“This city and the people in it have been put through the wringer. Our most attractive tables are right over there,” she said before pointing to several tables filled with Los Angeles firefighters. “Words won’t do it. Invitations to these events won’t do it, and as a diagnosed people pleaser, I really need to know what will do it because not knowing is very very hard for me.”
What Bell did know was she had a duty to help run a show filled with must-see acceptance speeches and a few surprise wins. Keep reading to see the best and worst moments from the 2025 SAG Awards:
Best Opening Moment: Jean Smart
Although Bell found a creative way to get a Frozen song stuck in our heads again thanks to her unique rendition of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” it was Smart’s opening sketch that earned big laughs from viewers at home.
While channeling Deborah Vance from Hacks, Smart learned that she had been fired from hosting the 2025 SAG Awards because she hadn’t paid her dues in years. At the end of the segment, she’s offered to take “The Substance” before Bell takes control as host.
Best, Most Unpredictable Acceptance Speech: Kieran Culkin
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
After receiving the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in A Real Pain, Culkin playfully took a shot at The Brutalist star Adrien Brody in his wide-ranging speech.
“I don’t think there’s any way anyone can hold this for 45 seconds. Which is the allotted time, Adrien Brody, 45 seconds,” Culkin said before acknowledging there was no need for the joke. “There was no reason to take that shot. I love you, it’s a joke. You take your time. Lord knows I will because I didn’t think of anything.”
With awards season coming to an end, some may think they know who’s going to win based on the many trophy-fests beforehand. SAG-AFTRA voters, however, reminded fans to expect the unexpected.
A Complete Unknown’s Timothée Chalamet and Martin Short winning Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in film and TV roles, respectively, was a plot twist some fans didn’t see coming. Short’s good luck continued when Only Murders in the Building won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. “We never win,” Selena Gomez shared during her speech. “This is weird.”
And with the 2025 Oscars just one week away, Conclave’s shocking win for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture may just be the boost they need.
Best Reunion: All of Them!
Netflix
The Good Place stars Ted Danson and William Jackson Harper paid tribute to the sexy tennis movie Challengerswhen they engaged in their own jostling love triangle as they competed for former castmate Bell’s attention.
“This is not a challenge,” Bell proclaimed before her former costars Danson and Jackson Harper playfully disagreed and leaned in for a mock kiss.
The reunions kept coming throughout the night as cast members from New Girl, Gossip Girl, X-Files and more found themselves in the same room at the same time.
Best Unexpected Tribute: ‘Law & Order’
Peter Kramer/NBC
While Mariska Hargitay’s longtime drama series was not nominated for an award, the SAG Awards couldn’t help but acknowledge just how many major stars have had the opportunity to have early-career guest star roles on Law & Order and its famous spinoffs.
“In the television industry, detective-based shows are considered especially beloved,” Hargitay said in a pretaped segment. “In the Law & Order universe, these dedicated actors that bring these stories to life are members of an elite squad known as the guest stars.”
Old footage of then-unknown Bradley Cooper, Viola Davis, Sarah Paulson, Kerry Washington, Sabrina Carpenter and other stars began to play with clips of their small but unforgettable roles.
Worst: Flubbed Best Picture Nominees’ Intros
We’re the first to acknowledge that no actor is perfect. But as casts from various Best Picture nominees delivered a snippet of their highly regarded film of the year, we wondered if they had any time to rehearse?
As the cast from A Complete Unknown celebrated their film, Chalamet wasn’t sure what to read and when to begin. “We should have done a rehearsal,” he joked.
In comparison, the cast of Anora couldn’t help but giggle through a majority of their speech. Anything can happen when a show is live.
Worst Struggle: Heavy Trophies
Based on several reactions from award-winning actors, the SAG Award trophy isn’t the lightest prize to hold during a night of celebrating. According to Kulkin, his award was “incredibly heavy” and later joked that the “heaviest of all awards is the one given by actors.”
After receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award, Fonda delivered one of her signature speeches by grabbing the microphone and pleading with viewers to practice empathy and truth in a changing world.
At one point in her speech, viewers could hear a muffle from her microphone. At a separate moment, the sounds of a voice-over began playing. Fortunately, Fonda took it in stride by responding, “And I can conjure up voices!”
Worst Trigger: Jamie Lee Curtis’ COVID-19 Confession
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Just when we thought we were healed from the coronavirus pandemic, Curtis delivered a shout-out to the actor who got her sick at a previous award show. What came next was a reminder of a season filled with masks, social distancing and Zooms.
“And the Actor goes to…the man who gave me COVID at the Golden Globes,” she said. Colin Farrell.”
Farrell replied, “Guilty as charged. But Brendan Gleeson f—ing gave it to me! So I was just spreading the love.”
Worst Absence: So Many Winners
We know an actor’s schedule is very busy, but there were multiple awards handed out where the main stars weren’t present to accept. Although she won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series thanks to her role in Hacks, Smart was not in attendance because she was filming another project.
In addition, when Only Murders in the Building won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, Short and Steve Martin weren’t present.
“Marty and Steve aren’t here because they don’t really care, but I don’t know what to say,” Gomez said in her speech. “Thank you Marty and Steve for helping raise me.”
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Kristen Bell shared the small screen with many of her former castmates while hosting the Sunday, February 23, awards ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles. In addition to sharing the stage with her Nobody Wants This costar Adam Brody, she and his wife, Leighton Meester, shared a surprise Gossip Girl reunion.
“Hey everyone! Gossip Girl here. One of my sources LEMEE86 sends me this,” Bell, 44, stated in her iconic Gossip Girl voice. “Spotted at table eight, Jeff Goldblum has a wicked appetite. And a peek behind the curtain reveals he likes his green eggs with ham. And look who it is, not-so-lonely boy Timothée Chalamet sitting next to a hot steak, medium rare, au poivre with a side of…”
Noticing that all the gossip items mentioned food, Bell turned to Meester, 38, who was sitting next to her eating a roll. “Leighton, none of this gossip. It’s just all about food,” Bell stated, to which Meester replied “I’m sorry. I’m just really hungry.”
Before presenting the cast of Conclave, Bell quipped, “The popes in Conclave were better at gossiping than us. I think we should pass the torch.” Meester agreed, stating, “Amen.”
Bell wrapped up the pair’s skit by declaring the stars of Conclave as “Gossip Girl 2.0.”
Scroll down to see all the cast reunions from the 2025 SAG Awards:
Bell finally shared the screen with Blair Waldorf herself after voicing Gossip Girl’s titular character throughout the teen drama’s six-season run from 2007 to 2012. (They’ll also share the screen on the next season of Nobody Wants This as Meester was recently confirmed to guest star.)
Zooey Deschanel and Max Greenfield seemed just as excited about their New Girl reunion as fans were watching them present the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
“We wrapped New Girl eight years ago, and so, the last time we saw each other must have been eight years ago,” Greenfield, 45, quipped. The duo even poked fun at costar Lamorne Morris’ 2024 Emmy win for his work on Fargo.
“Have you talked to or seen Lamorne?” Deschanel asked, to which Greenfield responded, “It’s been challenging since, well, you know, the Emmy. … But [we’re] so happy for Lamorne.”
Jason Segel recreated his funny Forgetting Sarah Marshall towel scene while catching up with Bell in between awards. “Hey! I got a surprise for you!” he said while taking off the towel wrapped around his waist, though Bell noted the moment “doesn’t really have the same effect with a towel over your pants.”
Segal hilariously retorted, “Don’t be a pervert.”
In the middle of her hosting duties, Bell was interrupted by Ted Danson to question whether William Jackson Harper was her favorite costar. “Look man, I’m just telling him what you told me in Paris,” Harper stated, a reference to his and Bell’s characters visit to the City of Love on The Good Place.
Bell’s attempts to diffuse the pair’s argument turned into a hilarious Challengers moment. “This is not a challenge,” she stated as the film’s iconic score played. The men responded, “Yes, it is,” before leaning in to kiss like the characters from the film.
Mulder and Scully themselves, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, reunited to present the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. “It’s great to see you, Gillian. You look …” Duchovny started before Anderson finished, “Younger than you last saw me when we shot 218 episodes?”
“Yes, that’s exactly right,” he replied.
Though Joey King presented an award with The Boys star Jack Quaid, she and Taylor Zakhar Perez had a mini The Kissing Booth reunion on the SAG Awards red carpet.
Candice Alviz quit her job to be a seamstress after a decade of working in law, telling PEOPLE exclusively about the surprising twist to her unexpected career
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