If the original Mean Girls illustrated how nightmarish it was to be a teenage girl in 2004, the trailer for Tina Fey’s new Mean Girls proves without a shadow of a doubt that it is so much harder now. Lindsay Lohan’s Cady Heron certainly never had to contend with allegations of slut shaming over her Halloween costume or randomly passed-down judgment from TikTok star Chris Olsen. These girls would eat her alive.
While you oddly can’t tell from this trailer, the new film is an adaptation of Tina Fey’s 2017 Broadway musical of the same name. Perhaps in the spirit of the story, producers felt shamed out of shouting out—or referencing at all—that this is a movie musical after that whole Dear Evan Hansen fiasco put the genre out of fashion for a while. (The use of Olivia Rodrigo’s “get him back!” is a fun alternative, though.) Whatever the reason, they do have a whole roster of A-list musical talent on board, including Tony-nominated actor Jaquel Spivey as Damien, Moana’s Auli’i Cravalho as Janis, and Reneé Rapp, who also played the role on Broadway, as Regina.
Tina Fey returns to her post as awkward but endearing math teacher Ms. Norbury, with Tim Meadows also making a return as principal Duvall. It seems like at least some things at North Shore High have stayed the same throughout the years. (If they’re going with the angle that this is simply a new crop of students, these teachers are in for a whole whirlwind of déjà vu.) The stacked cast also includes Jon Hamm as Coach Carr, Jenna Fischer as Cady’s mom, Angourie Rice as Cady, Busy Phillips as Regina’s mom, Christopher Briney as Aaron Samuels, and more.
Despite using the tagline “this isn’t your mother’s Mean Girls,” which this writer finds pretty personally offensive (these girls really are mean), the movie smartly updates its quoted-to-death material. While almost every shot here is a reference to the original film, the trailer is sure to include slight modern twists that mostly all work in each one of those scenes. It’s at once nostalgic and fresh-feeling, even if the real soundtrack is still being exiled to eat its lunch in the bathroom. Maybe this group of girls really can make fetch happen.
Mean Girls premieres January 12 in theaters.