The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror commemorated genre entertainment’s best at the 51st Saturn Awards ceremony on February 4, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. This year’s best included a lot of Star Trek and a brand-new Kevin Feige hat, which the President of Marvel Studios wore while presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award to the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast (let’s be real: Feige’s baseball cap’s Logan/Deadpool mash-up is almost as newsworthy as this year’s award winners).
The annual Saturn Awards are hosted by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, a non-profit organization founded in 1972 by film historian Doctor Donald A. Reed to promote genre film production and television programming, which are generally ignored by mainstream award shows. Currently, the organization is headed by President Robert Holguin and Saturn leaders Bradley Marcus and Kevin Marcus.
This year’s awards were hosted for the second year in a row by Joel McHale, star of DC’s Stargirl, Community, and Crime Scene Kitchen, voted one of the best television series of 2023 by the Comics News Insider podcast.
After being snubbed by the Emmy Awards and Golden Globes, Star Trek swept this year’s Saturn Awards ceremony, with multiple shows and their stars taking home awards. In the main awards ceremony, Star Trek: Picard was nominated for seven awards in five categories, and it took home four. Meanwhile, the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was nominated for six awards in five categories, but it only took home one for Best Featured Guest Star in a Television Series, where Paul Wesley won for his role as the young Captain James T. Kirk, beating out Amanda Plummer‘s appearance as the ever-unpredictable Vadic on Picard (which is, in my opinion, one of the best guest appearances on Star Trek, like ever).
Also nominated for an award in the Best Animated Series or Special category was Star Trek: Lower Decks. However, it lost to Star Wars: Bad Batch.
In addition, the Lifetime Achievement Award went to the TNG cast, and it was so nice to see Will Wheaton get the recognition he deserves as an essential crew member. Also in attendance for The Saturn’s specialty awards was Star Trek: The Original Series actor William Shatner, who presented the prestigious Robert Forster Artists Award to Seth MacFarlane, whose career started with a homemade episode of the series.
You can read the full list of this year’s winners at the 51st Annual Saturn Awards below, and then watch the original nominations on ElectricNow to see what they were up against:
Special Awards
VISIONARY AWARD – Christopher Nolan
ROBERT FORSTER ARTIST’S AWARD – Seth MacFarlane
GEORGE PAL MEMORIAL AWARD – Dave Filoni
THE DAN CURTIS LEGACY AWARD – The Walking Dead Franchise
LANCE REDDICK LEGACY AWARD – Keanu Reeves
LIFE CAREER AWARD – Jodie Foster
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – Star Trek: The Next Generation Cast
Film
BEST SCIENCE FICTION FILM – Avatar: The Way of Water
BEST FANTASY FILM – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
BEST HORROR FILM – Talk to Me
BEST SUPERHERO FILM – Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
BEST THRILLER FILM – Oppenheimer
BEST ANIMATED FILM – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM – Pearl
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM – Sisu
BEST FILM DIRECTION – James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water)
BEST FILM SCREENWRITING – Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver)
BEST ACTOR IN A FILM – Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny)
BEST ACTRESS IN A FILM – Margot Robbie (Barbie)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A FILM – Nicolas Cage (Renfield)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A FILM – Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNGER PERFORMER IN A FILM – Xolo Maridueña (Blue Beetle)
BEST FILM MUSIC – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams)
BEST FILM MAKE-UP – The Covenant (Donald Mowat)
BEST FILM VISUAL EFFECTS – Avatar: The Way of Water (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett)
BEST FILM COSTUME DESIGN – Barbie (Jacqueline Durran)
BEST FILM PRODUCTION DESIGN – Barbie (Sarah Greenwood)
BEST FILM EDITING – Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame)
Television
BEST SCIENCE FICTION TELEVISION SERIES – Star Trek: Picard
BEST SUPERHERO TELEVISION SERIES – Superman & Lois
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER TELEVISION SERIES – Outlander
BEST TELEVISION PRESENTATION – Marvel’s Werewolf by Night
BEST ANIMATED SERIES OR SPECIAL – Star Wars: The Bad Batch
BEST NEW GENRE TELEVISION SERIES – Star Wars: Andor
BEST HORROR TELEVISION SERIES – The Last of Us
BEST FANTASY TELEVISION SERIES – Wednesday
BEST ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: Picard)
BEST ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – Caitriona Balfe (Outlander)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: Picard)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Picard)
BEST FEATURED GUEST STAR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – Paul Wesley (Strange Trek: Strange New Worlds)
BEST YOUNGER PERFORMER IN A TELEVISION SERIES – Jenna Ortega (Wednesday)
Home Media
BEST TELEVISION HOME MEDIA RELEASE – Night Gallery, Season 3 (Kino Lorber)
BEST 4K HOME MEDIA RELEASE – John Wick, Chapter 4 – 4K (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
BEST FILM HOME MEDIA COLLECTION – Superman 1978-1987 4K Collection (Warner Home Video)
BEST CLASSIC FILM HOME MEDIA RELEASE – Invaders from Mars 4K (Ignite)
This year’s show was dedicated to the memory of the Saturn Awards’ dear friend, Lance Reddick. “May his memory live long and prosper for generations to come,” read the official PR announcing the award winners.
