SAG Awards Officially Rebrand as The Actor Awards Ahead of 2026 Ceremony

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Nov 15

SAG-AFTRA streamlines its signature awards show for a global audience, retiring the SAG Awards moniker in favor of a name built around what the ceremony has always celebrated: actors.

A major shift is coming to one of Hollywood’s most recognizable awards shows. Beginning with its 32nd ceremony on March 1, 2026, the Screen Actors Guild Awards will now be known as The Actor Awards, a rebrand that positions the show squarely for a global audience and aligns its identity with the statuette at the center of the night.

The announcement arrived Friday from Jon Brockett, executive producer and showrunner of the telecast, and JoBeth Williams, chair of SAG-AFTRA’s Awards Committee. Both described the change as a natural evolution — a decision that has been gestating for years but became urgent once the show moved from basic cable to global streaming on Netflix, instantly expanding its reach to millions of viewers who had no history with the acronym “SAG.”

Inside the industry, everyone knows the awards are tied to the Screen Actors Guild, now SAG-AFTRA. But beyond Los Angeles and New York, “SAG Awards” meant very little. More importantly, for viewers encountering the ceremony for the first time through Netflix, the title raised an obvious question: what does SAG even stand for? With that confusion sitting front and center, producers saw an opportunity to strip the branding back to its simplest truth — a ceremony that honors actors, voted on by actors, presented by the largest acting union in the world.

It helps that the shift isn’t cosmetic. Since its inaugural year, the show’s trophy has always been called The Actor. The new title simply harmonizes the award with the event itself. Brockett and Williams emphasized that legacy isn’t being discarded; it’s being clarified. The ceremony’s DNA remains untouched. The ensemble awards stay, the peer-to-peer voting process remains intact, and SAG-AFTRA continues to serve as the steward of the entire production.

The timing reflects a broader strategy. The show’s Netflix era has pushed the producers to modernize everything from pacing to global marketing to the way the ceremony introduces itself to new viewers. Names matter in that calculus. The Actor Awards is easier to understand, easier to promote internationally and easier for audiences to immediately connect with. It also strengthens the show’s branding at a moment when awards season is increasingly competitive and shrinking attention spans favor clarity over tradition.

While the rebrand officially takes effect next year, the transition will be gradual. FYC materials for the current season will continue using “Screen Actors Guild Awards” through the pre-nomination voting period ending January 5, 2026. After nominations, studios, networks and campaign strategists will be encouraged to shift to the new title. Past winners can continue to refer to their trophies as SAG Awards — the union knows these shifts take time and no one expects decades of industry shorthand to disappear overnight.

For all the logistical questions drifting around the move, the fundamentals stay untouched. Submissions, eligibility and voting procedures remain the same. SAG-AFTRA maintains full ownership and oversight of the show. And the ceremony will still champion what it has always championed: the performances that define a year in film and television.

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There is also a symbolic dimension the union isn’t ignoring. This is the first time the show’s title publicly reflects the unified identity of SAG-AFTRA since the merger. For years, the ceremony operated under a pre-merger name. Now, the rebrand acts as a belated acknowledgment of that consolidation — a nod to the tens of thousands of performers represented by the union and a step toward cohesive branding in an awards landscape that has grown increasingly fractured.

Though individual members weren’t surveyed — with 160,000 performers, that would be impossible — the Awards Committee, composed of working actors and representatives, shaped the decision with the goal of strengthening the show’s global standing. The intent is to meet the moment, not run from the past.

Hollywood loves tradition, but it also adapts when the industry changes around it. The Actor Awards is less a rebrand than a realignment, one that meets audiences where they are while holding onto what the ceremony has always been. For a show built on peers honoring peers, the new title simply says the quiet part out loud.