The next generation of Mean Girls are here! Nearly two decades after the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Lizzy Caplan starred in the iconic and incredibly quotable comedy from Tina Fey, the Plastics are set to return to screens with the upcoming movie adaptation of the Mean Girls musical. The latest is four of its leads have been cast by Paramount.
Leading the pack as Lindsay Lohan’s role as Cady Heron is Angourie Rice, who memorably played Betty Brant in the Tom Holland Spider-Man trilogy. The voice behind Disney Princess, Moana, Auli’i Cravalho, will play Cady’s fellow mastermind in taking down the Plastics, Janis. Additionally, Reneé Rapp will reprise her role as Regina George after playing the character in the stage musical, and Broadway star of A Strange Loop, Jaquel Spivey, will play Damien, per THR.
Angourie Rice is a 21-year-old Aussie actress, who has been acting since she was a kid, also starring in 2016’s The Nice Guy and most recently in Netflix’s Senior Year alongside Rebel Wilson. We’ve yet to hear Rice’s set of pipes, but we’ll be curious what she brings to the lead role. News of a new Cady comes as Lindsay Lohan recently made a comeback with Falling For Christmas, where the movie even had a nod to her famed Mean Girls role.
Auli’i Cravalho was introduced to the world when she was handpicked by Disney to play Polynesian princess of Moana. Since voicing the role, Cravalho has also lended her talents to ABC’s The Little Mermaid Live! and starred in a number of coming-of-age movies like All Together Now and Crush earlier this year, where she got to play a bisexual role after previously coming out.
The movie is based on the record-breaking hit on Broadway and 12-time Tony nominee that retells the modern classic through song-and-dance, including music numbers called “Meet the Plastics” and “Revenge Party.” Reneé Rapp was a replacement for Regina George in 2019, starring in the show through the end of its last Broadway run, so she’ll particularly know her part very well. Plus, Rapp has starred in The Sex Life of College Girls for HBO.
The Mean Girls musical, which will be directed by Arturo Perez Jr and Samantha Jayne, also enlisted another Broadway actor in Jaquel Spivey, who has received acclaim for his breakout starring role in A Strange Loop, which he received a 2022 Tony nomination for as well. The musical itself won 2022’s Best Musical. This movie will be his debut in a film role.
Back in 2020, it was announced that Tina Fey was attached to the Mean Girls remake, as a producer alongside Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels. Fey wrote the original script for Mean Girls along with starring as Ms. Norbury. Fey also wrote the book for the musical with music by Jeff Richmond and lyrics by Nell Benjamin.
Mean Girls: The Musical is set to debut on streaming once it finishes filming. Those with a Paramount+ subscription will get to see it. There’s no release date just yet, but we’ll keep you updated as we learn more about the upcoming movie musical.
