Remember November 27, 2023? We were all so happy then. It was early days in the awards season, people were scoring Cyber Monday deals, and Charles Melton won the Gotham Award for Best Supporting Performance for his work in May December. We were all so happy that day, it’s hard to even imagine how terrible things would soon become. While May December did receive one Oscar nomination (Best Original Screenplay), Charles Melton went home empty-handed on January 23. This, despite fully embodying a character with both an eternal childhood and the world-weariness of an old man without ever making the two facets seem contradictory. This, despite going head-to-head with two of the greatest actresses of our generation and coming out not only unscathed but fully established as their equal, being referred to as “the film’s wounded soul.†This, despite a ready-made Oscar narrative in his journey from Riverdale. It’s a sad day for Melton-heads. After all, the two previous Supporting Actor winners, Ke Huy Quan for Everything Everywhere All at Once and Troy Kotsur for CODA, began their runs with Gotham wins.
And so, a toast to the man who many for a second believed could go from the CW to an Oscar nomination. May Melton be blessed with bookings in prestige projects moving forward, and he may he remain a hair-spiration for all time.