Will 2026 be the year of Sandra Hüller?

Sandra Hüller is set to have a very busy year. Audiences have already shed tears at her karaoke rendition of Harry Styles’ ballad ‘Sign of the Times’ in sci-fi adventure Project Hail Mary, but the Academy Award-nominated actress has much more to give in 2026, with plenty of early award season buzz surrounding her upcoming films.

We last saw Hüller nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2024 Oscars for her role in legal thriller Anatomy of a Fall, the same year that her film The Zone of Interest won for International Feature Film.

This year though, after a rewritten Academy rule means actors can now be nominated multiple times in the same category, critics suggest Hüller could be eyeing up a record-breaking four nominations. Let’s break down just how this prediction could come true.

First, Hüller is nominated for Project Hail Mary. Her performance in the film as the cool, collected and secretive Eva Stratt could certainly earn her a place on the roster for the Supporting Actress award, and that Harry Styles karaoke scene would surely be enough to grab voters’ attention.

As Daniel Pemberton’s score fades out and Styles’ ‘Sign of the Times’ fades in, … Hüller has complete, undivided, awestruck attention

One minute, Hüller’s Stratt is lurking in a doorway, watching as her crew drink and sing the night away, the next, she’s stood alone with a microphone. As Daniel Pemberton’s score fades out and Styles’ ‘Sign of the Times’ fades in, Hüller’s voice gradually overpowers the conversation in the room. After a few lines of the song, Hüller has complete, undivided, awestruck attention.

The hard-shelled commander she has embodied for the duration of the film is gone, and instead Hüller conveys a much deeper facet of Stratt’s perspective, all through the lyrics to an astoundingly well-chosen song: “They told me that the end is near, we gotta get away from here”.

Hüller’s character ends the song abruptly, smiling, as she affirms: “And that is enough.” It’s true, Hüller only needs half a Harry Styles song in an expansive sci-fi epic to demonstrate the power of her performance.

Step two, Hüller grabs another Supporting Actress nomination for her role in Digger, the upcoming “comedy of catastrophic proportions” from Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film’s marketing campaign is already angling for an acting nomination for its star Tom Cruise, having released a ‘retrospective trailer’ with two minutes worth of Tom Cruise filmography highlights from Mission Impossible, Top Gun and more.

[Digger] impresses me beyond anything I’ve ever seen. I think it’s going to be a remarkable film

– Sandra Hüller

Hüller herself said about the film; “it impresses me beyond anything I’ve ever seen. I think it’s going to be a remarkable film”. With this early start to an awards campaign for Cruise, perhaps Hüller’s role in the film will also be promoted for award season voters.

Third, Hüller scores a Leading Actress nomination for Fatherland. The black-and-white film, which the BFI describes as a “brisk and beautiful father-daughter drama” premiered at Cannes Film Festival and follows author Thomas Mann, and his daughter, Erika, who is played by Hüller. One BBC critic describes Hüller’s performance in a standout scene as “under control, but flashes of fear, grief, hope and tender concern flicker across her face”.

It seems the same subtlety and sharpness which earned Hüller the nomination for Anatomy of a Fall in 2024 is back in full force for her performance in Fatherland.

The fourth and final film which secures Hüller this monumental night at the Oscars is Rose, another black-and-white drama set in 17th-century Germany.

Hüller’s performance in the film … is sure to be outstanding and could be deserving of the coveted leading actress Oscar

Hüller’s character Rose, according to the BFI, arrives in a village dressed as a gentleman with the hope of securing an inheritance. Rose represents real-life cases of gender transgression in early modern Germany, and Hüller’s performance in the film – which The Guardian calls a “grimy examination of gender stereotypes” – is sure to be outstanding and could be deserving of the coveted Leading Actress Oscar.

Hüller delivers sharp volatility, subtle humour, and an arresting sense of superiority in every performance. Her characteristic coolness only ever drops for fleeting, unexpected moments of anger despair or vulnerability. Project Hail Mary demonstrates the versatility of this approach, and Digger, Fatherland, and Rose are bound to show the Academy – and the world – just how expertly Hüller manages to tailor her talent to every role. “And that is enough.”