A Mean Girls Star Says The Sequel Will Never, Ever Happen
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If you’ve been holding out hope for a Mean Girls sequel, you’re not going to want to hear this. Amanda Seyfried, who played Karen Smith, thinks that there’s never going to be another movie. When talking to Interview magazine (via Entertainment Weekly) about how it would be fun for the original cast to play their characters in the Broadway musical, she mentioned “Because a Mean Girls 2 is never going to happen, is it?” While this isn’t necessarily a definitive no, one of the original stars would more than likely be aware if a sequel was actively in the works.
Amanda Seyfried is far from the first Mean Girls star to have doubts about a potential sequel, with Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Daniel Franzese all expressing interest in the past but acknowledging it might not happen. Director Mark Waters also expressed interest before but mentioned that it would be up to Tina Fey, who wrote the screenplay. In short, it seems like Tina Fey is going to have to be the one to make it happens if we ever hope to see a sequel to the original film.
Superfans of Mean Girls are probably aware that there is technically already a made-for-television sequel that came out on ABC Family in 2011. However, the sequel featured an entirely different cast except for Tim Meadows as Principal Ron Duvall. It also wasn’t written by Tina Fey and reception was pretty poor.
Undoubtedly, the most popular post-Mean Girls project has been the stage musical that Seyfried mentioned in her interview. Tina Fey penned the stage production and the show first hit Broadway in 2018, earning numerous Tony nominations and receiving warm critical reception. The show ended in 2020 due to COVID, but there’s always a chance it could come back to Broadway.
Surprisingly, while Tina Fey hasn’t mentioned any plans for a Mean Girls sequel, there have been plans announced to adapt the musical for the screen. If they opt to not go with the cast from the stage musical, perhaps they could bring back some of the OG film cast members like Seyfried suggested? It seems unlikely, but that would certainly be a way to get fans interested.
The original Mean Girls was released in 2004 and starred Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Franzese, Jonathan Bennett, and Tina Fey. The film received extremely positive reviews and managed to rake in $129 million at the global box office. Since its release, the film has become a cultural touchstone of the 2000s and a pop culture phenomenon.
The demand is certainly there for a Mean Girls sequel, no one is denying that, but it just seems like the timing isn’t right. Perhaps one day Tina Fey will decide that she’s ready to make a sequel, but it doesn’t look like that is happening anytime soon — especially if she’s busy with adapting the musical for the big screen. Of course, that doesn’t mean fans can’t hope.
Even if a sequel happens another two decades from now people will probably come out in droves to see it. Until then, you’ll just have to continue to watch the OG Mean Girls on repeat. At least we should get to see the Broadway adaptation sometime in the future.
