Lionsgate Came Up With The Perfect Awards Season Strategy For The Long Walk

A common studio problem during awards season for studios is picking and choosing which members of any production to push for major award nominations. While lead actors and actresses are typically easy to identify, supporting roles can be harder to parse out.

In some instances, a supporting actor or actress award nomination can go to a movie’s villain, as was the case with Heath Ledger’s Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. They can go to major roles that simply aren’t the movie’s lead, like Zoe Saldana’s win as Rita in Emilia Pérez. Even smaller roles that are impactful can earn wins, like Alan Arkin did for Little Miss Sunshine in 2007.

The Long Walk presents a truly unique challenge for awards season, because it’s jam-packed with outstanding performances. Whether it’s Mark Hamill’s intimidating Major, Tut Nyuot’s heartbreaking turn as Art Baker, or Ben Wang’s inspired performance as Hank Olson, there are plenty of worthy options for consideration. Fortunately, Lionsgate came up with a brilliant solution to ensure recognition come awards season.

Lionsgate Is Submitting Its Entire Cast For Supporting Actor Nominations

The Long Walk was always going to be a dark horse contender for the major awards as a more commercial film that flirts with horror, but Lionsgate might at least earn some nominations by including its entire principal cast of boys at once (which does not include Mark Hamill). Per Variety, their submission will include both legacy star Cooper Hoffman and rising talent David Jonsson, both of whom could easily be considered for solo awards.

First and foremost, it’s a clever choice for Lionsgate to do something non-traditional, as they may stand a better chance of actually earning nominations if the submission includes the performances of the entire principal cast. It would be impossible to pick out which lead performance was best between Cooper Hoffman or David Jonsson, as they were both brilliant in their own ways, but by including both they may find success.

More importantly, Lionsgate believes it’s an accurate reflection of the movie itself. The entire point and power of the movie’s narrative is derived from the collective shared experience of the characters. For example, Jonsson’s performance couldn’t be as powerful without Tut Nyuot’s gut-wrenching death scene, and Cooper Hoffman’s panicked breakdown couldn’t exist if Ben Wang hadn’t poured his soul into his own death scene.

Lionsgate’s strategy ensures that none of the deserving cast members of the Stephen King adaptation are overlooked, which is frankly the right thing to do on top of being a clever nomination strategy. The Long Walk will be near the top of many end-of-year “best of” lists in 2025, and the reason is entirely based on the emotion put on screen by the entire cast.