'Mean Girls: The Musical': Everything We Know About the Movie
Ella Sangster
Broadway hit 'Mean Girls: The Musical' is being adapted for the big screen. Here's the cast, plot and Australian release date.
https://harpersbazaar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/cropped-favicon-1-150x150.png
Harper's Bazaar Australia
ALMOST 20 YEARS since the release of Tina Fey’s hit high school flick and we still can’t get enough of Mean Girls. They made a second film (which, safe to say, didn’t quite live up to the hype of the original); social media annually celebrates October 3 as if it’s an annual public holiday; and in 2017, the plot was adapted into a musical. Now, it’s time to “get in, loser” — because a new Mean Girls film is on the way. What can we say, it just can’t help that it’s popular (surely, any Mean Girls fan knows this one?).

In 2020, creator Tina Fey, who also starred in the original film as Ms. Norbury, announced that Mean Girls would go from the screen to the stage … and then to the screen again. While details were kept relatively under wraps, the official cast list was announced in late 2022 and in Novermber 2023 we got our first look at the forthcoming film with the release of the first trailer.

The trailer promises that this adaptation is “not your mother’s Mean Girls,” and with references to TikTok and a bevy of very 2020s outfits, it’s sure to deliver on that.

Ahead, everything you need to know about Mean Girls: The Musical the film, from cast to potential release dates.

Related: The original Mean Girls cast is reuniting for a new project

What is the plot of Mean Girls: The Musical Broadway?

Mean Girls: The Musical premiered at the National Theatre in Washington in 2017, before opening on Broadway a year later.

The stage show is heavily based on the 2004 film and follows Cady Heron as she’s introduced to the trials, tribulations and mean-girl antics of high school after moving from Africa to America. It features the same characters, including Cady (originally played by Lindsay Lohan), The Plastics, Janis Ian and Damian Leigh.

What is Mean Girls: The Musical movie about?

The forthcoming film will seemingly follow the plot of the Broadway hit, which was based on the original movie.

However, earlier this year Reneé Rapp, who will star as Regina George, hinted to People that there could be some minor changes.

“This is a very specific version of the musical that has a really specific place in a niche, culty theatre way, that I think expands it to maybe people who aren’t super into theatre,” she told the publication.

Mean Girls: The Musical movie cast

Given the iconic cast of the original — Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Amanda Seyfried in one film! — Mean Girls: The Musical had some big shoes to fill in terms of casting.

Naturally, they’ve tapped a stellar crop of young actors. Australian actor Angourie Rice will play lead, Cady Heron. The Sex Lives of College Girls‘ Reneé Rapp will stars as Queen Bee, Regina George, who she previously played in the Broadway production.

Rounding out The Plastics are Bebe Wood and Avantika Vandanapu, who will play Karen Smith and Gretchen Weiners, respectively.

The Summer I Turned Pretty lead Christopher Briney is playing dreamboat Aaron Samuels. Auli’i Cravalho — who voiced the titular character in Disney’s Moana — is our Janis Ian, and Jaquel Spivey our Damien Leigh.

Further, Busy Philipps has been cast as “Cool Mom” Mrs. George, Jon Hamm is on board as Coach Carr, and The Office’s Jenna Fischer will play Mrs. Heron.

Will any of the original Mean Girls cast be in Mean Girls: The Musical?

Two of the original Mean Girls cast members will reprise their roles for the musical adaptation. Tina Fey — who is also involved in creating the musical film — announced that she will reprise her role as Ms. Norbury. She will be joined by Tim Meadows, aka Principal Duvall.

While none of the other OG cast members have been confirmed for the project, Seyfried previously told Entertainment Tonight that she and her costars are “100% into” making an appearance.

Mean Girls: The Musical will be released in cinemas in Australia on January 11, 2024.

Unfortunately, that’s not a Wednesday — but you bet we’ll be wearing pink anyway.