TV

Wet queens recreate first-ever RuPaul's Drag Race challenge in wild season 15 trailer

RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 trailer teases twists, drama, and welcomes guest judges Janelle Monáe, Julia Garner, Maren Morris, and more.

By

Joey Nolfi

Published on December 19, 2022 11:30AM EST

The queens — yes, all 16 of them — are coming for the biggest prize ($200,000!) in RuPaul's Drag Race history, and the new season 15 trailer promises that the battle for the crown is going to be one of the most intense yet, with some very famous guest judges along for the ride.

In celebration of the show's landmark 15th season, the new cast also recreates the show's first-ever challenge in the new preview (below), as they pose for high-fashion photos while getting sprayed in the face with a hose atop a sexy sports car. RuPaul famously tasked the season 1 queens with the same thing back on Drag Race's debut episode in 2009, with now-iconic queens like Tammie Brown, Victoria "Porkchop" Parker, BeBe Zahara Benet, and Nina Flowers blazing the (very wet) trail.

But, as RuPaul teases near the end of the clip (after some spicy moments of drama), "the stuns and the shenanigans are just getting started" for the chaos in store.

Joining the season 15 judges panel — which also receives a refreshed backdrop alongside other stage enhancements — alongside Mama Ru, Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews, Carson Kressley, and new rotating judge Ts Madison are celebrity guest judges Janelle Monáe, Julia Garner, Hayley Kiyoko, Maren Morris, Ali Wong, Amandla Stenberg, Harvey Guillen, Megan Stalter, and Orville Peck.

Season 15 marks the first in franchise her-story to debut new episodes exclusively on MTV, as the Emmy-winning competition series recently shifted from VH1, its network home since season 9 in 2017.

Drag Race split . Credit to VH1, image of Aura. — 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 15 queen Aura Mayari gets wet with a member of the Pit Crew just like Tammie Brown and her season 1 sisters did back in the series premiere. VH1

Among the new cast members vying for the crown are an aspiring pop star, a New York City theater queen, a pair of viral TikTok sensations (the first real-life siblings to ever compete on the show), and a Miss Continental pageant winner who's also the mother of season 14 breakout Kerri Colby.

MTV unveiled the cast last week via a stunning promo shoot that paid tribute to the season 1 cast reveal that dropped on Logo in 2009.

The franchise also recently revealed that a Global All Stars series was in the works for the Paramount+ streaming service, while new international spin-offs are also on deck for Germany, Mexico, and Brazil.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 debuts Friday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV with a two-part premiere featuring Ariana Grande as a guest judge. Watch the full trailer above.

Subscribe toEW's BINGE podcast for full recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including reactions with the cast, special guests, and more.

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