Arrival (Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Screenplay by Eric Heisserer, 21 Laps Entertainment/FilmNation Entertainment/Lava Bear Films/Xenolinguistics)
Finalists
Doctor Strange (Directed by Scott Derrickson, Screenplay by Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill, Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures)
Kubo and the Two Strings (Directed by Travis Knight, Screenplay by Mark Haimes & Chris Butler; Laika Entertainment)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Directed by Gareth Edwards, Written by Chris Weitz & Tony Gilroy; Lucusfilm/ Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures)
Westworld: “The Bicameral Mind” (Directed by Jonathan Nolan, Written by Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan; HBO)
Zootopia (Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, & Jared Bush, Screenplay by Jared Bush & Phil Johnston; Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Remarks:
This year's ballot has first-time Nebula nominations -- and first entries in this entire index -- for Mishell Baker, S.B. Divya, Barbara Krasnoff, and John P. Murphy.
Only three of this year's nominees have won Nebulas before: Kij Johnson has won 3 times, out of 5 previous nominations; Sarah Pinsker won last year, out of three previous nominations; Alyssa Wong won last year, out of two previous nominations.
Nominees on this year's ballot who've been most nominated before, without having won: N.K. Jemisin, with five prior nominations, and Amal El-Mohtar, with two prior nominations.