Ariana Grande is reportedly set to star in Meet The Parents 4 alongside Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro.
- READ MORE: ‘Wicked’ review: hit musical makes gravity-defying leap to the big screen
The franchise follows Stiller’s hapless Greg Focker, a nurse who has to reckon with the family of his girlfriend Pam (Teri Polo), particularly her parents Jack (De Niro) and Dina (Blythe Danner).
Late last year, rumours emerged that the characters were getting ready to return to the big screen, and sources have now told The Hollywood Reporter that Danner and Polo are also expected to return on a brand new instalment of the series, although those deals have yet to close.
Meanwhile, John Hamburg, who has co-written all three films in the series so far, is set to return once more. He penned the screenplay and is set to direct, with Universal dating the film’s release for November 25, 2026.
Ariana Grande to star in ‘MEET THE PARENTS 4’ at Universal.
Alongside Robert De Niro & Ben Stiller reprising their roles.
In theaters November 25, 2026. pic.twitter.com/mg4Mnb604L
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) May 30, 2025
While details surrounding the plot are scarce, THR revealed that one plot point will revolve around the son of Stiller and Polo’s characters, who gets engaged to a ball-busting woman who seems entirely wrong for him. Sources suggest Grande will play the fiancée.
It comes after Grande took to the Las Culturistas podcast to say she loved comedy acting. “It heals me to do that,” she said, “finding roles to use these parts of myself.”
Her turn as Glinda the Good in Wicked earned her an Oscar nomination this year, with the ‘Dangerous Woman’ singer joining her co-star Cynthia Erivo in opening the ceremony with a medley of ‘Defying Gravity’, ‘Home’ and ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’.
Wicked received a four-star review from NME, with Nick Levine writing: “Wicked flags a little in the middle, but not enough to dampen a dramatic climax in which Elphaba and Glinda travel to Oz to meet the fabled Wonderful Wizard (Jeff Goldblum). He and Yeoh sell their brief musical numbers on twinkly charisma, but Erivo and Grande are both vocally extraordinary.”
The two are set to perform songs from the film in an upcoming live musical TV special. The Wicked Event Special will take place in Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater ahead of the release of the sequel film, Wicked: For Good, which hits cinemas on November 21.