Flying IAH-SJC, we were turning onto the runway 2nd for takeoff and then suddenly went the other way. Captain announced that we were going back to the gate because an international flight to the west coast got diverted to Houston and we had to go back and pick up 2 passengers.

it’s now nearly an hour past scheduled departure and we aren’t even back at our gate yet.

really curious what flight got diverted and who is so important that we had to pick them up like this. Never seen or heard of this happening before - is this a new thing?