From one Regina George to another. Rachel McAdams, who starred in the 2004 hit film “Mean Girls,” appeared on the Jan. 20 episode of “Saturday Night Live” to introduce musical guest Reneé Rapp. In the 2024 musical remake of the film, Rapp plays the role of Regina.
After the introduction, which was met with great applause, Rapp's performance of “Not My Fault” followed. She wrote the song for the film and was joined on stage by Megan Thee Stallion. In the post-performance skit, McAdams returned, portraying Natalie Partman, an actress who had difficulty getting roles because she resembled Rachel McAdams too much.
McAdams (the real one) wasn't at any of the recent Mean Girls events, which makes her surprise appearance all the more exciting. The original film also starred Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert, and the three recently reunited for a Walmart commercial. Additionally, Lohan appeared at the New York premiere of the remake and made a cameo appearance.
While both Tina Fey (who wrote both the original and the new film) and Tim Meadows reprized their roles in the remake, McAdams did not.
“Tina and I tried out a few ideas, but in the end it was difficult to make everything work,” she told Variety last month. “I was really disappointed in everything she wanted to do. I think the direction it’s going in is going to be amazing and I can’t wait to see it.”
She also did not appear in the commercial along with the other co-stars and revealed that she turned down the commercial.
“I don't know; if I'm being completely honest, I guess I wasn't that excited about doing a commercial. “A movie sounded great, but I've never done commercials before and it just didn't feel like my style,” she said. “Besides, I didn't know everyone did it. Of course, I would always love to be part of a 'Mean Girls' reunion and hang out with my plastics, but yeah, I found that out later.”