2025 WGA Awards Nominations Boost Oscar Chances for ‘A Complete Unknown’ and ‘Challengers’

As always, the WGA Awards left off many screenplay Oscar frontrunners due to eligibility, giving certain nominees a needed spotlight to secure a nomination, and even win the Academy Award.

After a couple of postponements in consideration of the ongoing wildfires in California, the Writers Guild of America announced on Wednesday the nominations for the 2025 WGA Awards honoring film, TV, and several other mediums.

As always, the guild’s film nominations come with the caveat that any script not written by a guild member or under a WGA collective bargaining agreement was deemed ineligible, so major screenplay Oscar contenders like “The Brutalist” and “The Substance” were left out. What was nominated in their stead is the real indicator of some titles that are still not out of the awards race just yet.

The primary example on the Original Screenplay side is “Challengers,” which was just shut out of the BAFTAs the same day the WGA Awards nominations arrived. While the film’s best shot at an Oscar nomination is still for Best Original Score, “Challengers” screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes has been one of the biggest success stories of the season, not only garnering praise for his very first produced screenplay, but also having “Queer,” the adaptation he followed up his debut with, enter the awards conversation as well (though not enough for him to be a double nominee here.) There are enough ineligible original screenplays to make the field for an Academy Award nomination even tighter, but with nominations voting still going on, the Academy’s Writers branch now has another incentive to give “Challengers” a second look. It would not be a total surprise to see Kuritzkes nominated.

Elsewhere in the Original Screenplay category for the WGA Awards is Alex Garland’s “Civil War” and Megan Park’s “My Old Ass.” While both scripts have been counted out of the Oscar race as it currently stands, the former is notable as it’s another indication, after several Oscar shortlist appearances, that the A24 film is more popular with awards voters than people think. Meanwhile, the latter is more geared toward the Independent Spirit Awards, as Amazon, its studio, has their eggs more in the “Challengers” basket, but truly marks Park as a filmmaker to watch, with her recently receiving a DGA nomination for the film as well.

At first pass, many of the WGA nominations for Adapted Screenplay track, with films like “Dune: Part Two,” “Nickel Boys,” and even “Hit Man” having long been in the Oscar conversation for the category. The biggest surprise is the nod for “Wicked,” as movie musicals are hardly ever recognized for their scripts nowadays, but the ineligible “Emilia Pérez,” a fellow musical from French auteur Jacques Audiard, is considered the more competitive option. Coming off a Best Screenplay win at the Golden Globes, “Conclave” is also a major title missing from the list due to eligibility. “Sing Sing,” which just earned a BAFTA screenplay nomination, was also not eligible.

The title that has received the greatest boost is “A Complete Unknown,” from Jay Cocks and director James Mangold, which now boasts this WGA nomination, a DGA nomination, and multiple SAG nominations. These awards bodies having so much overlap with the Academy means that the Bob Dylan biopic needs to be taken even more seriously as a Best Picture contender than some films that were previously seen as frontrunners, such as “Dune: Part Two.”

Lastly, for the Documentary category, none of the nominees even made the shortlist for the Academy Award, which was similar to how the Producers Guild voted. There appears to be a growing disconnect between the guilds and the Documentary branch. Only the DGA seem to be on the same page as their Academy counterparts.

On the TV side of the equation, there was very little departure from what was honored at the 2024 Emmys. Though which seasons the shows are being recognized for are not listed, one can surmise the sophomore run of “The Diplomat” is the only nominee 100 percent eligible for the next Emmys. But kudos to Amazon for their continued hot streak in the Drama category, with “The Boys” getting a nod alongside Emmy nominees “Fallout” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” However, the shows are all up against Emmy winner “Shōgun.”  

Although “Nobody Wants This” and “English Teacher” did not make it into the Comedy Series category, indicating that the ongoing trifecta of “Hacks,” “The Bear,” and “Abbott Elementary” are still the titles to beat, the pair of freshman hits both made it into the New Series category, cementing their status as impending Emmy contenders. The Comedy Series nominations for “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “What We Do in the Shadows” read more as goodbye nods to the beloved shows.

Once again, “The Penguin,” “Presumed Innocent,” and “True Detective: Night Country” got nods in a Limited Series category despite already being in various states of development for second seasons. That confusion is probably enough to earn Emmy winner Steve Zaillian another win for “Ripley,” as he has been pretty emphatic about ending the series where it is, despite there still being more Ripley stories he could adapt.

Looking at the episodic nominations, some more random titles that could ride their WGA recognition right into an Emmy nomination are animated series “Blood of Zeus,” CBS hit “Elsbeth,” new Amazon arrival “The Sticky,” and the dearly departed HBO comedy “Somebody Somewhere.”