Oscars host Conan O'Brien says 'we will find the right tone' for ceremony amid Iran war

The large question surrounding past year’s Academy Awards was whether the amusement would talk astir the L.A. wildfires, which had rattled the metropolis specified months prior.

This year, the elephant successful the country is the ongoing Iran war, which similar past year’s wildfires, puts a solemnisation similar the Oscars successful crisp relief. But for Conan O’Brien, balancing gravity and levity is portion of his occupation statement arsenic host.

“My occupation is to ever effort and deed this very, precise bladed enactment betwixt entertaining radical and besides acknowledging immoderate of the realities,” O’Brien said successful a Wednesday quality league with the Oscars originative team.

“It’s a creation that goes connected up until the amusement begins,” the erstwhile speech amusement big said, adding that helium and his squad of writers are inactive revising worldly up of the amusement to marque definite their contented is arsenic applicable arsenic possible.

“Between us,” helium said, referencing Oscars telecast enforcement producers Katy Mullan and Raj Kapoor, “we volition find the close tone.”

O’Brien besides during the quality league recalled Johnny Carson’s crook hosting the Oscars during the Iran hostage crisis, erstwhile 52 Americans, including diplomats and different personnel, were held hostage astatine the U.S. embassy successful Tehran from 1979 to 1981. The comedian remembered the tv big parodying ABC’s “Nightline” with his joke, “It’s time 444 of the Oscars.”

“It was specified a funny, topical gag that touched connected thing everyone was reasoning about, and astatine the aforesaid time, got a large laughter and was unifying,” O’Brien said. “That was meaningful to me.”

Kapoor said during the quality league that the accumulation squad is putting systems successful spot to alleviate attendees’ information concerns amid the tense planetary concern and reported threats to California.

“Every year, we show what’s going connected successful the world,” the showrunner said, adding that the ceremonial has the enactment of the FBI and LAPD. “This amusement has to tally similar clockwork.”

He added, “Everybody that is coming to this show, that is witnessing this show, that is adjacent a instrumentality of the amusement erstwhile they’re lasting extracurricular the barricades — we privation everybody to consciousness harmless and protected and welcome.”

As for the show’s originative direction, the squad cited “human touch” arsenic a unifying taxable — a not-so-subtle flimsy to AI.

“We’re celebrating quality touch, quality transportation and what I similar to telephone existent intelligence, arsenic opposed to artificial,” said euphony manager Michael Bearden. “We privation to get backmost to the communal ... and truthful the euphony volition bespeak that.”

That tone of solemnisation volition beryllium particularly tangible successful the “KPop Demon Hunters” performance, Kapoor said. That show volition beryllium complemented by a “Sinners” infinitesimal featuring Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq arsenic good arsenic guests Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith.

“We person this beauteous communicative celebrating Korean civilization with authentic Korean drummers and singers and adjacent choreography,” the shaper said. “So again, we’ve expanded our reach, and we’re telling these planetary stories, celebrating planetary films that person had a planetary interaction and doing things successful a truly antithetic way.”

Mullan and Kapoor closed the quality league by teasing a brace of reunions featuring formed members from “Bridesmaids” and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Bridesmaids” alum Rose Byrne is nominated for a pb histrion Oscar for her relation successful “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” which marked O’Brien’s melodramatic acting debut. (If Byrne wins, helium said, “half that Oscar’s mine.”)

“We’re gonna person superstars, superheroes, and determination is besides going to beryllium an extraterrestrial connected the stage, truthful you tin fig that 1 out,” Mullan said.

The 2026 Oscars volition aerial unrecorded Sunday connected ABC, with streaming disposable connected Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.