Tina Fey Reveals Why Mean Girls Original Cast Reunion Didn’t Happen in Musical: ‘They’re Busy People’

The Mean girls musical film almost included its original four leading ladies.

In an interview with The New York Times released on Wednesday, Tina Fey confirmed that there have been talks to hire Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert for small roles in the new film.

“We’ll never know,” Fey said when asked what their roles would look like in the film, which comes out Friday. “They are busy people, so it didn’t work out together, but we tried and we all love each other.”

“Mean Girls” Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert and Rachel McAdams. CBS via Getty Images

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Fey wrote the original screenplay and co-starred as math teacher Mrs. Norbury. She reprized her role in the new film and wrote its script.

Her appeal to revisit the 2004 film, which also spawned a Broadway play, came from a state of gratitude.

“I have other things I’d like to do. But I’m so grateful that this movie seemed to stick with people,” she told times. “When I look at it, I’m reminded of how hard I worked on it. I feel like bricks and mortar was the absolute best possible job I was capable of at the time. It’s not perfect, but it holds water.”

However, when asked if she would ever work on a sequel that brought back the original cast to play their characters as adults, she said that she hadn’t really “thought it much.”

Tina Fey and Lindsay Lohan at the “Mean Girls” premiere held at AMC Lincoln Square on January 8, 2024 in New York City.

Kristina Bumphrey/getty

“For me, part of why the stakes are so high in the story is that everyone is so young and the feelings are huge, the love is huge and the friendship is huge in a way [that it isn’t with] middle-aged moms. I like to write about middle-aged people, but I don’t know,” she told the paper.

McAdams, who played Regina George in the original, confirmed her interest in appearing in the new adaptation in an interview with Diversity in December.

“Tina [Fey] and I kind of messed around with a few ideas, but it was hard to get it all done in the end,” she told the publication.

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She also mentioned why she didn’t appear with Lohan, Seyfried and Chabert in November mean girls-inspired Walmart commercial.

“I guess I wasn’t that excited to do a commercial, to be completely honest. I’ve never done commercials, and it just didn’t feel like a bag,” McAdams said. The Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret star noted that she also “didn’t know everyone” was participating in the commercial.

“Of course, I would always like to be a part of it Mean girls reuniting and spending time with my plastic. But yes, I found that out later,” she said.

Avantika stars as Karen Shetty, Angourie Rice as Cady Heron, Renee Rapp as Regina George, and Bebe Wood as Gretchen Wieners in the new adaptation of “Mean Girls.”

Jojo Whilden/Paramount

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On Monday, Lohan attended the New York premiere of the new film starring Avantika, Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp and Bebe Wood. When asked if she identifies as a “cool mom” after welcoming son Luai over the summer, Lohan exclusively told PEOPLE with a laugh, “I hope so.”

Mean girls opens in theaters on January 12.

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Source: HIS Education