Ariana Grande will head from land of Oz to the marital chaos of the Fockers as the singer has landed a role in the upcoming Meet the Parents sequel.
The Wicked star will appear on the big screen alongside the franchise’s stars Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro, with actresses Blythe Danner and Teri Polo also expected to reprise their roles for Meet the Parents 4.
Grande will reportedly play the fiancée of Stiller and Polo’s son, “a ball-busting woman who seems all wrong for him,” the Hollywood Reporter writes. Grande isn’t the first singer to join the Focker flock: Barbra Streisand notably portrayed Stiller’s hippie mother Roz (alongside Dustin Hoffman’s dad Bernie) in the second and third films; while Grande and Streisand sang together on the latter’s recent duets album, it’s unclear if they’ll reunite for Meet the Parents 4, as Streisand wasn’t among the cast members revealed Friday.
Universal Pictures scheduled the sequel for Thanksgiving 2026, with John Hamburg — who penned the first three movies, 2000’s Meet the Parents, 2004’s Meet the Fockers, and 2010’s Little Fockers — on board as writer and now director for the fourth installment.
Following Grande’s Oscar-nominated turn in Wicked — the second part Wicked: For Good arrives this November — the Hollywood Reporter says that the singer was intent on finding a comedy project, turning down a number of scripts before landing the Meet the Parents role.
In November 2024, Grande cautioned fans that acting, and not singing, would be her focus for the next decade. “I’m going to say something so scary, it’s going to scare the absolute shit out of my fans and everyone,” Grande warned. “I love them, and they will deal, and we will be here forever. I’m always going to make music. I’m always going to go on stage. I’m always going to do pop stuff, I pinky promise, but I don’t think doing it at the rate that I’ve been doing for the past 10 years is where I see the next 10 years.”
She continued, “I think I love acting; I love musical theater. Reconnecting with this part of myself…I love comedy, and it heals me to do that — finding roles to use these parts of myself.”
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However, despite her acting declaration, Grande still treated fans with a deluxe edition of her latest album, Eternal Sunshine.
From Rolling Stone US
