Comedy fans should be excited, because Meet the Parents 4 is officially happening! The movie, which is titled Focker In-Law, is set to include an all-star cast featuring franchise alums like Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro and Owen Wilson, and it will also add newcomers in Ariana Grande and Skyler Gisondo. It’s a rare blockbuster comedy, which we don’t usually see anymore. Now, Stiller is opening up about returning to the franchise as Greg Focker and working with such a huge, talented cast.
In a recent interview with Esquire, the Zoolander star opened up about his buzzy directorial project, Severance, as well as some of his beloved comedy classic films like Tropic Thunder. He also talked to the publication about Meet the Parents 4, hinting that the years may not have been kind to Greg. Based on the comments, Stiller shared, fans could be in for a truly funny story. He said:
Yeah, I was kind of hoping that things would have gone better for Greg—a lot of shit didn’t go down right for him. But it was definitely funny to go back into that world. Any chance I have to work with De Niro, you know, I’ll take it. He’s one of my idols. And Ariana [Grande] was just amazing, she injected such a great new, fresh energy into it. What I’m feeling good about is that it feels like there’s a reason for the movie to exist as a concept. It makes sense this time. So it was fun to jump back in.
The initial Meet the Parents movie is one of the best films of the 2000s. It follows Stiller’s Greg Focker, who meets his girlfriend’s overzealous parents. Her father, played by Robert De Niro, essentially tortures Greg, because he doesn’t believe he is good enough for his daughter. The following movies explore the hilarious dynamic deeper and, in the second film, Meet the Fockers, fans meet Greg’s eccentric parents, who don’t really mix with his father-in-law. And the third film, Little Fockers, shows the hilarity that ensues when kids are thrown into the mix.
Based on the info we know about Focker In-Law, the movie will show Greg in the same situation his father-in-law, Jack Byrnes, was once in, meeting his child's spouse to be. It’s a great idea and feels like a natural progression of the family dynamic. Both Stiller and De Niro seem excited by the idea, and fans were also clamoring for Barbra Streisand to return as Greg’s mother in the film. Stiller said of the story:
It’s been so many years, it was really looking at where we all were as people and where the characters would be. Being [De Niro’s character] Jack’s age from the first movie and having kids who were in the same position and have to go through that with his own kids seemed like a really good jumping off point.
Stiller is clearly confident that Focker In-Law has something new to say and is a story worth exploring. Flipping Greg Focker into the very role that once made his life miserable feels like a full-circle moment that the movie series has been building toward for years. If Greg’s life didn’t exactly turn out the way he hoped, as Stiller says, this may be a prime opportunity for great comedic moments, and funny dialogue between himself and De Niro’s Jack. I personally can’t wait for this film and to see this cast reunite on the big screen with some exciting new faces as well
You can see Focker In-Law when it hits theaters on November 25 as part of the 2026 movie schedule. In the meantime, fans can revisit the original Meet the Parents film by streaming it with a Peacock subscription.
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