Enigmatic Preview of Taylor Swift’s ‘Patient Zero’ Video Teases Two Major Hollywood Co-Stars, Death in the Family

With less than one sleep left before Taylor Swift unveils her new single, “Patient Zero,” Swifties got a 13-second preview of the dramatic video for the song on Thursday morning (Sept. 24). The brief clip that spawned more questions than answers premiered on CBS Mornings and Swift’s Instagram feed, revealing a pair of Hollywood stars at its center.

The video preview opens with a mirror image of Swift — in a white tank and gray shorts — turning on the water faucet in a dimly lit, industrial-looking bathroom before quickly cutting to footage of two women diving into a pool trailed by a swarm of bubbles. A long shot from behind then reveals what appears to be two female figures flanking a male statue, also in a gray-and-white concrete space and then a pair of black roses placed on a snow-covered headstone.

In keeping with the enigmatic sneak peek whose running time in, naturally, Swift’s favorite number, the final image is of two female figures in long black coats — again seen only from behind — standing in front of the grave in a snowy cemetery, with the one that appears to be Swift comforting the other as they look at a headstone that reads 1989-2022, “Gone too Soon,” with the word “daughter” visible, but the name obscured. There is a final, brief glimpse of a stricken-looking Swift slowly turning her head, with the singer’s 10-carat engagement ring on full display.

It ends with the credits, which lists Swift as its star, of course, along with Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson. While no lyrics are heard in the preview, it is soundtracked by a lilting, Irish folk music-tinged instrumental. The final images include Farrell emerging from a luxury sedan at night and Johnson looking haunted at what appears to be a party and then all three, dressed in all black, in a lounge.

Swift may have hinted at Johnson’s involvement in the video during her surprise Emmy’s pop-in last week in in a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit sketch, in which her Det. Olivia Benson dropped a cryptic string of clues that sent Swifties into Easter egg hunt overdrive. The final clue, “North or South,” may have been a tip-off to Johnson, whose first name can be paired with the directional clues to unveil North and South Dakota.

The Farrell and Johnson cameos are not the first time major Hollywood stars have turned up in a Swift music video. They follow on the heels of Domhnall Gleeson, Jodie Turner-Smith and Greta Lee in video for the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 Showgirl hit “Opalite,” as well as Josh Charles and Ethan Hawke in 2024’s “Fortnite,” Taylor Lautner and Joey King in 2023’s “I Can See You (Taylor’s Version),” Laura Dern in 2022’s “Bejeweled” and Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink in the 2021 short film “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” among others.

According to CBS Mornings, the video’s cinematographer was Emmanuel Lubezki, best known for The Revenant and Birdman

The video, directed by Swift, will premiere during the 2026 MTV VMAs on Sunday (Sept. 27), where the singer will be bestowed with the first-ever Artist Director Honors at the event where she is also nominated for 11 awards.

Swift announced on Wednesday that she is dropping an expanded version of last year’s The Life of a Showgirl album on Friday as well, dubbed The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, which will feature four bonus tracks. Along with “Patient Zero,” the bonus edition will feature the freshly recorded “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.”

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.