No points for Gryffindor! At least for next year’s Actor Awards.
HBO’s looming redo of the kids fantasy series will not be in the running for Best Ensemble or any other category at next year’s Actor Awards, according to rule changes just issued by SAG-AFTRA. The eligibility tweaks included in the full rules and regulations document mainly concern series that premiere toward the end of 2026 and finish sometime in the new year, which is very much the case with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, debuting on Dec. 25.
According to the new rules, “If a Comedy or Drama series premieres late in the eligibility year, and at least six episodes air in 2026, but less than six episodes air in 2027, the entire season qualifies for the 2026 eligibility year.” Since Harry Potter won’t meet that six-episode threshold for this calendar year, the cast — which includes John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, and Nick Frost — will have to wait until 2028 to potentially compete.
The constraint put a sizable gap between when Harry Potter will air and when union members could potentially vote for it. The time delay will no be so large on next year’s Emmy Awards, which operates on a different timeline from the Actor Awards. The cast and crew of Potter will be likely campaigning for Emmy nominations only six months after debut and could be up for awards three months after that. If the series wants any shot at Actor Awards, they’ll have to stick around in the industry’s memory for nearly a full year — or hope that Season 2 debuts close enough to voting to bump up odds for the previous set of episodes, à la The Bear‘s Emmys-friendly schedule.
The rules do leave some wiggle room, though, stating that petitions for consideration can be submitted, though it’s unclear what factors the union will weigh in that decision.
A similar situation occurred last fall when Prime Video announced that Fallout Season 2, which straddled 2025 and 2026, would not be in the running for the 2026 Actor Awards, instead opting for considering during this current cycle.
For 2026 shows that do cross meet minimum eligibility requirements, despite ending in next year, cast member who don’t appear until the 2027 episode can be considered for awards during the current cycle, however.
In the Limited Series categories, shows “in which fewer than 50% of the total eligible episodes air within the calendar year may defer eligibility consideration to the subsequent awards year.” This puts slightly looser restrictions on limited series that are debuting near the end of the year, offering the networks a choice of whether to run in the year of the premiere or when the majority of the episodes aired.
