Watch: Taylor Swift “Patient Zero” Music Video Teaser: All the Easter Eggs
When Taylor Swift is toasting her real friends, she’s raising a glass to Dakota Johnson.
Because perhaps no one cares less about the he-said-she-said than Johnson, who, as their mutual pal Lena Dunham put it to Vogue recently, “doesn’t give a f–k in the right ways, yet cares deeply.”
Which has to be a pretty important quality to have in a friend—for anyone famous, let alone the most famous person, who prefers her relationships to not come in shades of gray.
“Maybe it’s her sing-song vocal delivery,” Swift wrote in an April essay heralding Johnson as one of TIME‘s 100 Most Influential People of 2026, “serenely answering questions with such frank candor it makes you feel like maybe this girl just…can’t lie?!”
And though Johnson was cheekily referencing her romantic relationship history when she recently called musicians “tricky motherf–kers,” the Verity actress can get behind Swift’s brand of trickery when it comes to methodically planting Easter eggs and dominating the art of the new music reveal.
Hence no fans being surprised by Johnson’s latest starring role in Swift’s “Patient Zero” music video, which is set to premiere during the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards Sept. 27.
After all, the artist basically spelled it out during her Emmys cameo.
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“Saccharide, Aries, from the vineyard, North or South,” Swift said while playing detective in a pre-taped sketch parodying Law & Order: SVU, offering a series of seemingly random clues that Swifties quickly deciphered.
Because you know what comes in both North and South varieties, right? Yes, Carolina, but also Dakota.
So, Johnson showing up in “Patient Zero” opposite Colin Farrell (who stars in the show “Saccharide,” er, Sugar) was really more of a reminder that a not-so-invisible string has tied her and Swift together for years.
They were first spotted in the wild in October 2016 on consecutive nights out in New York with Zoë Kravitz, another real one who, like Johnson, was in attendance when Swift married Travis Kelce on July 3 at Madison Square Garden.
And though Swift went through numerous eras before she and Johnson were spotted out together again, making headlines when they dined with their brothers Austin Swift and Jesse Johnson at West Village hot spot Via Carota in May 2025, Johnson let it be known that “of course” she was a Swiftie.
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“I just find her existence really radical in the sense of what it literally means,” the Materialists star told Bustle in 2024. “Not rad or cool, but radical, and I’m totally into it. She’s a fabulous songwriter. She works so hard. She is really kind to the people that love her. I’m just like, do you, girl. I support.”
And the appreciation for what the other is putting out there is obviously mutual.
“As her friend, I can vouch for her realness,” Swift wrote about Johnson in TIME, “but add that she’s also one of the most empathetic people I’ve ever known.”
And while Johnson is extremely private, telling Vogue that she’s “obsessed with people not knowing where I am or what I’m doing,” calling herself “far too porous and sensitive and present” to be observed like that, she’ll risk it to spend time with certain friends.
Read on to learn more about the current state of Swift’s inner circle:
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