Four new award categories were introduced at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.
The new categories were Best Casting and Ensemble, Best Sound, Best Stunt Design, and Best Variety Series. Three belonged to film, while one belonged to television, expanding recognition for craft work and variety programming.
The additions were part of a broader effort to recognize more aspects of film and television production. The ceremony also unveiled shortlists for eleven below-the-line categories before the event, giving technical departments more visibility during the awards season.
The number four refers to newly introduced categories, not to the number of winners or the number of awards received by the ceremony’s leading titles. For example, Frankenstein, Sinners, and Adolescence each reached four wins, but that is a separate statistic.