Oscars 2026: All The Must-See Moments From This Year's Academy Awards You Might Have Missed

The 2026 Oscars saw out awards season for another year on Sunday night.

Sinners and One Battle After Another went into this year’s ceremony vying for the top prizes, but in the end, it was the latter that would come out on top, with six wins in total, including the coveted Best Picture and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson.

It was still a strong showing for Ryan Coogler’s musical vampire thriller, though, which picked up four awards in total, while Frankenstein scooped three and KPop Demon Hunters managed to pick up two.

But, as usual, some of the night’s most memorable moments had nothing to do with who came away with what.

For those who didn’t feel like staying up until the wee small hours to follow the Academy Awards action live, here’s your quick guide to all of this year’s must-see moments…

Let’s start things off on the red carpet, where Best Supporting Actress nominee Teyana Taylor was undoubtedly one of the best-dressed of the night

Her fellow nominee Wunmi Mosaku was also glittering as she made her way into the event

Best Director contender Chloé Zhao brought plenty of drama to the red carpet

No one was having more fun on the red carpet than Marty Supreme star Odessa A’zion

Speaking of Marty Supreme, shall we take a moment to really take in all of Timothée Chalamet’s look, too?

Kate Hudson marked her Best Actress nod by walking the red carpet with her famous mum, Goldie Hawn

Sinners’ own Michael B Jordan also made the Oscars into a family affair, too

His Sinners co-star Jack O’Connell’s moment on the red carpet came with a surprise for fans of the film

And while Chase Infiniti may have been snubbed in the Best Actress category, she certainly made herself known on the red carpet with this fabulous outfit

Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams kicked off 2026′s awards season with his first major red carpet at the Golden Globes, and rounded it off with an appearance at the Grammys

Conan O’Brien set the tone with an opening monologue referencing the current political climate and world news, as well as the threats of AI to the entertainment industry

Oh, and naturally, he couldn’t resist a pop at Timothée Chalamet, either

The first winner of the night was Amy Madigan for Weapons, and she was visibly delighted with the news, laughing to herself as she finally got to hold the Oscar in her hands

Sinners’ musical performance brought the film’s most memorable scene to life live on stage 

Anna Wintour had some fun while presenting an award with The Devil Wears Prada’s own Anne Hathaway

There was a rare Oscars tie while presenting the award for Best Live-Action Short Film (‘it’s ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long,’ he then joked)

There was some awkwardness as producers tried to cut Two People Exchanging Saliva’s acceptance speech, but they prevailed

Kieran Culkin accepted Sean Penn’s third (third!) Oscar win on his behalf after he ‘couldn’t be here this evening – or didn’t want to’

Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans roped Channing Tatum into one memorable comedy sketch

Sinners director and writer Ryan Coogler celebrated his Best Original Screenplay win by celebrating the work of Sinners’ sprawling cast

Billy Crystal began the ‘in memoriam’ tributes by leading a star-studded homage to Rob Reiner

Following this, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Rachel McAdams remembered Diane Keaton and Catherine O’Hara

Barbra Streisand then gave a rare live musical performance in tribute to her The Way We Were co-star Robert Redford

Lightening the mood after a break was this excellent exchange between sci-fi legends Sigourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal, featuring a cameo from Baby Yoda himself

Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t on stage for long, but managed to take a series of shots at Donald Trump and his administration

You could hear a pin drop after All The Empty Rooms’ win for Best Documentary Short, as the team behind it made an important point about gun violence

Mr Nobody Against Putin’s team then had a timely message for the whole world about ‘complicity’ and its effects on society

The cast of Bridesmaids – minus one! – then came together to mark 15 years since the film’s release (yes this would have been a lot funnier had their mics been working but as that’s not their fault we’re going to swiftly move on...)

Sinners’ own Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history with her win for Best Cinematography – and shared the moment with every woman in the room

There’ve been plenty of performances of Golden over the course of awards season this year, but the rendition at the Oscars was perhaps the most ambitious yet

Javier Bardem used his introduction to Best International Feature Film by declaring ‘free Palestine’

After winning Best Original Song, an emotional Ejae reflected on how far she’d come

Unfortunately, after Golden won Best Original Song for KPop Demon Hunters, one of its songwriters was cut off by producers, leading to widespread groaning from the studio audience

Michael B Jordan beat stiff competition from Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio to win his first Oscar, and the reaction from everyone around him was just wonderful to behold

Jessie Buckley then completed her awards season clean sweep with an Oscars victory, rounding off her heartwarming speech with an Irish-language sign-off

Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor weren’t ever going to get through their Moulin Rouge! reunion without a quick musical interlude, were they?

Paul Thomas Anderson then saw out One Battle After Another’s Best Picture win with a message for his fellow nominees

But not before...

And finally, Conan O’Brien’s final sketch of the night referenced the final moments of One Battle After Another