Swift released an expanded edition of ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ on Friday, Sept. 25

NEED TO KNOW

• Taylor Swift released the music video for “Patient Zero,” which stars Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell
• In the music video, which premiered at the 2026 MTV VMAs on Sunday, Sept. 27, Swift’s ghosts warns Johnson to escape the same fate of being murdered at the hands of Farrell
• Swift released an expanded edition of The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore on Friday, Sept. 25

Taylor Swift’s latest cinematic feat has arrived!

On Sunday, Sept. 27, the pop megastar premiered the music video for her single “Patient Zero” from an expanded edition of The Life of a Showgirl at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards.

The visual, which stars Swift, 36, as well as Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, also features the work of Oscar-winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, whose credits include The Revenant, Birdman and Gravity.

In the music video Swift and Johnson, also 36, appear in matching gray trench coats, trousers, and black sweaters, while sporting their similar long hair with bangs in a striking montage of mirrored shots, beginning with a scene in a snow-covered graveyard. Throughout the video, the pair emulate one another as they debrief in a bedroom and form a yin and yang symbol as they dive into a pool.

Throughout the video, Farrell, 50, appears as Swift’s toxic ex, now in a relationship with Johnson, as the 14-time Grammy winner allows for Johnson to lean on her for support while simultaneously telling the story of her own relationship’s downfall.

As Swift sings about the song’s subject who “charmed” her family and friends but acting differently behind the scenes, the cinematic sequence goes silent as Johnson and Farrell walk in to an award show and are confronted with the other woman, played by Cara Delevingne.

In a pointed moment, Johnson is seen stumbling and seemingly intoxicated, before leaving with Farrell and arguing in a car, during which Farrell tells her that she “loves” “humiliating [him] in front of everyone” and accuses her of lying about how many drinks she had.

The ensuing sequence sees Swift re-enacting a series of happy moments with Farrell, before it is revealed that her presence following Johnson is the video is actually that of a ghost, with the word “run” being spelled in spilled wine presumably for Johnson to follow.

The video concludes with Johnson leaving flowers at Swift’s grave after a newspaper clipping suggests that she died a mysterious death, leaving Farrell to inherit her fortune. The headstone reads “Beloved wife and daughter gone too soon, 1986-2022.”

The video’s plot appears to be inspired by Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, which Swift cited as a favorite during a 2025 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

“So if you’ve got an old, like, rambling, shambles old British mansion covered in moss or ivy and there’s like a mysterious relationship, and he may not be what he seems,” she explained at the time. “And there’s like a murder that has happened in the past, but you hear whispers of it. There’s the idea of a ghost or an actual ghost,”

Ahead of its release, Swift posted to Instagram Stories on Sunday to share a clip that was filmed in March of this year where she discusses seeing the sets, how they’re lit and the video’s production design. “I’m kind of like, rethinking the release of the video,” she said. “Like, I need to figure out a way to get this on TV or something. I’m sort of like … Google, when are the VMAs?” Swift captioned the Story, “Turns out the VMAs are Sept. 27, AKA today.”

On Friday, Sept. 24, Swift shared a 13-second clip that featured showed her washing her hands, two bodies plunging into water, a black rose, two women standing at a gravesite and more.

Following Swift’s 2026 Emmy Awards tease, fans pointed out that Johnson’s involvement was likely related to the “North or South” hint she shared.

The 14-time Grammy winner announced the release of her single “Patient Zero” on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The next day, Swift shared that an expanded edition of The Life of a Showgirl would be arriving on Friday, Sept. 25 and would include “Patient Zero,” as well as three more new songs.

Those tracks include “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.”

The premiere of Swift’s latest music video after she received the first-ever Artist Director Honors at this year’s MTV VMAs, which recognizes “groundbreaking music artists whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling,” per a press release.

Johnson presented Swift with the award ahead of their music video release.

Back in 2020, the “Opalite” artist made her solo directorial debut with “The Man” music video and won Best Direction at the MTV VMAs that year for it. Her filmmaking debut with All Too Well: The Short Film came the following year, which won VMAs for Video of the Year, Best Longform Video and Best Direction — as well as a Grammy Award for Best Music Video.

Swift has also directed videos for “Cardigan,” “Willow,” “Anti-Hero,” “Bejeweled,” “Lavender Haze,” “Karma,” “I Can See You,” “Fortnight,” “The Fate of Ophelia” and “Opalite.”

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Swift scored 11 nominations for at this year’s VMAs, including Video of the Year, Best Pop, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Best Visual Effects for “The Fate of Ophelia” plus Best Direction for “Opalite,” Best Album for The Life of a Showgirl, Song of Summer for “I Knew It, I Knew You” and Artist of the Year.

Hosted by Snoop Dogg, the 2026 VMAs are airing live from Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 27, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. ET (4:30 to 6:30 p.m. PT) on CBS, with a simulcast on MTV and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S. The show will be available globally on Paramount+ and MTV the following day.

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