Golden Globes biggest snubs and surprises from Saoirse Ronan to Denis Villeneuve

The 2025 Awards season is preparing to get underway, and to kick off proceedings the nominations for the Golden Globes have now been announced.

On Monday 9 December the plethora of nominees were confirmed in a live television event, with the public expecting the actors and directors with the best work of the year to be nominated such as Denzel Washington in Gladiator 2, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley for The Substance, and shows like The Bear and Shogun. However there were also some notable snubs in both the acting and directing categories.

Here is who rightly deserved a nomination but didn't get one.

The biggest snubs at the 2025 Golden Globes

Saoirse Ronan

Saoirse Ronan is a shoe-in at the Oscars next year with her performances in multiple movies making it entirely possible for her to get a Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nod for The Outrun and Blitz. Neither role earned her a nomination at the Golden Globes in a shock turn of events, with Blitz being the most obvious snub.

The Golden Globes has an interesting category system, in which the best actor categories are split between drama and comedy/musical but for supporting actors this is simply "for all motion pictures. In the category Selena Gomez, Ariana Granda, Felicity Jones, Margaret Qualley, Isabella Rossellini, and Zoe Saldaña were nominated.

Danielle Deadwyler

After being snubbed for an Oscar nomination for her movie Till in 2022 it appears that Danielle Deadwyler has been snubbed yet again, this time for her role as Berniece Charles in The Piano Lesson. The actor won critical acclaim for her performance in Malcolm Washington's directorial debut, but this unfortunately didn't translate at the Golden Globes.

Jon M Chu, Ridley Scott, Steve McQueen, and Denis Villeneuve

The Best Director category is always a tough battle, but there were a fair few names notably missing from the Golden Globes nominations — Ridley Scott, Jon M Chu, Steve McQueen and Denis VIlleneuve. The filmmakers helped bring Gladiator 2, Wicked, Blitz, and Dune to life on screen, respectively, but none of them were shortlisted.

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This is surprising given Chu's sprawling, stunning take on Wicked: Part One, Scott's entertaining spectacle in Gladiator 2, and Villeneuve's awe-inspiring vision for Dune: Part Two. The category saw Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Edward Berger, Brady Corbet, Coralie Fargeat, and Payal Kapadia be nominated for their respective films Emilia Pérez, Anora, Conclave, The Brutalist, The Substance, and All We Imagine as Light.

Nava Mau

Baby Reindeer became a cultural phenomenon when it was released earlier this year on Netflix, and this has seen the cast and creative team be celebrated for their work. However at the Golden Globes only Richard Gadd was nominated, his co-star Nava Mau missed out on being nominated in the Best Actress in a Limited Series category.t

Though she had tough competition with the likes of Kate Winslet, Jodi Foster, Cate Blanchett, Cristin Milioti, Sofía Vergara, and Naomi Watts being nominated.

Gladiator 2

As well as Scott not being nominated it was noticeable how his Gladiator sequel did not do well at the Golden Globes, with just Washington earning a nomination and the movie being shortlisted for the new Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award. It was a surprise that the film didn't even get shortlisted for Best Motion Picture, though of all the actors it is Washington who most deserved a nomination.

Interview with the Vampire

AMC's exquisite adaptation of Anne Rice's novels continues to be snubbed by awards season, with the TV series and its cast —namely Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid— not being nominated in any category. After the sensational second season proved to be one of the best shows on TV in 2024 it's a surprise that not even the cast didn't even earn a nod.

Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist

Luca Guadagnino's Challengers earned a few nods at the Golden Globes including a nomination for Zendaya in the Best Actress category and Best Music for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. However it was noticeable how neither of Zendaya's co-stars Josh O'Connor or Mike Faist were nominated in the Supporting Actor category.

The tennis drama feeds off the toxic relationship between its central trio, and the film wouldn't work as well without O'Connor or Faist's performances to anchor it.

The biggest surprise nominations at the 2025 Golden Globes

While there were a lot of noticeable snubs there were also a few surprise nominations, with one of Ryan Murphy's most controversial shows earning multiple nominations, and shows that haven't even been released yet earning an early nod.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

As mentioned, despite courting controversy upon its release Murphy's Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story was shortlisted for Best Limited Series, Anthology or Motion Picture Made for Television, and acting nods for Javier Bardem and Cooper Koch. The series has been criticised for its depiction of Lyle and Erik Menendez as being in an incestuous relationship by the public and the real men themselves.

Squid Game

The Netflix juggernaut returns for its second season at the end of the year but Squid Game has already been nominated in the Best Television Series — Drama category. This early nod could be a sign of the quality of the new season, but also seems quite early given the new season has not yet been seen in a public sphere.

However, by the time the Golden Globes take place viewers will have had the chance to catch up on the show, so perhaps it is just a case of the awards show being ahead of the trend.

Ripley

Despite getting mixed reviews when it was released, Netflix's Ripley has earned multiple nods at the Golden Globes including Andrew Scott for Best Actor in a Limited Series and Dakota Fanning in the Best Actress in a Limited Series category.

The Golden Globes take place on Sunday, 5 January 2025.