Debra Messing and Amanda Seyfried were among the stars to discover shocking details about their lineage in the upcoming “Finding Your Roots.”
The PBS docuseries returns for another season Jan. 7 and kicks off with some very unexpected revelations. Harvard professor and host Henry Louis Gates Jr. uncovered the secrets of the stars’ family trees and stunned the ladies with his on-camera reveal.
Messing’s family discovery came as a huge shock — but Seyfried had a lot more to unpack when she discovered dark, sordid details about her roots.
Some juicy moments of Season 11 were revealed in a sneak peek shared by People.
Seyfried was completely caught off guard when Gates revealed a tragedy had occurred in her family. He shocked the famous actress by telling her that her third great-grandfather had been murdered.
She uttered “what!” and the rest remains undisclosed.
They kept the details out of the teaser, so fans will have to watch the episode to discover what really happened so many generations ago.
Gates went on to disclose some DNA matches that indicated a family connection. That’s when Messing discovered that she was related to none other than famous politician, Bernie Sanders.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: Actress Debra Messing attends SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations screening of “Will & Grace” at SAG-AFTRA Foundation Screening Room on December 06, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 13: Amanda Seyfried is seen at the NBCUniversal Upfronts at the Radio City Music Hall on May 13, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) Getty Images
The teaser video promises many more surprises and features a star-studded guest list.
Kristen Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Dax Shepard, Joy Behar, Sharon Stone, Melanie Lynskey and Chrissy Teigen also appear in the upcoming season, and they have some pretty dramatic reactions to the information that they discover.
Lynskey realizes she is related to Questlove, and Fishburne at one point exclaims “It’s better than any movie script or television play I’ve read!” but there are no clues about what the big news was actually about. (RELATED: ‘My Mind Is Blown’: Famous Actress Julia Roberts Takes DNA Test, Discovers She’s Been Living A Lie Her Entire Life)
“It’s breathtaking. It’s breathtaking. I’ve waited 60 some odd years for this,” Fishburne says.