The 53rd Saturn Awards were presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, to honor the best in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other genres belonging to genre fiction in film, television, and home entertainment.
The ceremony was held on March 8, 2026, at Hilton Universal City in Los Angeles, with Joel McHale as host for the fourth consecutive year, and streamed live for free on saturnawards.tv.
The nominations were announced on January 27, 2026. The genre-defying film Sinners, Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and science fiction epic Avatar: Fire and Ash led all film nominees, each receiving twelve nominations, followed by Guillermo del Toro's adaptation of Frankenstein with eleven. For the television categories, the Paramount+ crime drama mystery Dexter: Resurrection led the nominees with six, followed by Andor, It: Welcome to Derry, and Stranger Things with five each. Ultimately, Avatar: Fire and Ash won the most film awards with five, including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Film Direction (James Cameron), followed by Frankenstein with four. On the television side, Andor and Pluribus won the most awards with three each.
Category changes
Introduced Best Cinematic Adaptation Film Best International Animated Film Best New Genre Television Series
Discontinued Best Genre Comedy Television Series
Winners and nominees
Film
{| class="wikitable" |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Science Fiction Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Fantasy Film |- | valign="top" | Avatar: Fire and Ash Bugonia Jurassic World Rebirth Predator: Badlands The Running Man Tron: Ares | valign="top" | Wicked: For Good Freakier Friday Hamnet How to Train Your Dragon The Life of Chuck Lilo & Stitch |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Horror Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Action / Adventure Film |- | valign="top" | Frankenstein 28 Years Later The Conjuring: Last Rites Final Destination Bloodlines The Monkey Weapons | valign="top" | Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Ballerina F1 Novocaine Now You See Me: Now You Don't One Battle After Another |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Thriller Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Cinematic Adaptation Film |- | valign="top" | Sinners Highest 2 Lowest The Housemaid The Long Walk Marty Supreme Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | valign="top" | The Fantastic Four: First Steps Black Phone 2 Captain America: Brave New World A Minecraft Movie Superman Thunderbolts* |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Animated Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best International Animated Film |- | valign="top" | Zootopia 2 The Bad Guys 2 The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie Elio KPop Demon Hunters The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants | valign="top" | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle () Attack on Titan the Movie: The Last Attack () Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc () The Colors Within () Ne Zha 2 () Stitch Head () |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Independent Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best International Film |- | valign="top" | Dust Bunny Adulthood Eden Good Boy The Plague The Rule of Jenny Pen The Toxic Avenger | valign="top" | Sisu: Road to Revenge () 40 Acres () Bring Her Back () Dead of Winter () Night Call () The Ugly Stepsister () |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Direction ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Screenwriting |- | valign="top" | James Cameron – Avatar: Fire and Ash Ryan Coogler – Sinners Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein James Gunn – Superman Christopher McQuarrie – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Matt Shakman – The Fantastic Four: First Steps Dan Trachtenberg – Predator: Badlands | valign="top" | James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silver – Avatar: Fire and Ash Ryan Coogler – Sinners Zach Cregger – Weapons Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer – The Fantastic Four: First Steps Bryan Fuller – Dust Bunny Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Actor in a Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Actress in a Film |- | valign="top" | Tom Cruise – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning as Ethan Hunt David Corenswet – Superman as Clark Kent / Superman Tom Hiddleston – The Life of Chuck as Charles "Chuck" Kranz Oscar Isaac – Frankenstein as Victor Frankenstein Michael B. Jordan – Sinners as Elijah "Smoke" Moore / Elias "Stack" Moore Pedro Pascal – The Fantastic Four: First Steps as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic Sam Worthington – Avatar: Fire and Ash as Jake Sully | valign="top" | Elle Fanning – Predator: Badlands as Thia / Tessa Rachel Brosnahan – Superman as Lois Lane Cynthia Erivo – Wicked: For Good as Elphaba Julia Garner – Weapons as Justine Gandy Vanessa Kirby – The Fantastic Four: First Steps as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman Zoe Saldaña – Avatar: Fire and Ash as Neytiri Emma Stone – Bugonia as Michelle Fuller |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Supporting Actor in a Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Supporting Actress in a Film |- | valign="top" | Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein as The Creature Edi Gathegi – Superman as Michael Holt / Mister Terrific Jeff Goldblum – Wicked: For Good as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Stephen Lang – Avatar: Fire and Ash as Colonel Miles Quaritch Delroy Lindo – Sinners as Delta Slim Mads Mikkelsen – Dust Bunny as Resident 5B Ebon Moss-Bachrach – The Fantastic Four: First Steps as Ben Grimm / The Thing | valign="top" | Sigourney Weaver – Dust Bunny as Laverne Oona Chaplin – Avatar: Fire and Ash as Varang Mia Goth – Frankenstein as Elizabeth Harlander Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good as Glinda Amy Madigan – Weapons as Gladys Florence Pugh – Thunderbolts* as Yelena Belova Hailee Steinfeld – Sinners as Mary |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Younger Performer in a Film ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Editing |- | valign="top" | Jack Champion – Avatar: Fire and Ash as Miles "Spider" Socorro Miles Caton – Sinners as Samuel "Sammie" Moore Maia Kealoha – Lilo & Stitch as Lilo Pelekai Madeleine McGraw – Black Phone 2 as Gwen Sophie Sloan – Dust Bunny as Aurora Mason Thames – How to Train Your Dragon as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III | valign="top" | Sinners – Michael P. Shawver Avatar: Fire and Ash – James Cameron, John Refoua, Steve Rivkin, Nicolas de Toth, and Jason Gaudio The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Nona Khodai and Tim Roche Frankenstein – Evan Schiff Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Eddie Hamilton Predator: Badlands – Stefan Grube and Dave Trachtenberg |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Music ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Production Design |- | valign="top" | Tron: Ares – Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) Avatar: Fire and Ash – Simon Franglen The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Michael Giacchino Frankenstein – Alexandre Desplat Sinners – Ludwig Göransson Wicked: For Good – John Powell and Stephen Schwartz | valign="top" | The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Jille Azis and Kasra Farahani Avatar: Fire and Ash – Dylan Cole and Ben Procter Frankenstein – Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau Sinners – Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne Superman – Beth Mickle Wicked: For Good – Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Costume Design ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Make Up |- | valign="top" | Frankenstein – Kate Hawley The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Alexandra Byrne Predator: Badlands – Ngila Dickson Sinners – Ruth E. Carter Superman – Judianna Makovsky Wicked: For Good – Paul Tazewell | valign="top" | Frankenstein – Mike Hill and Megan Many 28 Years Later – Flora Moody and John Nolan Sinners – Mike Fontaine and Siân Richards Tron: Ares – Zabrina Matiru and Donald Mowat Weapons – Jason Collins, Leo Satkovich, and Melizah Wheat Wicked: For Good – Mark Coulier and Frances Hannon |- ! colspan="2" style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Film Visual / Special Effects |- | colspan="2" valign="top" | Avatar: Fire and Ash – Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, and Eric Saindon The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Daniele Bigi, Lisa Marra, and Scott Stokdyk How to Train Your Dragon – Andy Kind, François Lambert, Christian Manz, Glen McIntosh, and Glenn Melenhorst Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Kristin Hall, Ian Lowe, Dave Newton, Jeff Sutherland, and Alex Wuttke Superman – Stéphane Ceretti, Enrico Damm, Stephane Nazé, and Guy Williams Wicked: For Good – Pablo Helman and Dale Newton
Television
Programs {| class="wikitable" |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Science Fiction Television Series ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Fantasy Television Series |- | valign="top" | Andor (Disney+) The Ark (Syfy) Foundation (Apple) Severance (Apple) Silo (Apple) Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) | valign="top" | Outlander (Starz) Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches (AMC) Ghosts (CBS) The Librarians: The Next Chapter (TNT) Stranger Things (Netflix) Wednesday (Netflix) |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Horror Television Series ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Action / Adventure Television Series |- | valign="top" | It: Welcome to Derry (HBO) Anne Rice's Talamasca: The Secret Order (AMC) The Institute (MGM+) The Last of Us (HBO) The Walking Dead: Dead City (AMC) Yellowjackets (Showtime) | valign="top" | Duster (HBO Max) Cobra Kai (Netflix) Paradise (Hulu) Reacher (Prime Video) Squid Game (Netflix) Twisted Metal (Peacock) |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Thriller Television Series ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Superhero Television Series |- | valign="top" | Dexter: Resurrection (Paramount+) Dark Winds (AMC) The Lowdown (FX) MobLand (Paramount+) The Rainmaker (USA Network) Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple) | valign="top" | Peacemaker (HBO Max) Daredevil: Born Again (Disney+) Gen V (Prime Video) Invincible (Prime Video) Ironheart (Disney+) The Sandman (Netflix) |- ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Television Presentation or Limited Series ! style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best Animated Television Series or Special |- | valign="top" | The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (AMC) The Beast in Me (Netflix) Black Mirror (Netflix) Murderbot (Apple) Nautilus (Prime Video) The Pitt (HBO Max) | valign="top" | Predator: Killer of Killers (Hulu) Creature Commandos (HBO Max) Harley Quinn (HBO Max) Marvel Zombies (Disney+) Solo Leveling – Arise from the Shadow (Crunchyroll) Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld (Disney+) Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Disney+) |- ! colspan="2" style="background:#EEDD82; width:50%"| Best New Genre Television Series |- | colspan="2" valign="top" | Pluribus (Apple) Alien: Earth (FX) Outlander: Blood of My Blood (Starz) Robin Hood (MGM+) Spartacus: House of Ashur (Starz) Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Disney+)
Acting
Best Actor in a Television Series Best Actress in a Television Series Diego Luna – Andor as Cassian Andor (Disney+) Sterling K. Brown – Paradise as Xavier Collins (Hulu) John Cena – Peacemaker as Chris Smith / Peacemaker (HBO Max) Michael C. Hall – Dexter: Resurrection as Dexter Morgan (Paramount+) Sam Heughan – Outlander as Jamie Fraser (Starz) Norman Reedus – The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon as Daryl Dixon (AMC) Adam Scott – Severance as Mark Scout / Mark S. (Apple) Rhea Seehorn – Pluribus as Carol Sturka (Apple)