The rumors were true. There will be a Bridesmaids cast reunion on the 2026 Oscars, to mark the 15th anniversary of the beloved hit comedy.
Cast members Maya Rudolph and current Oscar nominee Rose Byrne had already been announced as presenters, but the reunion is likely to also include Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, who were Oscar-nominated for best original screenplay and best supporting actress, respectively, for their work on the film.
Raj Kapoor, executive producer and showrunner for the Oscars, announced the reunion in a press conference with key members of the creative team that was held via Zoom on Wednesday (March 11). “We are very excited to announce that we have a Bridesmaids reunion that is going to be very special. And there’s also going to be a Marvel reunion for the superhero fans. So we’re gonna have superstars and superheroes. And there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage. So, you can figure that one out.”
Jacqueline Coley, awards editor for Rotten Tomatoes, moderated the press conference, which was held four days before the live telecast on Oscar Sunday.
Participants included:
Conan O’Brien, host
Raj Kapoor, executive producer and showrunner
Katy Mullan, executive producer
Michael Bearden, music director
Misty Buckley, production designer
Mandy Moore, supervising choreographer
As previously announced, just two of this year’s five nominated songs will be performed live on the telecast, but those performances are being built into show highlights.
The KPop Demon Hunters segment begins with a fusion of traditional Korean instrumentalists and dance, celebrating the folklore and cultural inspiration that anchors the story behind this animated blockbuster. EJAE, AUDREY NUNA and REI AMI, the singing voices behind HUNTR/X and Billboard‘s newly crowned 2026 Women of the Year, will perform the film’s Oscar-nominated song “Golden.”
The Sinners segment explores the role music plays in the film’s storytelling. Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq will perform the Oscar-nominated song “I Lied to You.” They will be joined by Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith.
The show will also include appearances by Josh Groban and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
The 98th Oscars will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. The show will again be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
Here are selected highlights from this year’s press conference.
Raj Kapoor on rethinking how the show handles music performances: “We’re looking towards 100 years coming up, but this year we wanted to refresh, reimagine, just have a new vision for the show and part of that is really how we celebrate some of our music performances. This year, we are doing them in a very different way. We are celebrating the films. And so this year we chose Sinners because it’s the most nominated film ever and has a beautiful music story. It’s not just about the song, it’s really how Ryan [Coogler] integrated music and wove that into the entire story. It’s a really beautiful package. We are celebrating that film with the film’s costumer, Ruth [E. Carter], [who] has come on board to help us. We have Aakomon [“AJ”] Jones, who is the film’s choreographer, working with us. We have that music team that as well. [It] has like, not only given us the gift of that score, but that song. And then we have all these amazing cast members, plus new people that weren’t even in the film coming in to help celebrate that. So we’ve kind of like blown it up. And, you know, we have the lovely Misty Copeland making an appearance. We have all these talented dancers, and it’s going to be a real celebration, not only of the song, but of the film.
“And then one of the other performances that Mandy’s working on, KPop Demon Hunters, celebrated again for being an animated feature, but also like a global phenomenon, and we have this lovely story celebrating Korean culture with authentic Korean drummers and singers and even like choreography. So again, we’ve kind of like expanded our reach, and we’re telling like these global stories, celebrating international films that have had global impact and doing things in a really different way. … And so for us this year, it was this page turning, and then we are looking towards 100 years.”
Michael Bearden on Quincy Jones, who in 1971 became the Oscars’ first Black music director: “As a young boy growing up on the south side of Chicago and seeing Quincy Jones do it when I was a boy, and to be on the stage myself doing it, being inspired by him, it’s really a great thing. The thing I also love about working with Raj and Katy is they love music, and they have really good ears as to what they like, and want to hear, but they really revere it and want to shape it and the orchestra really feature us, and to still have live music on a show now is incredible to have.”
Conan O’Brien on the biggest misconception people would have about hosting the Oscars: “I think maybe it would be that it’s not just about being funny in moment to moment. It’s also about acknowledging what this is about in a larger sense. And as the host, I’m sort of the human avatar, or whatever. I’m the entryway for the person watching at home and the person who the audience member can relate to, or the person watching at home can relate to. So that’s a part of the job. And sometimes there are moments where it’s my job to move us along to the next moment. It’s not necessarily about being 100% funny all the time. And so I think that is part of the job that I kind of enjoy, and that, I think, is in sync with Raj and Katy, that they want this to be, you know, a warm, human, real, organic experience. You know, we talk a lot on this stage about prep and design and getting everything just a certain way, and practice, practice, practice. But when this show happens, it is an organic thing. It’s unfolding in real time, and there’s life in it, and so we will respond to things that happen in the moment, and the show will be a living organism for better or worse.”
Katy Mullan on the show’s core message: “I mean, I think that if there’s a message throughout the show, it’s about the fact that we all share these same universal connections, truths and stories, and that what’s amazing about the nominees this year is there is a foreign film, and international film in every single category. So that just shows you actually, that even though the world can feel really divided, that through cinema, all of these stories actually connect us. So I think that that and we work a lot with the incredible presenters that come out on stage to say something personal and from the heart meaningful to them so that we can have moments of, you know, humor, but also moments of heart. So I think there’s a lot hopefully that will just come across that makes people feel like they’re sitting in front of their TV, but they’re also sitting with, you know, millions of people around the world and feeling connected by these films.”
Raj Kapoor on the focus on Sinners: “It has really been so much of a collaboration between the film team and the Oscar team. So we were lucky enough to even do something with Ryan. We’ve been working with their music team, their choreography team, their costume team, and so it is bigger than we’ve ever gone before, and it’s been such a welcoming environment that the show is not separate from the film. And so we hope what we put on stage feels very well represented and is captured in as beautiful of a way as the way that they were able to tell their story.”
Conan O’Brien on whether the show will venture into political topics: “Well, I can’t speak for the whole show. I can speak for myself when I say that my philosophy is that I’m, first of all, it’s, I’ve never thought of it as my show. I’m the host, which is a very specific task, and I’m brought in to do a host job, which is, I think, to put people at ease, make people laugh. And yeah, last year, we acknowledged some of the things that were going on in Los Angeles that had really impacted our whole creative community with the fire. And I think that that what’s happening in the world will be reflected throughout the show. My job is to always try and hit this very, very thin line, I think, between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities. So, it is a dance. It’s a dance that goes on up until the show begins. I’ve been working for a really long time on material for the show with my writers, and it’s still evolving, because we live in a very fast-paced world. So jokes we thought of two months ago are irrelevant now, and there might be things that happen this week that will find their way into the show. So that is something where, like any chef, you make adjustments as you go, and that’s what we’re going to be doing. And so all I can say is, I’ll use my best judgment, and I also have a great sounding board here with Raj and Katy, and I think between us, we will find the right tone and the right places.”
Conan O’Brien on preparation: “I’m a big believer in prepare, prepare, prepare, and then it’s time to throw all that away. As soon as I get the word that it’s time to hit the stage, it’s time to be present for those people in that audience, for that show that’s happening. And so I try to let all of that fall away when I get out there, because we work hard. We do the preparation, and then you have to let this thing breathe. You know, it’s a bottle of wine. You got to open it up. You got to let it breathe…. I think for me, it’s to remember that people make a big deal out of ‘It’s the Oscars’ and ‘What are you going to do?’ And this is so important, but you have to remember at the end of the day, it’s not that different from making a room full of people laugh when I’m a guest at a wedding or working on the Groundlings stage when I was starting out, or any of the million other things I’ve done. About being myself in that moment and being true to myself. And I believe that that is my job and that and if something happens, respond to it as I would respond to anything as myself. That’s the most important thing. And so all the preparation is necessary, and then you just got to let it go and go out there and let my natural, low self-esteem take over.”
