America Ferrera Is Shocked to Learn Ava DuVernay Is Her Cousin in “Finding Your Roots” Season 12 Trailer (Exclusive)

Hollywood is getting different instruction successful conscionable really connected its stars are.

PEOPLE tin exclusively premiere nan trailer for season 12 of Finding Your Roots, nan PBS bid hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that takes a heavy dive into a caller batch of celebrities' family histories each year. This season, stars including America Ferrera, Kristin Chenoweth, Spike Lee, Lizzo, Brittney Griner and Darren Criss get to study astir their ancestry — and Gates delivers immoderate awesome revelations.

Right disconnected nan bat, nan nerves and excitement amongst nan guests are clear. "My palms are sweating," Chris Paul admits.

Amongst nan first revelations successful nan trailer is nan Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist, Flea, learning nan personality of his "great-great grandma," followed by Chenoweth asking nan host, "Is that not freaky?"

"That's freaky," Gates confirms.

Rhiannon Giddens, Lizzy Caplan, Sanaa Lathan and Barry Diller each spell connected to definitive really "intense" and "scary" nan process is, and Lizzo calls 1 revelation "scandaloso."

"Pieces of myself are being filled in," Delroy Lindo says. "If this is simply a jigsaw, this is different portion of nan jigsaw

For Hasan Minhaj, what Gates discovers makes him "think astir a batch of nan decisions that I've made successful my life, and possibly that courageousness and condemnation came from my ancestors."

Liza Colón-Zayas sheds tears successful nan trailer arsenic she learns nan personality of an ancestor who was enslaved. "It breaks my heart, and I'm crying, not because it's a full daze to me," she says. "It's because now location is simply a sanction to this person."

In nan trailer, respective stars study nan astonishing chap personage that they're related to, including Griner and Colón-Zayas.

Danielle Deadwyler is "gagged" astatine her astonishment relative, while Lizzo says hers is "crazy," and Ferrera learns that Ava DuVernay is her cousin.

"Oh my God!" Ferrera says. "I emotion that."

When Gates delivers nan afloat family trees to nan guests arsenic nan trailer comes to an end, Sara Haines deems it "the champion gift I've ever been given," and Ferrera says, "It's for illustration learning there's a caller room successful your location that you've ne'er seen."

"This is 1 of nan top days of my life," Lee says, and Diller is arsenic moved.

"If everybody did this, if everybody really told nan truthful stories, really different it would be," he says arsenic nan trailer ends.

 Wiz Khalifa, Tracy Letts and Kate Burton besides look connected play 12 of nan deed series, which Gates. Jr antecedently told PEOPLE has a "twin connection each week."

“The first is that, contempt each of our evident differences — differences successful race, gender, intersexual preferences, color, ethnicity, constituent of root — astatine nan genome, we’re 99.9% nan same,” he said.

“The 2nd is that nan greatness of our state was produced by nan truth that we are a federation of immigrants, consenting and unwilling. It includes everybody successful that message. And that’s why group respond to our bid pinch specified enthusiasm.”

Never miss a communicative — motion up for PEOPLE's free regular newsletter to enactment up-to-date connected nan champion of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from personage news to compelling quality liking stories.

Finding Your Roots play 12 premieres Jan. 6 connected PBS.