With commercials and ads for the new movie musical reboot of Mean Girls taking over airwaves and every billboard or pop-up ad you see heading into the film’s release this Friday, you might start to recognize some folks in the cast. Hey, wasn’t that lady in The Office? Isn’t that girl a huge pop singer? We’ve got answers as to where you might recognize these folks. It’s like we have ESPN or something. Our breasts can always tell you where you might’ve seen an actor before.
The original film’s stars have since aged out of their high school parts—although they did recently reprise their roles for a shockingly amazing Walmart commercial—and have passed the torch down to a younger, more musically inclined batch of actors. That said, there are cast members who starred in both the original movie and the Broadway production who are set to appear in this new screen adaptation as well.
So, who’s our new Regina, Cady, and Glen Coco? (If only he had a bigger role...) Meet the new Mean Girls with our guide to the cast below and what you may know them from.
Cady and Aaron
They may not be the best Mean Girls couple—I’d make the case for Regina and Janis (if you know, you know)—but they are the central couple to root for in the movie. We’ll start with these two, seeing as they should have impeccable chemistry (or, at least, that awkward high school vibe) to really make the story work.
Cady is our main star, a transplant from South Africa who moves to Evanston, Illinois, and faces the wrath of American teens. In the original movie, Cady was played by Lindsay Lohan, with Erika Henningsen began in the role on Broadway. Now, Angourie Rice will star as Cady, who you may recognize as goodie two shoes Betty Brant from Tom Holland’s Spider-Man series and as Ryan Gosling’s daughter in The Nice Guys. Mean Girls will mark her first big musical role.
Rice will star opposite Christopher Briney from The Summer I Turned Pretty. Briney is taking over the role of Aaron Samuels from Jonathan Bennett and Kyle Selig, who played the part in the film and on Broadway, respectively. Fans of the movie are already skeptical of Briney’s portrayal of Samuels—does he really have what it takes to be the next teen heartthrob?
Bebe Wood, Renée Rapp, and Avantika Vandanapu in Mean Girls.
Jojo Whilden/ParamountThe Plastics
It’s time to get into the juicy part of Mean Girls: Let’s talk about the Plastics.
Although Cady joins this group of popular girls near the middle of the story, the Plastics are originally a trio made up of endearing doofus Karen Smith, wannabe catchphrase inventor Gretchen Wieners, and H.B.I.C. Regina George.
Regina is at the forefront of this new edition of Mean Girls, bumping Cady out of leading lady duties—she’s the biggest on all the posters, so is she now the heroine? Technically, no, but Regina is played by one of the biggest up-and-coming stars of 2024. Reneé Rapp—who has a huge music career, starred in The Sex Lives of College Girls, and even played Regina for a brief time on Broadway—will return as blonde bombshell Regina George. Rachel McAdams was the first Regina in the 2004 movie, and Taylor Louderman originated the role on Broadway.
Love, Victor’s Bebe Woods and Senior Year star Avantika are set to star as Gretchen and Karen, respectively. It’ll be hard to replace Amanda Seyfried as lovable fool Karen from the original film, but Kate Rockwell did it on Broadway, so it’s possible! As for Gretchen, Lacey Chabert was our original fetchster, and Ashley Park—who makes an appearance in this new movie—brought the slogan to Broadway.
Jaquel Spivey, Angourie Rice, and Auli’i Cravalho in Mean Girls
Jojo Whilden/ParamountJanis and Damian
Here comes another recognizable name: Auli’i Cravalho of Moana fame will play Janis ‘Imi’ike, formerly Janis Ian and Janis Sarkisian. Cravalho doubled down on Disney princess duties, also starring in The Little Mermaid Live, as well as appearing in Crush. Cady’s first friend in high school was initially played by Lizzy Caplan in the film and Barrett Wilbert Weed in the Broadway show. Acting-wise, all three make up a gaggle of apex predators.
Her partner-in-crime, Damian “Too Gay to Function” Hubbard, will be portrayed by Jaquel Spivey. This will be Spivey’s first big movie role, although the young actor does already have Tony and Grammy Award nominations for his performance in A Strange Loop on Broadway. Daniel Franzese starred in the original movie as Damian, with Grey Henson taking over on Broadway. She doesn’t even go here!
The Parents
We’ve got two families at the center of Mean Girls: the Herons and the Georges. Although both girls had a mom and a dad in the original movie, they only have maternal figures listed in the cast of this new movie.
Jenna Fischer will take over the role of Ms. Heron from Ana Gasteyer. Fischer is best known for playing Pam on The Office—apparently, John Krasinski wasn’t available to star as Mr. Heron. Bummer. (Kidding!)
Amy Poehler starred as the iconic “Cool Mom” Ms. George in the 2004 movie, but Busy Philipps is just as cool. The Freaks and Geeks and He’s Just Not That Into You actress will be offering up snacks, condoms, and alcohol in this new movie. Fun fact: Tony nominee Kerry Butler played Ms. Heron, Ms. George, and teacher Ms. Norbury in the original Broadway production.
Tim Meadows in Mean Girls
Jojo Whilden/ParamountThe Teachers
The names start to get even more recognizable as we enter the teacher’s lounge in the new movie. Ashley Park’s name was already mentioned in this article—she’s set to star as French teacher Madame Park, a new character for this movie musical. Hopefully, she teaches us all how to say “That’s so fetch.” In French. That’s so French? Is this anything? If you don’t know Park from Broadway, you may know her from constantly (and randomly) singing as best friend Mindy in Emily in Paris. Oui, oui!
Coach Carr, who was originally played by Dwayne Hill in the movie, has leveled up and is now being portrayed by Mad Men’s Jon Hamm. He’ll be preaching abstinence all over again, unless this new Mean Girls is more to today’s sex ed standards.
Tina Fey and Tim Meadows are set to reprise their roles as Ms. Norbury and Principal Duvall, which they originated in the film. (As we said, Kerry Butler played Ms. Norbury on Broadway, while Rich Younger originated Principal Duvall.) Do you even need to know what they starred in before Mean Girls? 30 Rock, SNL, Walk Hard… you get the gist. Oh, and Fey also wrote both movie versions of Mean Girls. She’s been working hard to make sure class is back in session.
