When Good Boy, the dog-led horror movie starring Indy the retriever, premiered last year, I said we should give the titular good boy an Oscar for his performance. That was just an offhand comment made in jest, but now that we’re in award season, Indy has actually been winning awards for his performance, though most of them have been against other animal actors. That is, until the Astra Awards on Friday, January 9, where he won the award for Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller, which was met with both happiness for the dog and a surprising amount of cynicism about the state of award shows.
It’s important to note that Indy had no awareness that he was even “acting” in any real sense of the word. Director Ben Leonberg said in a behind-the-scenes mini-doc accompanying the film that Indy is not a trained canine actor, and the film is edited such that shots recontextualize moments where Indy is just looking at something off-screen as Leonberg makes noise behind the camera.
Indy has won animal performance awards from the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival, the San Diego Film Critics Society, and the Boston Society of Film Critics. However, the Astra Award is the first he’s won against actual human actors, and there were some pretty big standouts in the category:
- Alison Brie – Together as Millie Wilson
- Ethan Hawke – Black Phone 2 as The Grabber
- Sally Hawkins – Bring Her Back as Laura
- Sophie Thatcher – Companion as Iris
- Alfie Williams – 28 Years Later as Spike
Now, if you look at the comments under Leonburg and Indy’s acceptance speech video, you’ll see an outpouring of support for Indy’s win and his handsome little bowtie. If you look elsewhere, however, you’ll find that both fans of the other nominees and general award season followers are viewing it through a much more cynical lens. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more Indy winning out against excellent human actors sounds like the plot of a Disney Channel Original Movie in which a young kid’s canine companion makes trouble for their owner’s no good, mean-ass bullies by beating them at the local talent show. It’s the kind of move that feels like it was made for the sake of the meme rather than to actually recognize the performance that displays the most craft, skill, and artistry.
Can we get it together https://t.co/RGckNkXstt
— Brandon Streussnig (@BrndnStrssng) January 11, 2026
being told you’re worse than a dog.. astras you’re going to hell https://t.co/UxJglGAzq1
— Cris ✨ (@lionesspike) January 10, 2026
so sophie thatcher lost to a dog. what are we doing https://t.co/c2i1x1FI7W
— *charlie 🦝 (@soapypugh) January 10, 2026
Kinda wild that the year a black man should easily be the front runner for the category they decide to give it to an animal instead https://t.co/RnghCefUmA
— SirSnipeyy (@SirSnipeyy) January 10, 2026
i’d give that dog chocolate if i was one of the other nominees https://t.co/dwoM8P01Bs
— rory🚶♀️ (@roryofffilm) January 10, 2026
can we talk about how offensive and degrading it is to the actual artists in that room to gather them all there under the guise of recognizing the best then give the award to a dog https://t.co/ZRjMsHnK3X
— president of kindness (@realityysimp) January 10, 2026
The concept of finally getting gender neutral acting awards and then they give the award to a dog https://t.co/TQEK9gAwtt
— C.J. Prince (@cj_prin) January 10, 2026
“I’m a huge dog lover, but am I being a fuddy duddy by thinking that this is kinda deeply fucking insulting?” HockneysPool wrote on Reddit.
“Incredibly so,” AdhesivenessFar5588 responded. “Especially since in the ‘making of’ at the end of the movie, they literally say that he’s not acting. There is no performance. It’s simply recording over and over again until you get the reaction you were looking for, and then splicing it together with other scenes. This would be like giving an award to an actor who had to wear an ear piece with their dialogue fed to them line by line. Like, it’s cute in theory to give the dog an award, and incredibly insulting when you think about it for more than 10 seconds.”
As some have pointed out, this is an especially annoying move for an award celebrating the horror genre, which is rarely recognized during awards ceremonies, and it’s unlikely several of these actors will be nominated in more general categories throughout awards season.
“This kinda sucks, [not gonna lie],” 1080TJ wrote. “Horror performances are barely awarded outside of these specialized categories and it would’ve been nice for any of these actors to get some acknowledgement for their work. Alfie Williams in particular was amazing.”
I’m of the mind that Good Boy’s most award-worthy aspects are in its editing and directing, especially once you realize Indy has no formal training as an acting dog and it’s Leonburg’s directorial debut. Indy can sweep the animal actor awards, but pitting him against the likes of Ethan Hawke and Sophie Thatcher and giving him the trophy is pretty unserious.
