The 2004 Mean Girls cast is happily supporting the 2024 actors who took on their roles.
Jaquel Spivey, who plays Damian Leigh in the Mean Girls movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, was seen hugging the OG actor, Daniel Franzese, at the New York City movie premiere on Monday, January 8. The duo embraced each other while Spivey, 25, seemingly praised Franzese, 45. The pair also posed on the red carpet together and wrapped their arms around each other.
More of the original cast, including Lindsay Lohan and Rajiv Surendra, also attended the NYC premiere.
Lohan, 37, and Surendra, 34, both reunited with Mean Girls writer Tina Fey, who is starring in the remake, on the pink carpet. (Tim Meadows, who played Principal Duvall in both Means Girls and the direct-to-video sequel, Mean Girls 2, also revived his role for the 2024 musical.)
During the soirée, Lohan — who played Cady Heron — gushed that she couldn’t wait to see the remake. “It was an amazing movie to work on when I did it, and I can’t wait to see this new iterative version of it,” she told the Associated Press. “I think it’s gonna be wonderful.”
Surendra — who starred as Kevin Gnapoor in the 2004 film — meanwhile, praised the movie via Instagram on Tuesday, January 9. “So honored to be a part of the new @meangirls movie premiere tonight!” he captioned a clip of him and Fey, 53. “Congrats to the new cast, y’all did a fantastic job!”
Although Lizzy Caplan, who acted as the original Janice Ian, did not attend the premiere, she still supported actress Auli’i Cravalho, who took over her part.
Cravalho, 23, shared with Entertainment Tonight that she received “a beautiful bouquet and a heartfelt note from Lizzy Caplan and Barrett [Wilbert] Weed,” on Monday. (Wilbert Weed, 35, starred as Janice on Broadway.)
“They are like, ‘Congratulations on being the 3rd generation of Janis and we’ll meet up with each other, and have a drink and we’ll plot, like, the next best revenge,’” she said, adding, “It was just the most incredible thing.”
Members of the 2004 cast previously reunited in 2023 to create an ad for Walmart Black Friday deals. In the commercial, fans caught a glimpse of Lohan, Surendra, Franzese, Lacey Chabert (who played Gretchen Weiners) and Amanda Seyfried (Karen Smith) reprising their Mean Girls characters.
At the time, fans were quick to notice that Rachel McAdams, who played Regina George, was not in the ad. She later revealed she “didn’t know” that the rest of the Plastics would be a part of it by the time she turned it down.
“I don’t know; I guess I wasn’t that excited about doing a commercial if I’m being totally honest,” she told Variety in December 2023. “I’ve never done commercials, and it just didn’t feel like my bag. I didn’t know that everyone was doing it. I would, of course, always love to be part of a Mean Girls reunion and hang with my Plastics, but yeah, I found that out later.”
She has, however, expressed her enthusiasm for Reneé Rapp, who plays Regina George in the musical adaptation. “I don’t think she can do any wrong,” she told Entertainment Tonight last month. “She is amazing. She’s already got me beat with that voice. I’m just excited to see her incarnation. It’s such a great character. It’s so much fun to play. I hope she has a great time with it. I can’t wait to see it.”
