The Mean Girls Musical Trailer Has No Music & Fans Are Confused

Regina George is back — and she just called us all ancient. The first trailer for Mean Girls: The Musical arrived on Nov. 8, giving fans their first look at the film adaptation of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical. Except going by the trailer, you wouldn’t know it was a musical.

The new Mean Girls film was cast with musical theater talent in mind, as Reneé Rapp played Regina in the Broadway show and Jaquel Spivey (who portrays Damian) is a Tony-nominated star himself.

And yet, one of the fans’ biggest takeaways from the new trailer is the lack, of, well, music.

Recasting The Original Cast

The cast features a mostly new slate of stars to fill the shoes of iconic characters, including Rapp as Regina George, Angourie Rice as Cady Heron, Auli’i Cravalho as Janis ‘Imi’ike, Spivey as Damien Hubbard, Jenna Fischer as Cady’s mom, and Busy Phillips as Regina’s “cool mom.”

The only familiar faces who will return are writer Tina Fey as “pushover teacher” Ms. Norbury and Tim Meadows as Principal Duvall.

Is Mean Girls: The Musical A Musical?

The entire purpose of this project was to turn the classic 2004 comedy into a musical, which is why many X users were surprised at how the trailer looked like a remake. Instead, they use the tagline, “a new twist from Tina Fey,” to tease that it’s more than a remake.

The trailer doesn’t even use “The Musical” in its title, simply going by Mean Girls. Viewers are questioning this marketing decision, with many fans asking, “Why didn’t… y’all make it clear that it’s a musical?”

One writer called it a “choice, because why the f*ck else would we watch another Mean Girls?” One user spoiled the twist for non-theater people, writing, “(the twist is that mean girls is now a musical),” while another fan expressed concerns that “there’s going to be a large group of people who don’t realize this is a musical version of Mean Girls and get reaaaal pissed off in the theater.”

But one critic put it best, mockingly suggesting how the trailer came to be. “What if we released a trailer for the Mean Girls Movie Musical—but, and get this—there’s no singing,” he joked.

Mean Girls Fans Are Old Now

Viewers really latched onto one specific line in the trailer, which declares that Mean Girls: The Musical “isn’t your mother’s Mean Girls.” The original movie has yet to even celebrate its 20-year anniversary, and many of its millennial fans don’t even have children (yet), so the trailer calling OG fans parents had X abuzz.

Fans were both insulted and amused by the choice. “Tina Fey called me a senior citizen and I am allowing it,” one user wrote, with another asking, “How old do they think we were when we saw Mean Girls?”

One viewer straight-up called the tagline “crazy,” saying “they called us old with a straight face.” “I cannot tell you how triggered I am,” a fan wrote. “YOUR MOTHER???? YOUR MOTHER???!!!!”