{"id":8086172,"date":"2026-09-27T18:12:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T01:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=8086172"},"modified":"2026-09-28T06:08:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:08:01","slug":"taylor-swift-patient-zero-music-video-premiere-vmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/creative-content\/music\/taylor-swift-patient-zero-music-video-premiere-vmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift and Dakota Johnson Share Colin Farrell in ‘Patient Zero’ Music Video"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

After days of being patient, Taylor Swift<\/a> dropped her “Patient Zero” music video Sunday night at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The singer released the single Friday as part of her “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore” expansion album. The new, second slate of “Life of a Showgirl” tracks featured four songs: “Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!” “Pink Clouding” and “Babylon.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dakota Johnson stars in the “Patient Zero” video as the wife of an abusive husband (played by Colin Farrell). Over the course of the video, she is haunted by images of Swift, her husband’s former partner. Sick for reasons she does not understand and accused of drinking too much, Johnson’s character finds herself caught up in swirl of confusion created by her toxic relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is only revealed in the music video’s closing moments that Farrell’s character has been poisoning Johnson all along, slowly gaslighting and killing her the same way he did with Swift’s departed, former heiress. The video’s story ties into the origins of “Patient Zero,” which Swift shared this week was inspired by a friend’s recounting of how an ex-boyfriend’s current girlfriend once reached out to her for advice on her relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n