Will Meghan Markle and Prince Harry be making an appearance at this year's Oscars?

Awards season is officially upon us, and with the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Awards taking place this month, excitement is already building around the Academy Awards.

The highly-anticipated 2024 Oscars are set to take place on Sunday 10 March, and following the recent release of this year's nominations, it is already dominating the headlines. 

This is largely down to the controversial Barbie snub, seeing Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie miss out on 'Best Director' and 'Lead Actress' nods - a decision that has caused an online outcry, with a host of A-listers calling it out.

It was a lesser discussed Oscars detail that got the world talking today however, with Misan Harriman's short film The After nominated for an Academy Award.

Harriman, who directed the project, starring David Oyelowo, took to Instagram to break the exciting news and to express his gratitude to everyone that played a part in its creation.

"Goodness gracious me!! I’m just so happy for our whole team," he announced in an Instagram post. "We did it! Wow".

Nominated alongside The After (Misan Harriman, Nicky Bentham) are: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson, Steven Rales), Knight of Fortune (Lasse Lyskjær Noer, Christian Norlyk), Invincible (Vincent René-lortie, Samuel Caron), and Red, White and Blue (Nazrin Choudhury, Sara McFarlane).

Two people who are sure to be happy for Harriman are his close friends Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, with fans predicting that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may even make an appearance at this year's Oscars to show their support in person. 

Meghan Markle was noticeably absent from the Suits reunion at the Emmy Awards last month, reportedly due to a scheduling conflict, so it would be only fitting if she made an appearance at the Academy Awards - particularly now that Harriman has been nominated. 

In fact, the director revealed recently just how close he was to the couple, explaining that he may have actually had something to do with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meeting in the first place. 

"When you see people who have the connection that they have, it's like reading the pages of a book," Harriman explained. "Meg reminded me that had I not introduced her to a mutual friend then she wouldn't have met Harry. I'm grateful for whatever small part I played."

Well, that's lovely.

We will continue to update this story.