It’s been a minute since I’ve said much of anything regarding The Old Guard, mostly because I got so burned out. I’m not even participating in this month’s TOG Takeover on Twitter, because I just really can’t anymore.
However, yesterday was the Hugo Awards.
If you don’t know what the Hugo Awards are, it’s okay. I didn’t for the longest time, until a few years ago. It’s a literary award for the best SciFi or Fantasy works of the year. They are always announced at Worldcon (formally known as the World Science Fiction Convention) in a special presentation. These awards go to the best Scifi/Fantasy Novel, Novella, Short Story, etc. They are considered very important awards to those in the literary world, or at least within the SciFi/Fantasy world.
The award I’m focusing on today is the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Or, in layman’s terms, best film screenplay. The nominees are by and large major motion pictures, from some of the biggest studios in the world. Previous winners include Good Omens, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Martian, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inception, Game of Thrones (Season One), Lord of the Rings (which swept all three years it was nominated), and much more. That’s not even including the nominees that didn’t win.
And this year, the competition was really stiff. Tenet, Soul, Palm Springs, Eurovision Song Contest, and Birds of Prey were all nominees, all of which would have absolutely deserved this win, because they are so well written and well received in the writing department. But there are six nominees, not just the five listed here.
And the sixth? The Old Guard.
Who won.
This honestly came as a surprise to see. Not that the screenplay isn’t good (it is!), but against Birds of Prey? I figured we didn’t stand a chance.
But the film won.
This is the second win for a Netflix property, the first being Jessica Jones’ “AKA The Smile” in 2016. In fact, Netflix has only received five nominations total thus far. (In contrast, Marvel Studios is at sixteen nominations with three wins. And Harry Potter received seven nominations out of their eight films (Half Blood Prince being the lone exception) with no wins.)
Here’s the weird thing though. Normally, Netflix is all over announcing their various wins, regardless of the award. But this time, there hasn’t been a peep. It’s been over twenty four hours, and no post or tweet or reference. The writer and director have both made posts on Instagram regarding the win, but nothing from Netflix. Nor from Skydance, the producer of the film.
But who cares. The Old Guard won a major award.
Wonder if we will win for the sequel? Only time will tell!
Until next time!
