ceremony, which took place at the Edison Ballroom in New York.
Despite the drama ahead of this year’s event with the L.A. ceremony being canceled, that development went nearly unmentioned onstage in New York, apart from Coogler’s prepared remarks that Caton read. After saying that the Writers Guild Awards is always a highlight for him and wife and producing partner Zinzi Coogler, Ryan Coogler wrote that there are “real issues” that have to be “sort[ed] out” with the WGAW staff on strike, suggesting that the strike and canceled L.A. ceremony prevented them from attending this year’s show.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet ahead of this year’s show, Wood acknowledged the tricky situation of proceeding with the East Coast ceremony amid the WGA West strike.
“We had discussions internally, the guild did, about what the East would do considering the strike situation in the West. And they opted to continue on with the show. I haven’t had an opportunity to speak with anybody in the East, but I do hope that they’re able to get everything worked out 1,000 percent,” he said. “I think what we will do, as best we can, is try to be as delicate as we can be about what’s happening in the West but still wanting make sure that we acknowledge all of the people that put in a lot of hard work on a lot of amazing projects.”
Sunday night’s event marked Wood’s third time hosting the Writers Guild Awards, which he poked fun at in the top of his monologue, alluding to President Donald Trump’s repeated musings about possibly running for a third term.
“It’s a pleasure to be back for a third time. I know that a lot of people say that there that there should be something against doing something for a third term,” he joked. “Some people say that there shouldn’t be a rule against a third term. They say you should be able to serve as long as you want to serve. And I spoke with [WGA East] president, Tom Fontana, and he gave me his blessing.”
He also joked about the Tourette’s incident at the BAFTA Awards last month, pointing out that there weren’t microphones on the tables in the audience.
“This is not the BAFTAs. We cannot afford microphones,” he said. “So because there are no microphones at the tables, Tourette’s or not, if you plan on yelling a slur at the stage tonight, please stand up and project.”
And, reflecting on his past time on The Daily Show and moving to CNN to host the U.S. version of Have I Got News for You, Wood recalled how he had left The Daily Show in part because of a “very, very messy merger” network Comedy Central was going through at the time with Paramount.
“And I wanted no part of that corporate instability. So, I left and I took my ass to CNN,” he said referring to the Warner Bros. Discovery cable network that is now, along with the rest of the David Zaslav-led company, merging with Paramount. “And one battle after another describes my journey through late night.”
Continuing to take on the Trump administration, Wood said they “want to control messaging,” tying recent military actions in Venezuela and Iran to Bari Weiss becoming editor-in-chief of CBS News.
“Our government has shown a willingness to go into places, forcefully take out the existing leaders and replace them with people willing to do the bidding of this administration. We saw it in Venezuela. We’re seeing it now in Iran. Before both of those, we saw it at CBS,” he joked. “My CBS News friends are in here somewhere. I don’t want to point them out, but you can laugh at that. She’s not here. You may not know this, fun fact, the CBS writers have survived the last couple months through a system of tunnels they’ve built around the building.”
In closing, Wood encouraged the writers in attendance to keep creating challenging, boundary-pushing content.
“I urge all of you to continue to make original content that challenges the human mind and pushes back on conventional ideals because our government understands one thing clearly: If you control what people see, then you control how the country sees itself. And if you can do that, you don’t even need to rig an election,” he said. “So the journalists, the writers, the entertainers in this room, just know that we’re ground zero. We’re fighting the fight. We’re going to keep telling the truth and keep pushing.”
In the documentary category, 2,000 Meters to Andriivka was the big winner, though none of the documentary nominees is nominated for the Oscars’ best documentary feature award. And it was an unnominated documentary, Melania, that received multiple references from the stage.
Wood said of the thinking behind making and promoting the film, “What we will do is make one $40 million political documentary about a woman who kind of sort of hates her husband and didn’t show up to clap for him for his first day back on the job. And we’ll spend another $35 million just to promote that, that’s $75 million. You know what? Brett Ratner, you can direct this, too. Come on in. … The Melania doc should give everybody in this room hope. If they can blow $75 million on Melania, then we can ask for two more writers for our room. We won’t get them, but we can ask.”
Later, when presenting the documentary screenplay award, Wood’s former Daily Show colleague Desi Lydic joked that those who watched Melania “wished [they] were watching a good documentary.” And that though the nominated films are missing “Brett Ratner’s magic touch,” that “magic touch” is “why he didn’t work for seven years,” alluding to the sexual misconduct claims against him.
In addition to the competitive awards, Late Show host Stephen Colbert was presented with the Walter Bernstein Award by Robert Smigel; Terry George received the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Career Achievement from Don Cheadle; and Diana Son (Law & Order) was honored with the Richard B. Jablow Award for devoted service to the guild.
A complete list of this year’s winners follows.
Black Bag, Written by David Koepp; Focus Features
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Written by Mary Bronstein; A24
Marty Supreme, Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie; A24
Sinners, Written by Ryan Coogler; Warner Bros. Pictures (WINNER)
Weapons, Written by Zach Cregger; Warner Bros. Pictures
Bugonia, Screenplay by Will Tracy, Based on the Film Save the Green Planet Written and Directed by Jang Joon Hwan and Produced by Sidus; Focus Features
Frankenstein, Screenplay by Guillermo del Toro, Based on Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley; Netflix
Hamnet, Screenplay by Chloe Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell, Based on the Novel Written by Maggie O’Farrell; Focus Features
One Battle After Another, Screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, Screen Story by Paul Thomas Anderson, Inspired by the novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon; Warner Bros. Pictures (WINNER)
Train Dreams, Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, Based on the Novella by Denis Johnson; Netflix
2,000 Meters to Andriivka, Written by Mstyslav Chernov; Frontline Features (WINNER)
Becoming Led Zeppelin, Written by Bernard MacMahon & Allison McGourty; Sony Pictures Classics
