Buckley, from Killarney, is hotly tipped for success after being nominated in the Best Actress category for her role in Hamnet.
The Oscars are set to be announced in Hollywood later tonight, marking the end of this year’s awards season.
The shortlist of nominees recognises films released in 2025, with contenders spanning prestige dramas, studio blockbusters and international titles.
Jessie Buckley on the Oscars red carpet. Photo: Reuters.
Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror Sinners — starring Michael B. Jordan as twins — leads the pack with 16 nominations, more than any film in Oscars history.
Meanwhile, Paul Thomas Anderson’s caper One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, follows closely behind with 13 nominations. Guillermo del Toro’s take on Frankenstein and Josh Safdie’s ping pong drama, Marty Supreme, both earned nine nominations, while Chloé Zhao’s Shakespeare drama Hamnet picked up eight.
Odessa A’zion attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images.
One of the big surprises of the nominations was Brad Pitt’s F1 blockbuster, which was among the nominees for Best Picture.
Attention now turns to the Oscars ceremony itself, which takes place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Comedian Conan O’Brien returns as host for a second consecutive year, following a broadly well-received debut.
Kieran Culkin at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. Photo: Savion Washington/Penske Media via Getty Images.
This year also introduces a new competitive award, Best Casting, expanding the total number of Oscars presented to 24. The category aims to recognise the creative contribution of casting directors, marking the first new Oscar category added in more than two decades.
Security for the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre will be tight. Organisers said they were working closely with the FBI and Los Angeles police after a federal warning of a possible Iranian threat against California, though authorities have cited no specific or credible danger to the Academy Awards.
The glitzy celebration, Hollywood’s most over-the-top gala of the year, will take place as the US wages war on Iran. O’Brien said he planned to touch on current events but his primary mission was to make people laugh and feel at ease.
Arden Cho attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)
“My job is to hit this very, very thin line, I think, between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities,” he told a press conference on Wednesday. “All I can say is I’ll use my best judgment.”
The ceremony masks the unease in the film business over where movies are being made as studios chase tax incentives and lower costs elsewhere in the US and overseas, weakening Hollywood’s grip on production.
Kerry Condon at the 98th Annual Oscars held at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by JC Olivera/WWD via Getty Images)
Warner Bros., the studio behind “One Battle” and “Sinners,” is in the process of being sold to Paramount Skydance in a deal that will narrow the ranks of major film distributors. A media watchdog group, Free Press, circulated a roving billboard around Hollywood over the weekend airing its opposition to the merger.
Workers in front of and behind the camera are worried artificial intelligence will limit job opportunities and stifle creativity and risk-taking.
(L-R) Zinzi Evans and Ryan Coogler attend the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Julian Hamilton/Getty Images)
This year’s awards contest holds an unusually high potential for surprises. The race for best actor is an especially unpredictable one, pitting Timothee Chalamet against Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan.
Chalamet had been considered a frontrunner for his acclaimed performance as a ping-pong hustler in “Marty Supreme,” but his prospects seemed to dim over an awards-season campaign featuring a streetwear line and a giant blimp and remarks dismissing ballet and opera.
“One Battle After Another,” starring DiCaprio as a one-time political radical now parenting a teenager, was seen as the frontrunner for best picture after stacking up trophy after trophy at recent ceremonies.
Teyana Taylor attends the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
But “Sinners,” a celebration of blues music and Black culture in the Segregation-era U.S. South starring Jordan, made a late surge with a win this month at the Actor Awards.
Jessie Buckley is considered a lock for best actress for her portrayal of Agnes Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, as the couple navigate the death of their 11-year-old son in “Hamnet.”
Awards experts say the rest of the top categories are up for grabs.
Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 10,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The Academy took steps this year to try to ensure voters have actually watched the movies they are voting on. The online balloting system for the first time tracks whether a voter has streamed each movie. Voters, however, can check a box to say they watched the movie elsewhere outside the Academy website.