Oscars to Add Best Stunt Design Category

After a century of absence, a highly anticipated category for stunt design is finally joining the Oscars.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors has confirmed that an Academy Award for achievement in stunt design will be officially introduced at the 2028 Oscars. The announcement, shared on the Academy’s social media, featured stills from 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once and RRR, along with 2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Unfortunately for those three films, only movies released in 2027 will be eligible for the new award.

The 2028 ceremony will commemorate the 100th Academy Awards.

"From cinema’s earliest days, stunt design has been a vital component of filmmaking," Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement released with the news. "We are thrilled to celebrate the creativity of these technical and artistic professionals and applaud their persistence and dedication in achieving this historic milestone."

Additional details and the new category’s regulations will be announced in 2027.

The introduction of an Oscar for stunt design represents a major triumph in a prolonged and hard-fought effort to gain recognition for stunt performance in cinema. New Oscar categories are voted on only once per year. From 1991 through 2012, a category for stunt coordination was proposed annually but never succeeded.

The most recent new Oscar category was Achievement in Casting, approved last year, which will debut at the 98th Academy Awards honoring films from 2025.