Art Directors Guild Awards: Highlights from Early Winners Including ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and ‘The Studio’

ADG Honors Top Talent at 2026 Excellence in Production Design Awards

In a celebratory evening filled with recognition of artistic achievements, the Art Directors Guild (ADG) awarded the Animated Feature title to KPop Demon Hunters, with production designers Mingjue Helen Chen and Dave Bleich taking home the first film award of the night. Netflix’s blockbuster continues its award-winning streak after recently winning multiple accolades, including the Annie Awards, a VES Award, and an Eddie Award this week.

Julie Berghoff of Apple TV’s Emmy-winning The Studio and Glenda Rovello of Hulu’s Mid-Century Modern received top honors in the Half-Hour Single Camera Series and Multi-Camera Series categories, respectively. Additionally, Matthew Flood Ferguson was recognized for his work on the TV Movie or Limited Series, Monster: The Ed Gein Story.

With over 3,000 members, the ADG divides its prominent film awards into Fantasy, Period, and Contemporary Feature categories. Since its inception in 1996, the ADG has seen 20 out of 29 category winners go on to claim the Academy Award for Art Direction/Production Design, including Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales for Wicked earlier this year.

Veteran comic and actor Ron Funches hosted the event, which highlighted achievements in world-building across 14 categories spanning motion pictures, television, and commercials.

The evening also saw special honors awarded to filmmaker Jon M. Chu for Wicked and Wicked: For Good, who received the 2026 Cinematic Imagery Award. Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) will receive the President’s Award during the ceremony.

Posthumous recognition was given to Thomas E. Sanders, a two-time Oscar nominee for Saving Private Ryan and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, who is set to be inducted into the ADG Hall of Fame following his passing in 2017.

Four Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented, with the first awarded to set designer Jann Engel, a recipient of three ADG Awards for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Avengers: Endgame, and a Call of Duty advertisement. Other lifetime honors went to production designer and director Bo Welch; illustrator and storyboard artist Tom Southwell; and scenic artist Stephen McNally, all acknowledged for their significant contributions to the industry.

The following are the winners at the ADG’s 2026 Excellence in Production Design Awards revealed thus far:

Winners:

• Television Movie or Limited Series
  Monster: The Ed Gein Story
  Production Designer: Matthew Flood Ferguson

• Animated Feature Film
  KPop Demon Hunters
  Production Designers: Mingjue Helen Chen, Dave Bleich

• Half Hour Single-Camera Series
  The Studio: “The Note”
  Production Designer: Julie Berghoff

• Multi-Camera Series
  Mid-Century Modern: “Bye, George”
  Production Designer: Glenda Rovello

Nominees:

Period Feature Film

• Frankenstein
  Production Designer: Tamara Deverell
• Hamnet
  Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
• Marty Supreme
  Production Designer: Jack Fisk
• The Phoenician Scheme
  Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen
• Sinners
  Production Designer: Hannah Beachler

Fantasy Feature Film

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
  Production Designers: Dylan Cole, Ben Procter
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps
  Production Designer: Kasra Farahani
• Mickey 17
  Production Designer: Fiona Crombie
• Superman
  Production Designer: Beth Mickle
• Wicked: For Good
  Production Designer: Nathan Crowley

Contemporary Feature Film

• Bugonia
  Production Designer: James Price
• F1
  Production Designers: Ben Munro, Mark Tildesley
• Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
  Production Designer: Gary Freeman
• One Battle After Another
  Production Designer: Florencia Martin
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
  Production Designer: Rick Heinrichs

One-Hour Period Single-Camera Series

• The Gilded Age: “If You Want to Cook an Omlette”
  Production Designer: Bob Shaw
• House of Guinness: “Episode 101”
  Production Designers: Richard Bullock
• It: Welcome to Derry “The Blackspot”
  Production Designer: Paul Austerberry
• 1923 “Wrap Thee in Terror”
  Production Designers: Cary White, Lisa Ward
• Palm Royale: “Maxine Drinks Martini’s Now,” “Maxine Serves a Swerve”
  Production Designer: Jon Carlos

One-Hour Fantasy Single-Camera Series

• Andor: “Who Are You?”
  Production Designer: Luke Hull
• Alien: Earth: “Neverland”
  Production Designer: Andy Nicholson
• The Last of Us: “Day One”
  Production Designer: Don MacAulay
• Stranger Things: “Chapter Four: Sorcerer”
  Production Designer: Chris Trujillo
• Wednesday: “Chapter Four – If These Woes Could Talk”
  Production Designer: Mark Scruton

One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Series

• Pluribus: “Grenade”
  Production Designer: Denise Pizzini
• Severance: “Chikhai Bardo”
  Production Designer: Jeremy Hindle
• Slow Horses: “Incommunicado,” “Tall Tales”
  Production Designer: Choi Ho Man
• The Pitt: “7:00 A.M.”
  Production Designer: Nina Ruscio
• The White Lotus: “Amor Fati”
  Production Designer: Cristina Onori

Variety or Reality Series

• Dancing with the Stars: “Wicked Night”
  Production Designer: James Yarnell
• Jimmy Kimmel Live!: “Jimmy Kimmel Live Brooklyn”
  Production Designer: David Ellis
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: “Kids Pitch”
  Production Designers: Jim Fenhagen, Larry Hartman
• Saturday Night Live: “Lady Gaga Host”
  Production Designers: Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph De Tullio, Andrea Purcigliotti
• Squid Game: The Challenge “Catch”
  Production Designers: Mathieu Weekes, Ben Norman

Variety Special

• Atsuko Okatsuka: Father
  Production Designer: Gary Kordan
• Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful
  Production Designer: David Meyer
• 78th Annual Tony Awards with Host Cynthia Erivo
  Production Designer: Steve Bass
• SNL 50: The Anniversary Special
  Production Designers: Akira Yoshimura, Keith Ian Raywood, N. Joseph De Tullio
• Wicked: One Wonderful Night
  Production Designer: Misty Buckley

Commercials

• Anderson: “Trust Your Home to Anderson”
  Production Designer: Natalie Groce
• Prada: “Galleria Bag”
  Production Designer: Florencia Martin
• State Farm “Batman vs Bateman”
  Production Designer: David Skinner
• Target – “Step into the Holidays”
  Production Designer: Nelson Coates
• Xbox: ROG Xbox Ally – “Dancing in the Dark – Launch Trailer”
  Production Designer: Florencia Martin

Short Format & Music Videos

• Apple – Someday by Spike Jonze: “AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation”
  Production Designer: Shane Valentino
• Coldplay: “All My Love”
  Production Designer: Florencia Martin
• Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”
  Production Designer: Wesley Goodrich
• Sabrina Carpenter: “Tears”
  Production Designer: Brittany Porter
• Taylor Swift: “The Fate of Ophelia”
  Production Designer: Ethan Tobman