Ariana Grande is an Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated actor, a three-time Grammy-winning pop superstar, and, as Focker In-Law looks set to remind everyone, a properly funny comic performer too.
The first trailer for Focker In-Law has arrived, bringing the comedy franchise back with Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro returning as Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes. This time, though, the family anxiety has shifted down a generation. Greg is no longer the nervous outsider trying to survive his future father-in-law’s suspicion. He is now the overprotective dad side-eyeing his son Henry’s new girlfriend, Olivia Jones, played by Grande.
It is a neat little role reversal for a franchise built on awkward dinners, social humiliation and the terrifying emotional power of De Niro saying absolutely nothing. Grande’s Olivia is introduced as an overachiever with a background as an FBI hostage negotiator, which, in true Meet the Parents fashion, only makes Greg more suspicious. The trailer leans into all the expected Focker ingredients: interrogation scenes, physical comedy, tense family meals, cringe jokes, and the return of Owen Wilson’s Kevin, because apparently no Focker family event is complete without him appearing to make things more uncomfortable.
After Wicked reminded everyone that she is not just a pop star who can act but a performer with serious comic timing, Focker In-Law looks like it is giving her room to play in a very different register. Olivia seems polished, hyper-competent and just odd enough to belong in this world, especially when she starts winning over Jack while Greg spirals. That dynamic alone feels like the film’s smartest move: making De Niro’s former nightmare father-in-law the one person who actually seems to enjoy the newcomer.
Stiller stepping into the anxious parent role also gives the sequel a reason to exist beyond simple nostalgia. The original Meet the Parents worked because Greg was desperate to be liked and Jack was impossible to impress. Now Greg appears to be turning into the very thing that once terrified him, which is both a solid comic engine and a slightly horrifying reminder that time comes for us all.
Whether Focker In-Law can recapture the chaotic charm of the earlier films remains to be seen, but the trailer knows what fans want: familiar faces, family dysfunction, De Niro deadpan, Stiller panic and Grande throwing herself into the madness with confidence.
Focker In-Law is set to arrive in cinemas on 25 November 2026.