Oscars Producers Tease ‘Bridesmaids,’ Marvel Reunion During Show

Oscars telecast executive producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor confirmed that a special Bridesmaids reunion will take place during the ceremony on Sunday, and teased a Marvel reunion as well.

The duo took part in a press conference alongside host Conan O’Brien, music director Michael Bearden, production designer Misty Buckley and supervising choreographer Mandy Moore, moderated by Rotten Tomatoes awards editor Jacqueline Coley, on Wednesday.

“We have a huge reunion happening,” Kapoor, who is also the telecast’s showrunner, said. “There’s been rumors of what that is, and we are very excited to announce that we have a Bridesmaid reunion that is going to be very special.”

Mullan added: “There’s also going to be a Marvel reunion for the superhero fans. So we’re gonna have superstar superheroes, and there is also going to be an extraterrestrial on the stage. So you can figure that one out.”

Last week, Variety reported that a Bridesmaids reunion would be taking place during the telecast for its 15th anniversary. Rose Byrne, nominated this year for her performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, is set to appear with costars Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy. 

The two EPs also answered questions about the In Memoriam section after this year’s many industry deaths. “It has been a really, really tough year this year, so the In Memoriam has been something we’ve been talking about for many, many months,” said Mullan. “We’ve lost a huge amount of people this year who are so meaningful to so many in the film community. We take it really, really seriously. We have been having many, many discussions. … It continues to change right up until rehearsal, because we want to get the strike, the balance, just right and make sure that it feels like the right moment in the show for the moment in time. So I guess we can’t really go into detail of what it’s going to be this year, but we really hope that it is a tribute that moves people and feels like it does the incredible people we’ve lost this year justice.”

Specifically probed about how they plan to honor Rob Reiner, Kapoor said, “Like Katy said, I don’t feel like we’re at a place where we want to share what exactly what we’re doing for In Memoriam. All I can say is that a lot of time and thought has been put into the process of creating something really meaningful that has a lot of emotion and heart.”

Additionally, the organizers promised increased security, with the news conference taking place shortly after the FBI sent an alert out to California law enforcement about the possibility of a retaliatory drone attack by Iran. “We have the support of the FBI and the LAPD, and it’s a close collaboration. This show has to run like clockwork. But we want everybody that is coming to this show, that is witnessing the show, that is even a fan of the show when they’re standing outside the barricades, we want everybody to feel safe and protected and welcome, so it’s our job as a producing team to make sure that that translates,” Kapoor said.

This year’s theme for the show is “humanity,” said Kapoor. “Everything that you see in the show is inspired by human touch and creativity, and we’ve completely redesigned what the stage looks like.”

Buckley added: “Last year was very kind of monolithic and temple-like and so this year, we were sort of looking at reverential spaces, so looking at beautiful light, organic form. We’ve got lots of architectural layers that there’s there’s quite a lot of kinesis in the set, and it moves and reveals this beautiful light cast by trees. We’ve got trees in the set this year, which is very exciting. And we’re just really leaning into that human touch nature and organic with kind of really beautiful, bold modern forms as well.”

Moore also wanted to keep this year’s theme of humanity and human touch alive through her choreography. “We’re basically taking songs from films, and we’re not just recreating them like the film did. We’re creating them as a celebration of the film as a whole,” she explained. “In particular, the KPop Demon Hunters performance of ‘Golden,’ I kept having this visual, and I talked to Raj about these beautiful gold flags. It’s so beautiful. Well, I was working on it today, and it was like, oh, I haven’t done a lot with flags, but I was thinking on the stage, after I saw the renderings, I was like, oh, maybe this, like, beautiful air quality could happen. And, oh, they’re walking down onto the the diamond and all that should rise at this point when all the flags go out. We’re gonna see how it all goes together on camera on Friday.”

Specifically, Kapoor weighed in on how they will be celebrating Sinners, the most-nominated film in Oscars history.

“It’s not just about the song, it’s really how Ryan [Coogler] integrated music and wove that into the entire story,” said Kapoor. “It’s a really beautiful package. We are celebrating that film with the film’s costumer, Ruth E. Carter has come on board to help us. We have Aakomon Jones, who is the film’s choreographer, working with us. We have that music team that as well, 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. We have the lovely Misty Copeland making an appearance, and we have all these talented dancers, and it’s going to be a real celebration, not only of the song, but of the film.”

In terms of the music, Bearden added: “We’re celebrating cinema, and as Raj said, we’re celebrating human touch, human connection, and what I like to call actual intelligence, as opposed to artificial. And we want to get back to the communal, to the touch, to the humanity. And so the music will reflect that. I like to liken it to scoring a film. And so the music will reflect humanity, human touch connection as the show is flowing so how we’ve created the show, the music will reflect the same way.”

O’Brien, who is back for a second year in a row to host the telecast, reflected on the differences of hosting this year versus last year. “Last year, we had the fires, so I was displaced. I was working out of a hotel, and a bunch of people that I work with had lost homes and/or were displaced. This year, I get to wake up in the morning in my own room, which sounds like a small thing, but it’s a huge thing. So that’s very nice. And also, I got to watch the whole year in film roll out in real time. And it is a spectacular year for movies. Just really incredible by any standard. All the movies are so different. They’re all so vibrant. There’s so many different voices, so much artistry went into them. And I think it’s one of the best films years that we’ve had in memory. So it’s really cool to be a part of that.”

Additionally, the comedian also stars in a film this year that has received Oscar recognition: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. He joked, “Many people believe I provided a critical role in the film. I think I elevated Rose’s performance. And if she is to win, I think half that Oscar is mine. I really do believe that, and I’m not deluded.”

During the Q&A section of the press conference, O’Brien was asked how politics will play into his monologue, or the show as a whole, given the country is currently at war.

“I’m brought in to do a host job, which is, I think, to put people at ease, make people laugh,” O’Brien responded. “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. … And so all I can say is, I’ll use my best judgment and 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.”

Lastly, the producers also revealed how What We Do In the Shadows actor Matt Berry came to be this year’s announcer during the telecast, which was announced earlier on Wednesday.

“It came from Conan’s team, and when they pitched the idea, there was squeals of delight and glee from everybody in our office, because he is just such an amazing character, so brilliantly funny, and I think the only problem is going to be wanting him to announce absolutely everything in the show forevermore,” said Mullan.

“That’ll definitely be an issue,” O’Brien weighed in. “My team and I are massive Matt Berry fans, and have been for quite a while. And I think he’s one of the funniest people alive, and I’m a regular consumer of his internet madness, his social media madness and the different shows that he’s worked on, and I just think he’s a delight. So we had the idea, could we have Matt participate? And if you’re a Matt Berry fan, as so many people are, you might be watching the Oscars and thinking, ‘More Matt Berry! Why isn’t it just all Matt Berry? Why does Conan have to be there? Can’t Conan shut up and just let Matt Berry take over?’ And I sympathize, because I’ll be thinking that too. I’d never met him, and we’ve had some conversations, and he’s a delightful person and clearly a genius. So I’m absolutely over the moon that he’s doing it.”

The 2026 Oscars are set to air live on ABC and Hulu from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 15, starting at 4 p.m. PT.

Leading up to Wednesday’s press conference, Kapoor and Mullan also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about their plans for this year’s show. Among other things, the duo provided interesting new details about the way in which they are approaching the inaugural presentation of the best casting Oscar; how they plan to address the unusually high number of deaths of film legends since the last Oscars; and more. Additionally, O’Brien was the cover star of THR‘s Oscar Issue, which you can find here.