The Screen Awards mark a major milestone in celebrating the year’s best film, television, and anime. Created through a collaboration between ScreenRant, Collider, CBR, and MovieWeb, the inaugural awards bring together critics and editors from across Valnet to recognize the most impactful storytelling of the year. From prestige cinema and binge-worthy television to genre-defining anime, the Screen Awards reflect the full scope of modern screen entertainment.
Today we announce the winners which represent both industry favorites and bold creative breakthroughs that defined entertainment in 2025. Each category was judged by a carefully assembled jury of experts drawn from critics and editorial leadership of the participating publications.
They recognize the filmmakers, performers, and series that set the standard for the year. Whether honoring visionary filmmakers, unforgettable performances, or standout series that pushed their mediums forward, the Screen Awards 2025 recognize the projects that resonated most deeply with audiences and critics alike.
Without further ado, the winners for the 2025 Screen Awards:
Best Picture Winner: One Battle After Another
Collider’s Ross Bonaime:
After working to adapt Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland for about 20 years, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson finally brought this ambitious project to life with the biggest film of his career in One Battle After Another. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Bob, a former revolutionary who has to protect his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) when Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) tracks the father-daughter pair down after 16 years.
One Battle After Another has easily been the most acclaimed film of 2025 since its release in September. Not only is it the most expensive film of PTA’s career, but it’s also the highest-grossing, making over $200 million. Sight and Sound, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker have all called OBAA the best film of the year, and it has long been considered the front-runner for next year’s Academy Awards. Alongside the adoration of Anderson’s writing and directing, as well as DiCaprio giving one of his funniest performances, the cast, which apart from Penn and Infiniti also includes Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor, has been cited as one of the best this year. One Battle After Another is one of PTA’s biggest, boldest, and most timely films of his already impressive career.
Best TV Series Winner: The Pitt
Collider’s Carly Lane:
Medical dramas are a dime a dozen on TV these days, but HBO Max’s The Pitt had a built-in pedigree for success, along with a real-time story format that helped it stand above the rest of the pack. From creator R. Scott Gemmill, alongside executive producers John Wells and series star Noah Wyle, The Pitt‘s first season follows the titular department of the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center over the course of a single 15-hour shift, tracking doctors, nurses, and ED staff as they navigate both the joys and hardships of emergency medicine, all under the guidance of attending Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Wyle).
The Pitt earned early critical praise for its storylines and performances, but it slowly accumulated a word-of-mouth following with its weekly rollout. Perhaps the most difficult camp to win over, however, was the medical community, so when healthcare professionals, including ER doctors, began sounding off about the show’s accuracy, including depictions that held up an all-too-real mirror to reality, it was another plus for the series that had already successfully won over general audiences. With a Season 2 quickly greenlit and ushered into production, fans won’t have to wait much longer for The Pitt to return — but its success also suggests a welcome return to the gripping dramas of yore, one that ultimately changes the realm of television for the better.
Best Lead Actress Winner: Jessie Buckley
ScreenRant’s Gregory Nussen:
There’s a thunderous profundity to Jessie Buckley’s gut punch of a performance in Hamnet that is exceptionally rare in today’s cinema. In Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of the Maggie O’Farrell novel of the same name, Buckley plays Agnes, the plucky, charming, fiercely independent wife of none other than William Shakespeare. Watching Buckley fall in love is like watching it get invented, just as watching her deal with the loss of a child feels like experiencing grief for the first time.
Buckley is no stranger to the silver screen and seems well on her way to a second Oscar nomination (The Lost Daughter, 2022), but it is her portrayal of Agnes that will no doubt define this part of her young career. Agnes’s bleeding heart, her uncompromising love, her righteous fury; all of it is palpable, rough and impossible to forget.
Best Lead Actress Winner (TV): Rhea Seehorn
Collider’s Tania Hussain:
Jumping from a career-defining supporting role to carrying one of the buzziest TV shows of 2025 is a feat some might trip over. But Rhea Seehorn walks into Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus like she’s been at this for decades. Redefining what a sci-fi protagonist can look like in the genre’s most traditional sense, Seehorn spends huge stretches of the show by herself. This means no scene partner, no dialogue — just her and the audience. Through the character of Carol Sturka, the only miserable human left after an alien virus plagues the rest of humanity into a happy hive mind, Seehorn creates a prickly performance that’s equally wounded, razor-sharp, but also unexpectedly funny.
Best of all, she leans into those character nuances without ever making Carol unsympathetic. It’s that aspect of realism and groundedness that becomes the show’s emotional anchor. Helping carry the thematic weight of Carol’s situation through isolation, grief, individuality, resentment, and the cost of “happiness,” Seehorn plays these beats with total control, making this very lonely character feel lived-in rather than theatrical. Thanks to this specific charm, it’s also no accident that the show has been a runaway phenomenon for Apple TV. Sitting steadily at No. 1 since its premiere, it’s the streamer’s biggest launch ever, and already a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominee in both the series and lead actress categories. And we’re grateful to see that momentum sitting squarely on Seehorn’s shoulders.
Best Lead Actor Winner: Michael B. Jordan
ScreenRant’s Graeme Guttmann:
Ryan Coogler’s horror sensation dominated the first half of 2025, the second in a string of major wins for Warner Bros. in a record-breaking year for the studio (acquisition aside). But the records hardly define Sinners, a soulful and unsettling vampire epic set against the backdrop of rural Mississippi. Michael B. Jordan pulls double duty in the film as twins Smoke and Stack in a dual performance the likes of which we haven’t seen since Lindsay Lohan became two in The Parent Trap.
Jordan imbues each twin with a distinct disposition down to every subtle mannerism and tic. The brothers may be back in town to open a juke joint, but they have a lot of explaining to do to those they left behind. Watching Smoke and Stack work their way back into the lives of former lovers, friends, and family, it’s easy to see how they were able to finesse money from Chicago crime bosses before going on the lam. Going back to Fruitvale Station, it’s clear that Jordan has always had this type of performance in him and Sinners allows the actor to show his full range in a way he has never before.
Best Lead Actor Winner (TV): Noah Wyle
ScreenRant’s Greg MacArthur:
Noah Wyle was nominated five times for the Supporting Actor – Drama Emmy Award as John Carter on ER during the 1990s before finally winning not one, but two Emmys for The Pitt earlier this year. To say that’s a long time coming would be an understatement for the actor, who plays Dr. Michael Robinavitch, a lead doctor at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center in HBO Max’s hit medical drama.
The Pitt cleaned up at the 2025 Emmys, winning Outstanding Drama Series (over Severance, which led all series with 27 nominations) and Lead Actor – Drama for Wyle, who also served as executive producer. The Pitt is already considered one of the best TV series of all time after its breakout debut season, ranking #41 on IMDb’s Top 250 list. As the deeply human and resilient Dr. Robby, Wyle brilliantly encapsulates the heroics and horrors of a modern attending ER doctor.
Best Supporting Actress Winner: Teyana Taylor
ScreenRant’s Molly Freeman:
The performances in One Battle After Another are strong enough to secure two spots among our Best Supporting Film Actress nominees, with the other going to Teyana Taylor. In Paul Thomas Anderson’s film, she plays Perfidia Beverly Hills, another member of the French 75 revolutionary group, and mother of Willa.
Taylor’s Perfidia is an anchor of One Battle After Another’s story and themes, showcasing defiance, anger and recklessness as a revolutionary, and a more vulnerable side of insecurity when she becomes a mother. Perfidia is a dynamic and unique character played to perfection by Taylor, and as such, is a standout of the film.
Like another nominee on this list, Taylor may be better known for her music career, but made the jump to acting in 2021’s Coming 2 America. Since then, she’s received acclaim for the 2023 film A Thousand and One. For One Battle After Another, Taylor received nominations for best supporting actress from the Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes.
Best Supporting Actress Winner (TV): Carrie Coon
CBR’s Caralynn Matassa:
Season three of The White Lotus, Mike White’s critically acclaimed HBO anthology series following guests at a luxury wellness resort, brought its signature brand of unhinged black comedy to Thailand. As with the previous seasons, the cast was stacked with icons and rising stars alike. Among the former was the incomparable Carrie Coon.
Coon plays Laurie Duffy, one-third of a lifelong friend trio whose love-hate dynamic is as uncomfortable as it is riveting. A corporate lawyer and recent divorcée, Laurie arrives at the resort alongside Jaclyn, a successful TV actress, and Kate, a country club wife. The women needle one another relentlessly, gossip behind each other’s backs, and yet remain deeply bound by shared history and affection.
Coon delivers the season’s most nuanced portrayal of this emotional contradiction, capturing how intimacy can curdle into jealousy, rivalry, and resentment without ever fully extinguishing love. The pièce de résistance comes in the finale, when the noted monologue master delivers an emotionally exposed speech that perfectly crystallizes the trio’s fraught bond in one devastating, heartfelt scene.
Coon earned an Emmy nomination for her work on The White Lotus, her third overall after previous nods for Fargo Season 3 and The Gilded Age. Prestige TV fans, however, will forever associate her with her breakout role as Nora Durst on The Leftovers, where said monologue mastery was first on display.
Best Supporting Actor Winner: Sean Penn
CBR’s Sean O’Connell & MovieWeb’s Mark Keizer:
For all the political opinionating that has accompanied One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson’s temperature check on today’s America, the movie actually comes down to one, apolitical question: Who is the father of Willa (Chase Infiniti)? Is it ex-revolutionary Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) or his ideological opposite, Col. Lockjaw? Whatever the answer, it’s two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn as Lockjaw who masterfully embodies every rhetorical grenade that PTA lobs at a country tilting dangerously to the right.
Although his comical, ramrod-straight walk suggests a full-body effort to contain his racism, contradictions, and self-loathing, Penn avoids leaning into Lockjaw’s satirical possibilities. Instead, he miraculously and with unyielding intensity finds the intersection of pitiful, hilarious and terrifying. Let’s hope Penn moves more naturally than Lockjaw when he inevitably walks the red carpet on Oscar night.
Best Supporting Actor Winner (TV): Tramell Tillman
CBR’s Jon Arvedon:
Much like in season 1, Tramell Tillman’s Seth Milchick is one of Severance season 2’s most unsettling yet mesmerizing characters. He’s the personification of Lumon’s dichotomy between forced corporate positivity and authoritarian control. This is central to Severance’s tone, and Lumon’s smile-clad enforcer is the one quietly carrying the torch in season 2.
The new season expands Milchick’s (ask Milkshake) role as he sees his authority challenged by the more overtly sinister figures at Lumon. As such, Tillman is afforded the opportunity to dive into the character’s volatility. Every moment of faux cheer is juxtaposed with one of anger and desperation, painting a picture of a man fighting between his role as an administrator and an ideological gatekeeper. It’s what allowed Tillman to ramp up the intensity, particularly as spectacle and tension collide. Milcheck is oft cited as one of Severance’s most memorable characters, and for good reason. Multiple award nods, widespread critical acclaim, and what’s sure to be a lasting cultural footprint speak for themselves.
Best Anime Film Winner: Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
ScreenRant’s Evan D. Mullicane
After years of radio silence and a rocky reception to the first season, Chainsaw Man fans had good reason to be wary of MAPPA’s cinematic adaptation of the beloved Reze Arc. Luckily for MAPPA and fans alike, the new movie based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s impossibly popular manga is nothing short of a revelation.
Following directly after Chainsaw Man season 1, Reze Arc details Denji’s complicated relationship with the titular Reze. To reveal much more would spoil some of the film’s best twists and turns, but needless to say, Reze Arc carries the same punk rock energy and bloody beating heart that makes the manga so special.
More than just a straight adaptation, however, Reze Arc is the rare anime adaptation that actually adds to the source material. The direction from MAPPA’s Tatsuya Yoshihara is truly inspired, enhancing the manga’s rich, psycho-sexual subtext. If Reze Arc is a sign of things to come for Chainsaw Man season 2, then it will certainly rank among the greatest anime series of all time.
Best Anime Series Winner: The Summer Hikaru Died
CBR’s Renan Fontes & CBR’s Christy Gibbs:
If there’s any genre that anime seems to consistently struggle with in terms of making an emotional and long-lasting impact, it’s horror. The Summer Hikaru Died finally broke that trend with its slow build-up of lingering existential dread, psychological terror, and often entirely unspoken romance that was far from subtle, yet still felt simultaneously (heartbreakingly) genuine and chilling.
The story of The Summer Hikaru Died, while not difficult to understand – a best friend, feared dead after misadventure while hiking along on a mountain returns as something decidedly other – is all the more gripping for its attention to detail and its commitment to both the lead characters and their old-yet-new, supernaturally-consumed relationship. For anime fans looking to scratch their horror itch that has remained unfulfilled since the likes of 2012’s From the New World or the better moments of 2021’s Wonder Egg Priority, look no further than what easily ended up being Netflix’s best anime-exclusive of the year.
Best Director Winner: Ryan Coogler
ScreenRant’s Todd Gilchrist:
Among the filmmakers nominated for the Screen Awards directing prize, Ryan Coogler has navigated the balance between commercial and more personal filmmaking the most successfully: from Fruitvale Station to Sinners, he not only injects every film with a deep specificity and intimacy but somehow marries that with a sweeping and inclusive impulse to capital-E entertain. In fact, that inclusiveness is one of the central themes of Sinners, which is one of many reasons it’s resonated so strongly with audiences this year.
Though it’s been a close second choice as many critics groups rolled out their year-end superlatives, Sinners received 17 nominations from the Critics Choice Association, seven Golden Globe nominations and six Grammy nominations. As pedigreed as his competition may also be, many feel like it’s his time to win, especially with a project that, in addition to its many accolades, earned $368 million and counting, making it one of the top ten biggest box office hits of the year.
Best New TV Series Debut Winner: The Pitt
ScreenRant’s Grant Hermanns:
The medical drama genre has not only stood the test of time, but also overcome periods of oversaturation to still be one that networks continue to want to build on. As such, when The Pitt came around and brought back together ER vets R. Scott Gemmill, John Wells and Noah Wyle, expectations were high for the trio to deliver something that could match their game-changing prior work. And in an amazing feat of creative inspiration, the group not only pulled it off, but also set yet another new standard for the genre.
Chronicling a harrowing shift at a Pittsburgh hospital’s emergency room and the interpersonal lives of the various staff there, The Pitt found itself still playing with the tried-and-true formula of its genre, but also innovated them by making it into a real-time format in the vein of 24. This not only amplified the tension of the medical scenes, which were also remarkably haunting in their accuracy, but also the performances of the ensemble cast as they pushed themselves to their physical and emotional limits. With the upcoming season 2 being set over a July 4 shift, the show may also establish an early foothold for the best shows of 2026.
