When you think of Robert De Niro's most iconic roles, the first ones that come to mind are probably Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver or Jake La Motta in Raging Bill, or perhaps the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II.

Ad

But there's one role in his career that the acting legend has played more times than any other: Jack Tiberius Byrnes.

After originating the character in Meet the Parents back in 2000, De Niro went on to reprise the role in 2004's Meet the Fockers and then again in 2010's Little Fockers, and now – more than a quarter of a century on from the original – he's back for another sequel.

Focker-in-Law will see De Niro, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson all return to their roles from the previous three films, with Ariana Grande the most high profile new addition to the cast and John Hamburg directing after co-writing each of the earlier instalments.

The first trailer for the film has just landed, so you might be wondering when you can expect to see the full film – read on for everything you need to know.

Focker-in-Law release date

Focker-in-Law has confirmed a release date of Wednesday 25 November 2026 – so at time of writing there's still more than 6 months to go.

Production on the film took place last year, beginning in August and continuing until early November.

Focker-in-Law cast: Who's returning and who's joining the cast?

Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro in Focker-in-Law
Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro in Focker-in-Law. Paramount Pictures

The full confirmed cast for the film can be found below:

  • Robert De Niro as Jack Byrnes
  • Ben Stiller as Gaylord "Greg" Focker
  • Ariana Grande as Olivia Jones
  • Owen Wilson as Kevin Rawley
  • Blythe Danner as Dina Byrnes
  • Teri Polo as Pam Byrnes Focker
  • Skyler Gisondo as Henry Focker
  • Beanie Feldstein as Samantha Focker
  • Eduardo Franco as TBC

As mentioned above, Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson will each be reprising their memorable roles as Jack Byrnes, Greg Focker and Kevin Rawley, while Teri Polo and Blythe Danner are also back as Pam Byrnes Focker and Dina Byrnes.

As for new additions, Superman's Skyler Gisondo will be taking over the role of Greg and Pam's son Henry Focker, while Booksmart's Beanie Fealdstein plays his twin sister Samantha – with those two roles having previously been played by child stars Colin Baiocchi and Daisy Tahan.

However, by far the most headline addition is pop superstar and Academy Award-nominated Wicked actor Ariana Grande. She takes on the role of Olivia Jones, who is described as "a former FBI hostage negotiator" and "Henry's girlfriend and potential bride-to-be." Her character would appear to be the driving force of the new film.

Stranger Things star Eduardo Franco has also been cast in an undisclosed role.

Focker-in-Law plot: what will happen?

We don't have an official synopsis for the film at this stage – with the only details revealed so far being a very brief tagline that simply reads "The circle of trust just got bigger."

But it doesn't take too much detective work to figure out that we can expect to see Grande's character doing her best to fit into the somewhat dysfunctional family, and we can surely expect all sorts of initiation rituals as she adjusts to their eccentric ways.

We'll post a more comprehensive synopsis when we get it.

Focker-in-Law trailer

The first trailer for the film arrived on Wednesday 15 April 2026 and have us a pretty good idea of what to expect: pretty much more of the same.

The trailer begins with Jack putting Olivia through his infamous lie detector test – and that's just the start of the tribulations she has to face as she prepares for life as part of this madcap family. You can check it out below:

Focker-in-Law will be released on Wednesday 25 November 2026.

Ad

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Authors

Patrick Cremona, RadioTimes.com's senior film writer looking at the camera and smiling
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

Ad
Ad
Ad