TV & Movies

One Of The OG Plastics Returned For The Mean Girls Musical

Cady Heron is back — kind of.

by Jake Viswanath
LOS ANGELES - APRIL 30: The movie "Mean Girls", directed by Mark Waters. Seen here from left, Lindsa...
CBS Photo Archive/CBS/Getty Images

Spoilers for the Mean Girls musical ahead. Cady Heron is back — and no, I’m not talking about the musical film’s star, Angourie Rice. Lindsay Lohan makes a surprise appearance in the new Mean Girls movie, which premiered in theaters on Jan. 12.

Lohan makes a gasp-worthy cameo as moderator of the Mathletes Championship. (SeatGeek sponsors the tournament, which even Lohan seems confused about.) She shows off her former character’s math skills while asking tough questions, as Tina Fey, reprising her role as Ms. Norbury, looks on proudly.

Lohan even nods to the past when stating that the competition has only ended in a tie “once before,” as happened in the original movie. However, the musical makes it clear that she’s not supposed to be an older Cady. When this movie’s Cady asks herself why she didn’t pay attention to limits in class, Lohan cleverly retorts, “Honey, I don’t know your life.”

Fans Thought It Was Fetch

Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron and Tina Fey as Ms. Sharon Norbury in Mean Girls.CBS Photo Archive/CBS/Getty Images

Viewers were relatively good about keeping Lohan’s cameo a secret on social media. But some fans on X (formerly Twitter) couldn’t resist expressing their reactions under spoiler warnings, with one user appropriately using a GIF of Oprah Winfrey screaming.

Multiple people reported that their theaters “screamed” and “gasped,” with one user saying they were “the first to yell ‘What the f*ck?’” Another fan applauded a smaller detail, saying “The SeatGeek spon made me giggle.”

One fan proudly stated that they’re “never shutting up about Lindsay Lohan’s cameo in Mean Girls omg,” saying in a separate post that the “reveal of the cameo was just perfection.”

Lohan Kept It A Secret

The Mean Girls cast and crew were very good about keeping Lohan’s return a total surprise. Before the film’s release, it was reported that none of the original movie’s Plastics, including Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, or Lacey Chabert, would appear — but not for a lack of trying.

During a chat for Interview in November 2022, both Lohan and Seyfried expressed hesitation about taking part in the musical. “I heard something about it being a movie musical and I was like, ‘Oh no.’ We can’t do that. It has to be the same tone,” she told Seyfried, who responded, “Yeah, it would just be completely different.”

Rachel McAdams as Regina George, Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron, and Lacey Chabert as Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls. CBS Photo Archive/CBS/Getty Images

They seemed to come around to the idea by February, when Seyfried told Entertainment Tonight that all four Plastics were “100% into” returning. “I’m still hoping for a miracle, but it’s not really up to us, is it?” she said.

McAdams expressed the same sentiment to Bustle in April. However, it appeared that the OGs’ return wasn’t meant to be. “Tina [Fey] and I sort of dabbled with a few ideas, but it was tough to make it all work in the end,” she told Variety in December.

However, there were signs that Lohan would return to North Shore in some capacity. First, she was one of the stars who reprised the adult version of their character in Walmart’s Mean Girls-themed Black Friday ads, alongside Seyfried and Chabert. Then she attended the red carpet premiere on Jan. 8, posing with Fey and some of the new Plastics. It’s safe to say her return was... grool.