Season 15 Cast of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Unpack Historic New Season | Watch EUR Exclusive

*Season 15 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race“ will feature one of the biggest casts in franchise history!

Sixteen new queens will compete for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” and a $200,000 cash prize. It is the highest cash prize in franchise history, in honor of the show celebrating its 200th episode this season.

Host RuPaul returns as head judge along with his panel of co-judges: Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, and transgender icon Ts Madison. This season they will be joined by Ali Wong, Amandla Stenberg, Harvey Guillén, Hayley Kiyoko, Janelle Monáe, Julia Garner, Maren Morris, Megan Stalter, and Orville Peck with Ariana Grande kicking off the premiere episode.

Meet the new cast of Queens via the YouTube clip below.

READ MORE: Iman Shumpert Seems at Peace with His NBA Story Arc in EUR Exclusive Interview

The official synopsis via MTV reads: In this Emmy award-winning cultural sensation, drag queens compete to become America’s Next Drag Superstar in the world’s premier pageant, where host RuPaul and an all-star panel judge challenges in acting, fashion and beyond.

Watch the first five minutes of the premiere episode below:

“For me, it’s about focus, because this show has always been a show made by queer people, for queer people,” Visage previously told TODAY.

She added, “I’m the tough love judge, so I think a lot of people don’t know who the real me is, or they don’t realize that this is the way that I am in real life. It’s a bit of a caricature of who I am in real life, because we are making a television show. I’m doing a job here. I know my position and I know my place.”

Kressley told the outlet, “All of us on this panel, if we had a show like ‘Drag Race’ growing up. I think our minds would have been in a better and a much different place,” he said. “We would’ve known that we weren’t alone and know that things would actually get better. There were people like us represented on television, and all that representation matters.”

EUR’s Ny MaGee spoke with the 15 Queens that are competing for the cash prize this season and each teased what fans of the long-running franchise can expect — including a few surprises. Check out what the divas are most expected about viewers experiencing via my 4-part exclusive video interview below. 

Tune in to the two-part “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 15 premiere Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.