Yahoo Lifestyle Debra Messing Discovers She's Related to a Famous Politician in “Finding Your Roots ”Season 11 Trailer (Exclusive)
The PBS docuseries returns for another season on Jan. 7, featuring stars like Kristen Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Amanda Seyfried, Dax Shepard, and Chrissy Teigen
Finding Your Roots is returning with another season of celebrity guest stars — and a slew of surprises!
The PBS docuseries' eleventh season debuts on Jan. 7, 2025, with acclaimed Harvard professor and host Henry Louis Gates Jr. back once again to uncover the secrets of celebrities’ family trees.
This season’s guests include Debra Messing, Joy Behar, Kristen Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Michael Imperioli, Melanie Lynskey, Natalie Morales, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lea Salonga, Amanda Seyfried, Dax Shepard, Sharon Stone, Chrissy Teigen, celebrity chefs José Andrés and Sean Sherman, novelist Amy Tan, poet Rita Dove, historian Lonnie Bunch and musician Rubén Blades — and it's sure to take viewers on a journey.
“Through Gates’ discerning touch, his guests learn what every family history shares — love, courage, and sacrifice — and how our histories transcend borders, merging to form an American root system fortified by its diversity,” according to the synopsis. “Along the way, viewers are transported from coastal Africa to the Mississippi Delta; from shtetls in the former Russian Empire to the ancestral lands of the Lakota Nation; from villages in the Philippines to a pirate enclave in Puerto Rico — all in search of the stories that will bring our guests’ ancestors to life.”
In PEOPLE’s exclusive first look at the trailer, a number of guests, including Stone, Ralph and Teigen, express excitement and nervousness as Gates elegantly strides into a room. The clip cuts to Lynskey staring at a scrapbook, smiling and wondering aloud, “Wow. How did you even find this?”
PBS
Debra Messing and Henry Louis Gates Jr. in season 11 of 'Finding Your Roots.'“I have so many questions in my brain,” Sherman says.
Seyfried, meanwhile, is bowled over when she learns that her third great-grandfather was murdered. “What?” she utters.
Fishburne exclaims in another moment, “It’s better than any movie script or television play I’ve ever read!”
In the next sequence of moments, Imperioli and Andrés mull over their revelations around their genealogies, while Stone wipes away tears. "I don’t know why I’m feeling so emotional about people I’ve never met,” Stone admits.
Tan tells Gates he has unleashed the “best storytelling ever.”
PBS
Amanda Seyfried in season 11 of 'Finding Your Roots.'Gates then begins to disclose to guests their DNA cousins: Messing learns she’s related to Senator Bernie Sanders, while Lynskey realizes Questlove is a relative.
The trailer also teases this season will have a surprise guest, before Gates receives his own genealogical scrapbook, causing him to pause. “This is…” he trails off. “It’s deeply emotional."
In the trailer’s final moments, Blades says, “You know, I’ve seen this show before, and I’ve seen people in this position, and I tell you, it’s really astonishing,” he says.
“It’s breathtaking. It’s breathtaking. I’ve waited 60 some odd years for this,” Fishburne says.
“It’s an incredible story — and it’s great that it’s my story,” Morales adds.
PBS
Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Kristen Bell in season 11 of 'Finding Your Roots.'Opening up a family tree map for Teigen, Bell and Lynskey, each find themselves stunned. “Wow, that’s incredible!” Teigen says, while Lynskey utters, “Oh, my goodness!”
“You just feel enormously full,” Dove says.
“Makes me feel whole,” says Seyfried. “Makes me feel me.”
For 10 seasons, Finding Your Roots has welcomed various big-name guests and uncovered their family trees, often with surprising results. During its most recent season, Lena Dunham was bowled over by the realization she had a familial connection to Larry David, calling it "the hottest information I could have ever gotten." Additionally, Gates revealed to Bob Odenkirk that he has ties to King Charles and Nathan Lane.
The show has evolved over the years, drawing a wide range of celebrities. Some revelations have been welcome surprises, like when Andy Samberg learned the identity of his grandmother in season 5, which had been previously unknown to his mother, who was adopted as an infant.
PBS
Melanie Lynskey in season 11 of 'Finding Your Roots.'When LL Cool J learned on the show in 2016 that his mother was adopted, it “blew” the rapper’s mind. “LL had a whole new family, and it humbles me to be able to connect people to their ancestors, to their genealogical and genetic roots,” Gates told PEOPLE in July.
In addition to season 11 of Finding Your Roots, Gates has another docuseries in the works — Great Migrations: A People on the Move — premiering Jan. 28, 2025, on PBS. “Migration is not unique to any single ethnicity or group, but it is a deeply profound aspect of the modern African American experience simply because Black people were denied movement for so long,” according to the synopsis, adding, “This series will tell the story of African American movement over the 20th and 21st centuries, and how it has shaped the nation.”
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Season 11 of Finding Your Roots premieres Tuesday, Jan. 7 on PBS. The first two episodes of Great Migrations: A People on the Move premiere on Jan. 28, 2025 at 9 p.m. ET.
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