The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has spoken — and Paul Thomas Anderson is now the clear Oscar frontrunner for Best Director.
Anderson won the top prize for Best Film Director at the 78th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday night, taking the guild’s most powerful endorsement for One Battle After Another. It marks his first-ever DGA victory and gives him decisive late-season momentum as final Oscar voting approaches.
The DGA’s feature film award remains the Academy’s most reliable predictor. The guild’s winner has gone on to claim the Best Director Oscar 21 of the last 25 times, including a perfect five-for-five streak in recent years — from Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) and Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) through Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), and Sean Baker (Anora).
This season, the DGA and Academy director lineups did not fully overlap. The guild nominated Guillermo del Toro for Frankenstein, while the Academy instead recognized Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value. Former DGA winner Chloé Zhao returned with Hamnet, Ryan Coogler competed with Sinners, and Josh Safdie earned his first DGA nomination for Marty Supreme. In the end, Anderson emerged as the consensus choice.
Elsewhere, Charlie Polinger won the DGA Award for Best First-Time Feature Film Director for The Plague. In television, Amanda Marsalis took Best Drama Series Directing for The Pitt (“6:00 P.M.”), while Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg won Best Comedy Series Directing for The Studio (“The Oner”).
Below, see the full list of winners from the 2026 DGA Awards.
Film Director
[winner] — Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
Film First-Time Directing
Hasan Hadi, The President’s Cake
Harry Lighton, Pillion
[winner] — Charlie Polinger, The Plague
Alex Russell, Lurker
Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby
Film Documentary Director
[winner] — Mstyslav Chernov, 2000 Meters to Andriivka
Geeta Gandbhir, The Perfect Neighbor
Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, Cutting Through Rocks
Elizabeth Lo, Mistress Dispeller
Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, Cover-Up
TV Drama Directing
Liza Johnson — The Diplomat, “Amagansett”
[winner] — Amanda Marsalis — The Pitt, “6:00 P.M.”
Janus Metz — Andor, “Who Are You?”
Ben Stiller — Severance, “Cold Harbor”
John Wells — The Pitt, “7:00 A.M.”
TV Comedy Directing
Lucia Aniello — Hacks, “A Slippery Slope”
Janicza Bravo — The Bear, “Worms”
[winner] — Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg — The Studio, “The Oner”
Christopher Storer — The Bear, “Bears”
Mike White — The White Lotus, “Denials”
TV Limited Series Directing
Jason Bateman — Black Rabbit, “The Black Rabbits”
Antonio Campos — The Beast in Me, “Sick Puppy”
Lesli Linka Glatter — Zero Day, “Episode 6”
[winner] — Shannon Murphy — Dying for Sex, “It’s Not That Serious”
Ally Pankiw — Black Mirror, “Common People”
TV Movie Directing
Jesse Armstrong, Mountainhead
[winner] — Stephen Chbosky, Nonnas
Scott Derrickson, The Gorge
Michael Morris, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
Kyle Newacheck, Happy Gilmore 2
TV Documentary Series/News Directing
Marshall Curry — SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, “Written By: A Week Inside the SNL Writers Room”
Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin — Billy Joel: And So It Goes, “Part Two”
[winner] — Rebecca Miller — Mr. Scorsese, “All This Filming Isn’t Healthy”
Alexandria Stapleton — Sean Combs: The Reckoning, “Official Girl”
Matt Wolf — Pee-Wee as Himself, “Part 1”
TV Variety Directing
Yvonne DeMare — The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, “Julia Roberts; Sam Smith”
Andy Fisher — Jimmy Kimmel Live!, “Stephen Colbert; Kumail Nanjiani; Reneé Rapp”
Beth McCarthy-Miller — SNL50: The Homecoming Concert
[winner] — Liz Patrick — SNL50: The Anniversary Special
Paul Pennolino — Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, “Public Media”
TV Reality/Quiz and Game Directing
Lucinda M. Margolis — Jeopardy!, “Ep. 9341”
Adam Sandler — The Price Is Right, “10,000th Episode”
[winner] — Mike Sweeney — Conan O’Brien Must Go, “Austria”
TV Sports Directing
[winner] — Matthew Gangl — 2025 World Series — Game 7 — Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Steve Milton — 2025 Masters Tournament — Augusta National Golf Club
Rich Russo — Super Bowl LIX — Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs
Commercial Directing
[WINNER] — Kim Gehrig
You Can’t Win. So Win. — Nike | Wieden+Kennedy
I’m Not Remarkable — Apple | Client Direct
Miles Jay
Dish — ChatGPT | Isle of Any
Pull Up — ChatGPT | Isle of Any
Trip — ChatGPT | Isle of Any
Home for the Holidays — Meta | Droga5
Secret Santa — Meta | Droga5
Spike Jonze
Someday — Apple Airpods 4 | TBWA\Media Arts Lab
Andreas Nilsson
Conquer the First School Poo — Andrex | FCB London
Garrett — Apple iPhone 16 Pro | Client Direct
Big Flex — Apple iPhone 16 Pro | Client Direct
Trunk Trucker — Virgin Media | VCCP London
Steve Rogers
Bring a Book to Life — Amazon | Droga5 London
A Tale as Old as Websites — Squarespace| Client Direct
Everything Is Fine — Coinbase | Mother London
