Ariana Grande has been confirmed to star in the 13th season of American Horror Story alongside a host of franchise regulars
American Horror Story season 13 has revealed its star-studded line-up will feature pop sensation Ariana Grande alongside a roster of franchise favourites.
The two-time Grammy Award winner, currently portraying Glinda in the musical films Wicked and its forthcoming sequel, will lead the series with an ensemble cast.
Whilst she’s never featured in the acclaimed horror anthology previously, she has collaborated with its creator Ryan Murphy on the cult favourite series Scream Queens, which launched a decade ago and spanned two seasons.
Grande is joined by several cast members unveiled this Halloween, including Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe and Leslie Grossman.
The official line-up was revealed on Murphy’s Instagram account through a mysterious video featuring Vera Lynn’s rendition of I’ll Be Seeing You, reports the Express.
American Horror Story’s forthcoming season will follow the Kim Kardashian -fronted Delicate, which broadcast from September 2023 through April 2024.
Fans have since started theorising that the 13th instalment could be its final chapter and revisit a previous narrative.
It’s scheduled to premiere on FX in precisely one year’s time, 31st October, 2026.
Numerous fans have already flocked to social media to express their enthusiasm, with one X user writing: “Ariana Grande will be in AHS season 13!!! What a Halloween treat!”
Another declared: “ariana in AHS alongside all the iconic actresses that carried the series… y’all IM GAGGING-“
One particularly enthusiastic Ariana fan commented: “Ariana Grande is about to be that girl yet again in the next 12 months.
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“She can essentially win an Emmy (Wicked TV special, AHS 13), an Oscar (Wicked), and another Grammy (Brighter Days Ahead MV, any ES deluxe nomination).
“She would only need the Tony to become an EGOT. She’s been that girl and I will be seated for each of her projects.”
Have you already marked the 13th season of American Horror Story in your diary?
American Horror Story season 13 premieres 31st October 2026 on FX.
A whole lot has happened in the world in the years since Ariana Grande last toured in 2019. But the “Wicked” star is finally returning to the road next year in support of her latest album, 2024’s “Eternal Sushine.”
Grande’s tour kicks off in June 2026, and comes to Los Angeles later that month for four nights split between the Crypto.com Arena and Kia Forum. Tickets for the U.S. dates go on sale Sept. 10.
While Grande’s last tour wrapped up in December of 2019, after her “Sweetener” and “Thank U, Next” albums, the singer has been a fixture in theaters recently. In November, she’ll star in “Wicked: For Good,” the sequel to her smash hit with Cynthia Erivo, and she is currently shooting the “Meet the Parents” franchise sequel “Focker In-Law.”
The tour announcement will be relief to Ari fans who feared she might not return to live stages for some time (she headlined Coachella in 2019 to mixed reviews). Last year, she told Variety that “I feel so grateful to the acting, and I think my fans know that music and being on stage will always be a part of my life, but I don’t see it coming anytime soon. I think the next few years, hopefully we’ll be exploring different forms of art, and I think acting is feeling like home right now. … I am appreciative for [my fans’] understanding.”
Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose is mourning the loss of her mother, Gina Michelle DeBose, who has died at age 57 after battling Stage 3 ovarian cancer.
The “West Side Story” actor and Broadway star announced her mother’s death Tuesday on Instagram, sharing photos of the two of them over the years — from the younger DeBose’s childhood to her historic win at the Academy Awards in 2022.
“I couldn’t be more proud of her and how she fought this insidious disease over the past 3 years,” DeBose wrote.
Ariana DeBose, 34, said in her tribute that her mother was her “favorite person, my biggest fan and toughest critic. My best friend.” The “Love Hurts” actor said her mother “fought like hell” to support her daughter’s ambitions, adding that her accolades — which include BAFTA, Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe awards — belong equally to her mother.
The actor said her mother was a longtime public school teacher who devoted her life to educating young people. She was “the greatest advocate” for arts education, she said, adding that the death of the elder DeBose would deeply impact her mother’s community: “She was a force of epic proportion.”
Actors including “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson, “Insecure” alumna Yvonne Orji, former “Dancing With the Stars” pro Julianne Hough and celebrity fitness trainer Amanda Kloots rallied around DeBose in the comments section as she broke the news. In addition to paying tribute to her mother, DeBose highlightedseveralcharities where supporters could donate in her mother’s honor.
“My greatest and most proud achievement will always be to have made her proud,” DeBose wrote. “I love you mommy. Now travel amongst the seas, the winds and the angels as I know you always loved to do.”
“You can steer yourself in any direction you choose,” Dr. Seuss wrote in his beloved 1990 picture book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”
It seems pop star Ariana Grande has taken the advice to heart, landing yet another movie role and her second collaboration with “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu.
Grande is set to star alongside Josh Gad in the animated adaptation of “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!,” Warner Bros. announced Tuesday. Expected in March 2028, the movie will be directed by Chu and include original music from EGOT-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, known for “Dear Evan Hansen,” “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman.”
Grande and Gad confirmed the news on their Instagram pages this morning with a picture of them in a recording studio holding up their scripts, which feature the same design as the book cover.
“I love this book, I love this script, I love the beautiful world of @drseuss, I love this incredible group of creative human beings (@joshgad what a brilliant joy you are),” Grande wrote on her story. “I am so thrilled to be a part of this one.”
“Never been more excited to go places,” Gad said. “We are dreaming up something very very special for you.”
Grande, who released the deluxe edition of her album “Eternal Sunshine” earlier this year, will appear in the second installment of “Wicked,” in theaters Nov. 21. Additionally, the Grammy winner will join Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller for the fourth “Meet the Parents” movie, expected November 2026.
Gad, known for “Frozen” and “The Book of Mormon,” just joined the cast of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl, where he’ll appear alongside Grande’s “Wicked” co-star Cynthia Erivo Aug. 1 to 3. The Broadway star has several other films lined up as well, including the “Spaceballs” sequel, “Adulthood” and “Frozen 3.”
The Oscars’ voting body is growing again with a glittering list of new recruits that includes pop superstar Ariana Grande, newly minted Oscar-winner Kieran Culkin and late-night veterans — and past Oscar hosts — Jimmy Kimmel and Conan O’Brien.
On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it had invited 534 new members across its 19 branches. This year’s class includes Oscar nominees, below-the-line craftspeople and rising international voices — among them “Wicked” star Grande; “Succession” actor Culkin, who won the supporting actor Oscar for “A Real Pain”; and late-night hosts Kimmel, a four-time Oscar emcee, and O’Brien, who hosted the ceremony for the first time this year. In all, the group features 91 Oscar nominees and 26 winners, including Mikey Madison, who took the lead actress Oscar for the best picture winner “Anora.” Madison’s co-stars Yura Borisov and Karren Karagulian were also invited to the actors’ branch.
The latest invitations reflect the academy’s ongoing push for greater inclusion, even after meeting its post-#OscarsSoWhite diversity benchmarks. Of the 2025 class, 41% identify as women, 45% as members of underrepresented ethnic or racial communities and 55% are from outside the United States. Across the total membership, 35% identify as women, 22% as members of underrepresented groups and 21% are based internationally.
After years of rapid expansion — peaking with a record-setting incoming class of 928 in 2018 — the academy has shifted toward more sustainable growth. Still, this year’s tally represents a modest increase over last year’s 487 invitees.
Other additions to the acting branch — the academy’s largest — include “The Apprentice” co-stars Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan, who drew nominations for their portrayals of Roy Cohn and Donald Trump, respectively, in the controversial biopic, along with supporting actress nominee Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”), Aubrey Plaza, Jason Momoa, Jodie Comer, Dave Bautista and “Emilia Pérez” star Adriana Paz. (Notably, “Emilia Pérez” lead Karla Sofía Gascón, who made history this year as the first openly transgender performer nominated in the lead acting category, did not receive an invitation — a decision that follows backlash over past controversial remarks.)
New recruits to the directors branch include this year’s nominees Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”) and Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”), as well as Gints Zilbalodis, who directed the Oscar-winning animated feature “Flow.” Invitees in the documentary branch include the team behind this year’s Oscar-winning “No Other Land”: Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor.
“We are thrilled to invite this esteemed class of artists, technologists and professionals to join the Academy,” academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “Through their commitment to filmmaking and to the greater movie industry, these exceptionally talented individuals have made indelible contributions to our global filmmaking community.”
If all invitations are accepted, the academy’s total membership will rise to 11,120, including 10,143 voting members.
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who was pretending they didn’t care about the “Love Island USA” delay on Peacock so it would load faster.
This week’s Season 7 premiere of the reality TV dating show arrived over 40 minutes past its scheduled launch time, causing eager fans who planned their dinners accordingly to crash out on social media about the delay — but, hey, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? (Speaking of absences, Yulissa Escobar is already gone.) “Vanderpump Rules” alum Ariana Madix, who returns as host, stopped by Guest Spot to talk about the series that brings together a group of single people (known as islanders) into one villa for a messy and drama-filled chance at love (and money).
Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our streaming recommendations include a PBS documentary about a Harvard dropout who, over half a century ago, revolutionized the way people instantly chronicle their lives with his invention of the Polaroid camera, and a British competition series that’s become a bit of a phenomenon by having comedians competing against each other in bizarre challenges.
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Director Celine Song, left, and actor Dakota Johnson of the film “Materialists.”
The story of inventor Edwin Land — scrap metal dealer’s son, Harvard dropout — and the transformative social power of his famous instant camera is told in this “American Experience” documentary. You may remember the Swinger, a ’60s mass market youth accessory, or even the older models that needed a fixative rub, but certainly you have experienced the full-color perfection of the classic SX-70. “Mr. Polaroid” captures the magic of the analog image developing in your hand as opposed to the mundanity of digital pictures in thousands on your cell phone — a thing to gather around, put in an album, stick on a refrigerator — and the vision (and myopia) of an obsessive leader whose invention he hoped “you would use as often as your pencil or your eyeglasses,” and would somehow draw humanity closer together. (“Polaroid is on its way to lead the world,” he declared in a letter to his troops, “perhaps even to save it.”) Land hired women in important research positions when that was rarely done and, after the death of Martin Luther King Jr., resolved to bring more Black employees into Polaroid, but he would also work with the CIA and license (then retract) technology to apartheid South Africa — so, a complicated person. But using his cameras was simplicity itself. — Robert Lloyd
Stevie Martin and Jason Mantzoukas in Season 19 of “Taskmaster.”
(Rob Parfitt / Channel 4)
“Taskmaster” (YouTube, Pluto TV)
Imagine “The Great British Bake Off” with fangs. That’s the appeal of “Taskmaster,” a truly singular British comedy competition series in which pompous tyrant Greg Davies and his fastidious minion Alex Horne (who is also the show’s creator) sit in gilded thrones and order five comedians to do the impossible, the ingenious and the hilariously annoying. The first episode of Season 1 kicked off with the challenges: paint a horse while riding a horse, empty a bathtub without pulling the plug or tipping it over, and eat as much watermelon as possible. Expect giggling and protestations as the frustrated comics have the best worst time of their lives. Now in Season 19, for the first time an American performer — Jason Mantzoukas — has flown across the Atlantic to be publicly roasted. Challenged to bring in his snootiest item, Mantzoukas admitted that “in America, snootiness is not really a thing.” So he hired a fake butler. He’s making us Yanks proud. — Amy Nicholson
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Ariana Madix returns to host “Love Island USA” for its seventh season.
(Ben Symons / Peacock)
“Love Island USA” kicked off its seventh season this week on Peacock, which can only mean one thing: A summer of diabolical choices sure to take over timelines six nights a week has officially begun. A spinoff of the U.K. reality dating series, the U.S. iteration is set on the island of Fiji and brings together 10 singles in a villa under constant video surveillance with a goal of coupling up. Over the course of the series, in between competing in kooky challenges and going on dates, new islanders are brought in and contestants may re-couple at their discretion — those not paired up are in danger of elimination. The last-standing couple leaves with a $100,000 cash prize. It’s not exactly the storybook backdrop for forming long-lasting relationships, but the realities of modern dating are hardly any better. After making her hosting debut last season, Ariana Madix, the “Vanderpump Rules” alum and Scandoval survivor who has spun her reality TV stardom into a booming career beyond the Bravo universe, is back to oversee the shenanigans. Madix stopped by Guest Spot to tell us which contestant she’s watching out for this season and which workplace comedies she finds comfort in. —Yvonne Villarreal
As someone who has had the highs and lows of a relationship documented on a reality show, what’s your best advice for someone looking for love on TV today?
I’ve never been on a television program to find love, [or] make a romantic connection, so I’m not sure I’m the best to give advice … but my advice for anyone entering the world of reality television regardless of the reason is to enter with authenticity and vulnerability. Let yourself be open to the opportunities that the circumstances bring.
Is hosting the level of involvement you want to have with reality TV at this point in your life and career or could you see yourself letting cameras document your life again?
I think for me to be on reality television in the sort of role where I am putting myself out there, I would want to be in charge. I would want to be executive producer and I would probably fight for that in any capacity to be back in that space.
Which islanders do you think will do well this year?
I have a great feeling about Olandria [Carthen]. She’s stunning, sexy, full of personality and knows exactly what she wants.
What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?
For a while I was telling everyone I knew about “Sweet Home” [Netflix]. It had me on the edge of my seat and I became so connected to the characters. I cried so hard at the end and I never would have expected to be crying over a show about monsters.
What’s your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again?
“The Office” or “Parks and Rec” [both on Peacock]. I can put them on to fall asleep and whenever I wake up, I can jump back in and have a laugh with my favorite TV characters. There are no bad seasons.
