Best and worst of 2024 SAG Awards: Pedro Pascal, ‘Succession’ cast and more

After months of direct confrontation in a bitter Hollywood strike, the Screen Actors Guild and Netflix offered each other a two-hour olive branch on Saturday: The 30th SAG Awards, which streamed on the platform for the first time ever.

Among the highlights were a rare public appearance by Barbra Streisand, who received SAG’s life achievement award, and an attention-grabbing speech from SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, though the awards themselves did little to break from last month’s Emmys or change the state of the Oscars race.

The Times’ Mary McNamara, Meredith Blake and Josh Rottenberg followed along throughout the night to comment on the highs and lows. Read all about it below.

Winners list | All the looks from the red carpet | Barbra Streisand receives life achievement award |

Fran Drescher comes after AI | Will SAG winners repeat at Oscars? | SAG Awards: TV review

7:17 p.m. Actually a surprise: The final award is presented by Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, who starred together in “The Fly” and were once married, but mention only one of these facts on stage. —MB

Not a surprise? “Oppenheimer” wins cast in a motion picture. Kenneth Branagh (and a pretty fearsome beard) reminds everyone that the cast walked out of its own premiere when the SAG-AFTRA strike was called. “We are proud, not just to be in Mr. Nolan’s masterpiece but in your company.”

It was a nice note to end on — a reminder that so many films this year were either pushed back, halted mid-production and/or deprived of a slew of publicity during the double writers’ and actors’ strikes. It was indeed a difficult year for those who work in the entertainment business, and though Netflix and other streamers have disrupted the industry in ways that at times render it almost unrecognizable, there is something to be said for the longevity, and importance, of awards shows. Which Netflix proved itself more than capable of delivering — though without commercials, the fanny fatigue is real. According to the algorithm, what I want to watch next is “Call the Midwife,” when clearly I am now longing for “Luther.” —MM

7:06 p.m. The show’s producers had hoped to keep the ceremony to a tight two hours and didn’t quite make it. We’re at 2:05 with one more award to go. Still a lot shorter than the Oscars! —JR

7:01 p.m. Lily Gladstone wins lead female actor in a motion picture for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and no one seems happier than her fellow nominees — Emma Stone and Carey Mulligan burst into wildly effusive applause. She is the first Native American to win this award. Her character, Mollie Burkhart, served as the beating, bleeding heart of the film and its vivid moral center, and her win revitalized a room that, after two hours with no breaks, was beginning to flag. Like Murphy, she seems a shoo-in for the Oscar (not that a SAG Award is not honor enough). —MM

6:56 p.m. Did anyone doubt that Cillian Murphy was going to win lead male actor in a motion picture for playing the titular role in “Oppenheimer”? Does anyone doubt he will win the Oscar? “Peaky Blinders” fans knew this day was coming and now it is here. —MM

6:50 p.m. Am I getting old or is this a particularly brutal “In Memoriam” segment? Glenda Jackson, Andre Braugher, Julian Sands, Tina Turner, Angus Cloud, Tom Wilkinson, Alan Arkin, Lance Reddick, Piper Laurie, Matthew Perry and so many more … it has been a heartbreaking year. —MM

6:46 p.m. The reunions continue with the cast of “Breaking Bad,” and while it’s nice to see them all, it’s making me feel ancient that they won a whole decade ago. They present the award for ensemble in a drama series to the cast of “Succession,” which was close to getting shut out tonight — and that would have been a damn shame. With no Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong or Sarah Snook to give the acceptance speech, the honor falls to Alan Ruck. Finally, Connor Roy gets his big moment in the sun. —MB

6:40 p.m. I feel bad for those who have to follow the one-two punch of Barbra Streisand and SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, and indeed, Alexander Skarsgaard was clutching the hand of Omar Sy as they presented female actor in a television drama. Which was won by Elizabeth Debicki for her portrayal of Princess Diana in “The Crown.” Kicking off her shoes before taking the stage, she said she “truly was not expecting this,” and that seemed to be true. “About a week ago, I had the flu — this is what happens when I improv,” she said, before describing a happy childhood memory of appearing in a play and feeling that same euphoria tonight. Then she shouted happy birthday to her mother, which, honestly, is the best reason for anyone to win an award ever. —MM

6:32 p.m. Drescher, whose fiery speech at the outset of the strike lit a fire under the union’s members, praises members for holding firm for months in their fight against the studios and streamers. “You survived the longest strike in our union’s history with courage and conviction,” she says, paving the way for a “historic billion-dollar deal.” Now she says actors can “stand tall and proud … not as peons but as partners.” —JR

6:19 p.m. There was no joking around when Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper presented Barbra Streisand, 69-year member of SAG, with its life achievement award. The standing ovation that greeted Streisand’s appearance was predictable; the number of people in tears less so. Looking fabulous down to her gold-embroidered black beret, rose-tinted specs and black gloves, Streisand said she was happy to get the life achievement award because “you know you’re going to get it,” as opposed to when you’re a nominee and have to sit there wondering if you’re going to win. “And if you don’t get it you have to put on such a happy face — oh, I’m so happy to lose.”

She went on to deliver a paean to the power of the movies and the privilege of working in them, celebrating everyone in the room and thanking them for the work she has been allowed to do with them. Those who weren’t crying when she entered the stage most certainly were by the time she left. The term “living legend” is, in this case, no exaggeration. —MM

6:10 p.m. I’m gonna be pedantic and ask why the SAG lifetime achievement award is called the “life” achievement award. Is this a legal thing, so they don’t conflict with the Oscars? I’m going to be up late tonight pondering this strange choice. —MB

6:01 p.m. The cast of “Modern Family” presents the cast of “The Bear” with the SAG Award for ensemble in a comedy series after offering the winners a wry vision of the future: “Is it time to talk about a reboot? ” said Jesse Tyler Ferguson, “because I had to park about a mile away.” “I know Travis Kelce,” Eric Stonestreet added. “I could FaceTime him right now.” “You know what I miss the most?” Ed O’Neill asked. “The money.” Even awards-domination is fleeting, though Sofia Vergara slid in a shout out to her new series, “Griselda,” which is on, wait for it, Netflix. —MM

5:56 p.m. These commercial break interviews are getting a little painful. Love me some Tan France, but he just spent five minutes talking to Pedro Pascal (who won) about Kieran Culkin (who was expected to, but didn’t). —MB

5:52 p.m. During the breaks, winners have been repeatedly urged to keep their speeches brief. While the producers want to take advantage of the fact that the show is streaming and not beholden to advertisers, they still want to keep this thing moving at a decent clip. —JR

5:48 p.m. With all due respect to Tony Shalhoub, the nominees for male actor in a television movie or limited series are … a bit random. Less random is Steven Yeun’s win for “Beef,” which has been an awards favorite all year. (He took home the Emmy last month.) He recalls wriggling in a vat of caramel on the commercial that earned him a SAG card. —MB

5:43 p.m. I’m officially missing commercials at this point. But the “Lord of the Rings” reunion of Sean Astin and Elijah Wood presenting female actor in a supporting role (motion picture) makes up for it. As does Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s win for “The Holdovers.” “For every actor waiting in the wings, your life can change in a day,” she says. “It’s not if but when. Keep going.” —MM

5:36 p.m. USC gets a shout out as junior Storm Reid says she basically walked over to the Shrine from her dorm to present, with Phil Dunster, male actor in a drama series. Which, astonishingly, Pedro Pascal wins. The iron rule of “Succession” is broken. —MM

It’s hard to begrudge someone so delightful, even if he appears to be wearing the “Seinfeld” puffy shirt. –MB

Only a quarter of the way through the show and Pascal just dropped the third or fourth f-bomb of the night. “It’s Netflix,” he says. Seems like if nothing else the streaming era could bring us swear-ier awards shows. —JR

5:27 p.m. Melissa McCarthy and Billie Eilish present best female actor in a comedy series — McCarthy tells Eilish she met her “in utero” (does this count in the “vaginal” list, Meredith?) because Eilish’s mother was McCarthy’s improv teacher. Then she asks Eilish to sign her face, something that proceeds to happen. With a Sharpie. —MM

I appreciated McCarthy’s commitment to the bit, but I can’t help feeling sad she ruined a very nice makeup job. That’s what we call acting, I guess! Also, as I learned from the pandemic, hand sanitizer is great for getting Sharpie stains out. The more you know! —MB

Ayo Edebiri wins for “The Bear.” “Oh, she won another one,” my daughter says as she wanders into the room. —MM

5:23 p.m. While Tan France interviews Jeremy Allen White backstage, attendees in the room are treating it like a commercial break and running to the bathrooms and checking their phones. —JR

5:19 p.m. Glen Powell is not wearing his wrist corsage as he and Issa Rae present female actor in a television movie or limited series. I am very disappointed. Be braver, Glen. Ali Wong wins for “Beef” and has divested herself of her fancy cut-outs, which would also be disappointing, but Wong can never disappoint. —MM

It honestly seems like a good idea when you’re in a crowded room and are at least theoretically supposed to be eating food. I need the behind-the-scenes story of how this happened and which bathroom she ducked into with her stylist to make this happen. —MB

5:12 p.m. There’s a “Devil Wears Prada” moment as Meryl Streep is joined by Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway to give the best actor in comedy series award. (Honestly, every awards show should have a “The Devil Wears Prada” moment.)

Unsurprisingly, Jeremy Allen White of “The Bear” wins for male actor in a comedy series. —MM

Weird that they let people curse on stage but then bleeped out the curse words in the clips from “Ted Lasso.” White’s win continues his total domination of the awards circuit and underwear ads everywhere. —MB

“Wow, they give you a lot of time at this one,” White says, wrapping up his acceptance speech. Indeed, winners won’t need to worry about getting played off the stage tonight because … streaming! —JR

5:03 p.m. Show is starting, Hannah Waddington is telling a great story about having a mouse in her dress when she was starring in “Spamalot,” and all I can think about is the salmon. Thanks, Josh.

Idris Elba mounted the stage, saying he can’t wait until he can go home and watch the show being recommended to him by Netflix based on all the other things he has watched that he has starred in — before pivoting to a brief shout out to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Sorry, it is still weird that months after the vitriolic “Netflix strike,” the SAG Awards are on Netflix. I guess that’s Hollywood. —MM

4:57 p.m. It seems noteworthy that there has not been a single mention (that I noticed) of the actors’ strike so far on the Netflix red carpet. It’s like Mom and Dad have gotten back together after a brief separation and nobody wants to talk about it. —MB

Noteworthy and a bit weird — it is tough to imagine that the irony of Netflix hosting the SAG Awards will go unremarked upon during the show, since so many points of contract contention centered around streaming’s disruption of Hollywood’s business model. Not surprisingly, none of the gray — correction, silver — carpet questions have touched on it. This is a Netflix production, after all. (Random shout out to Welteroth, who is one of the best on-carpet interviewers I have seen in my long career covering these things.) Waiting to see if there are any mentions during acceptance speeches. Will be very disappointed if there are not. —MM

With the show soon to start, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, is speaking to attendees about the important gains made during the strike. “This room is a living metaphor of the unity and solidarity that brought us to this point.” They also showed a rousing clip reel of scenes from the strike to big applause. Hard to tell if any of the striking actors shown in the footage were picketing in front of Netflix headquarters. —JR

4:51 p.m. Hannah Waddingham wins best-dressed, in my esteemed opinion, for carrying a homemade cardboard clutch made by her daughter. It’s honestly the chicest thing I’ve seen all night. —MB

And Idris Elba is in the building. All is well. —MM

Elba is set to open and close the show, according to the producers, but they’re not going so far as calling him the “host.” —JR

4:48 p.m. Kieran Culkin went full Hugh Grant on Welteroth, giving her grief for leaning on him and taking off her painful shoes on the red carpet. I am always here for a red carpet grump. —MB

Meanwhile, Billie Eilish just confessed to teleprompter-phobia. Well, we all have to be afraid of something. —MM

4:44 p.m. Wait, are they giving awards on the carpet? Apparently so. For stunt ensemble in a TV series, it’s “The Last of Us”; for film, “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I.” It feels a bit cavalier and anticlimactic considering, you know, all those freaking stunts involved. I mean they could have had Tom Cruise jump all the main tables on a motorcycle or something. —MM

4:39 p.m. If anyone watching at home is curious what attendees will be eating, the “light dinner” will be chive-crusted salmon. It’s served cold, which is good because it’s been sitting out on the tables for a while now and very few people have taken their seats yet. —JR

Josh, that item about the cold salmon should have come with a trigger warning. Maybe it’s a good thing everyone in Hollywood is on Ozempic these days. —MB

And they are mid-awards season. My favorite memory from the post-Oscars Governors Ball is seeing all the stars make a beeline for the bread baskets. Finally, they can eat! Honestly, you could lose a finger trying to claim a pretzel roll. —MM

4:34 p.m. Sorry, did Tan say he wanted Jessica Chastain’s babies? This night is really taking an unexpected turn. —MB

I don’t know, France and Debicki and Welteroth and Chastain were all talking at one another from separate parts of the carpet via screens. Which was kind of weird. Then Chastain chatted with Bradley Cooper, whom she apparently knows from PTA? Meanwhile, Jon Hamm was standing in the background looking like he can’t understand why no one is interviewing him. Also, I always forget that Alan Ruck is married to Mireille Enos, who looks amazing. —MM

4:29 p.m. For reasons of his own, Tan France just gave Glen Powell a wrist corsage, which Powell misidentified as a boutonniere. Having not seen a wrist corsage since my junior prom, never mind at a Hollywood awards show, I am barely able to obsess about Cillian Murphy’s accent. —MM

I can’t help but notice the prevalence of Netflix stars on the red carpet so far, including Wong (“Beef”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) and Elizabeth Debicki (“The Crown”). I’m glad they let Murphy speak for a minute or two because I could listen to that accent all day. —MB

4:22 p.m. The pre-show is underway, and we’re looking at the gray carpet with Tan France — in an insane … bow tie? Boba straw? Inflatable chopstick? — and Elaine Welteroth, who gave us a look at hot fashion of SAG Awards past before kicking things off with Ali Wong wearing a black and white number decorated by what looked like a bunch of artisanal paper snowflakes. Also, my first tiny telecast glitch. —MM

Ali Wong was the first — but let’s hope not the last — person to mention “vaginal birth” tonight on the carpet. So cheers to that. —MB

4:15 p.m. Super excited to be watching the Screen Actors Guild Awards as Netflix continues its attempt to prove it can do everything broadcast/cable can except breaking news. (When Netflix announces it is entering the journalism space, you heard it here first.) I was a tiny bit concerned as I struggled to find the pre-show coverage listed anywhere, though: I had to search to find the listing for the actual show, which says it starts at 5 p.m. Pacific. Instead I was being urged to re-watch “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” which swept the awards last year. And frankly, it is tempting. —MM

Same thing over here, Mary, except the algorithm suggested I continue watching “The Crown” and “Love Is Blind,” because it knows I love shows about emotionally stunted people in doomed relationships. Netflix is known for eschewing traditional marketing in favor of using “the algorithm” to suggest certain shows based on “taste clusters” — which are not, in fact, a brand of granola. But the thing about live TV is you kind of need to know when it’s on in order to, ya know, watch it. And if the algorithm can’t figure out that I — a person who writes about entertainment for a living and grew up watching every awards show known to man — might be interested in watching celebrities win trophies and make tearful speeches, then it needs to do better. —MB

Yes, it was kind of weird to be sitting here staring at a screen that said only, “It’s almost time; the live event will start soon” instead of, I don’t know, the final minutes of a rerun of “The Closer.” —MM

I am primarily concerned that the whole “no ads” thing will mean no snack breaks, which are truly essential to home viewing of awards shows. Mary, how do you plan to make it through two whole hours without going to the kitchen to refill the popcorn? —MB

Criminy. I hadn’t thought about that. And with the SAG Awards there are no “boring” categories. (Sorry, sound editing/sound mixing!) —MM