“RuPaul’s Drag Race” adds immunity twist, Charlize Theron as season 16 guest judge

Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ronan Farrow, Kyra Sedgwick, Becky G, Law Roach, more will serve on the guest panel.

Mother RuPaul is fleshing out her royal court of RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 guest judges with Oscar-winning, chart-topping, and society-influencing talent — plus a game-changing immunity twist to the show's format.

The Emmy-winning reality competition series unveiled Thursday its first season 16 trailer, teasing the addition of a twist that will save one queen from elimination, plus several high-profile guest judges to the fabulous panel, including Academy Award-winning actress (and outspoken drag activist and Drag Race superfan) Charlize Theron and recording artist Becky G, both of whom will co-chair respective episodes of the program's two-part season premiere in January.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Scream 2 actress Sarah Michelle Gellar will also join as a guest judge on a later episode, as will director Adam Shankman, "I Love It" hit-making group Icona Pop, designer Isaac Mizrahi, choreographer Jamal Sims, comedian Joel Kim Booster, model Kaia Gerber, country singer Kelsea Ballerini, actress Kyra Sedgwick, stylist and former Legendary and America's Next Top Model judge Law Roach, actress Mayan Lopez, and journalist Ronan Farrow.

In addition to the guest judges, all four permanent panelists will join Mama Ru at the table, including Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, and Ts Madison.

Outside of the guest judges, the trailer explains little about the immunity twist, other than that it will be bestowed on one queen; the other (previously announced) Rate-a-Queen twist will see the queens voting for who they think did the best (and worst) in the first Maxi challenge talent show.

The queens competing for the season 16 title of America's Drag Superstar and a $200,000 cash prize are 14 eclectic performers from around the country, including Amanda Tori Meating, Dawn, Geneva Karr, Hershii LiqCour-Jeté (drag sister of Kornbread), Megami, Mhi'ya Iman Le'Paige (Tamisha Iman's granddaughter), Mirage, Morphine Love Dion, Nymphia Wind, Plane Jane, Plasma, Q, Sapphira Cristál, and Xunami Muse (daughter of Kandy Muse).

Thursday's preview sees Xunami pay tribute to Kandy by recreating her drag mama's denim-centric season 13 premiere look, right down to the boom box Kandy brought to the Main Stage for her first lip-sync.

In an exclusive round of interviews with EW, Megami promised that season 16 features the return of classic twists and "a few new ones," while Mirage said the cast gets cattier than ever.

“Get ready for a lot of shade. I don’t want to say backstabbery, I’m trying to think of a cuter word, that’s bad. Okay, well, there’s a lot of that. There’s a lot of going for the throat," she says. "There’s a lot of honesty. We’re very honest with each other, about the things that we dislike about each other’s faces and bodies."

Following season 15's partial season filled with 60-minute episodes, the show will return to its usual 90-minute format throughout season 16, with Untucked airing immediately after new episodes to complete the network's weekly two-hour Drag Race block.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 debuts the first episode of its two-part premiere Friday, Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. on MTV. Watch the new season trailer above.

Subscribe to EW's Quick Drag podcast for recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including reactions from the cast, special guests, and more.

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• Every winner of RuPaul's Drag Race

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.