How the New Mean Girls Movie Differs From the Original - PEOPLE

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The new Mean Girls movie isn’t a regular remake, it’s a musical remake. 

Based on the 2018 Broadway musical of the same name, which was based on the 2004 film of the same name, the film introduces audiences to a new generation of the Plastics. 

While the film certainly pays tribute to the original in many ways, including everyone’s favorite one-liners and some returning cast members, it also features quite a few differences. One of the biggest, of course, is that this new iteration is a musical, featuring songs from the hit Tony-nominated musical. 

With the new film taking place almost 20 years after the original, North Shore High also looks very different this time around. As the Mean Girls tagline says, “This isn’t your mother’s Mean Girls.” 

“It's for high schoolers now, so we wanted to make it reflective of their experience,” co-director Samantha Jayne told PEOPLE at the film’s premiere. “It also has music and we're able to dive deeper into character and really have an opportunity to dimensionalize these characters more. It's a nice reimagining of this kind of a cautionary tale, a tale as old as time.” 

Read ahead for the biggest differences between the new Mean Girls movie and the original. 

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Mean Girls

Cady’s mom is a single parent 

Jojo Whilden/Paramount 

While Cady has two parents in the original movie, played by Ana Gasteyer and Neil Flynn, in the new movie, she is raised by a single mom, played by The Office's Jenna Fischer. 

“This is super exciting for me,” Fischer said about taking on the role. “My character is a single mom who brings her daughter back to America for high school. Cady has to navigate American teenage social dynamics for the very first time. Neither of them has any idea what this will entail.”

Additionally, Regina’s dad is not featured in the film and we only see interactions between Regina and Mrs. George, played by Busy Philipps. 

Speaking with PEOPLE at the film’s premiere, Philipps revealed that Amy Poehler (who played the character in the original film) was “so happy” about her taking on the role. 

When asked if she talked to Poehler about the performance ahead of filming or if she decided to take her own approach, Philipps admitted the ladies “saw each other,” but she “couldn’t remember if we talked about it.”

“Which is so embarrassing, but I think that the understanding was just that it was gonna be totally different anyway, and we’re all friends,” she says, referring to Tina Fey, who wrote and starred in the original film as teacher Ms. Norbury (a role she reprises in the new film).

The story is told by Janis and Damian

Jojo Whilden/Paramount

While the original film included voiceovers from Cady, the new film is narrated by Janis and Damian. Similar to the Broadway show, the movie starts with the characters performing “A Cautionary Tale,” in which they sing that the story is “about corruption and betrayal — and getting hit by a bus.” 

At one point in the film, the characters even break the fourth wall as they address the audience while sitting at a desk that has a plate that reads “Narrators.” 

Karen and Janis have different last names 

Jojo Whilden/Paramount 

In honor of Avantika’s Indian heritage and Auliʻi Cravalho’s Hawaiian heritage, both of their characters have different last names. Karen Smith’s last name has been changed to Karen Shetty, while Janis Ian’s name has been changed to Janis 'Imi'ike. 

Cravalho told PEOPLE that Fey addressed her about the last name change, which she thought was “really special” in terms of representation. “She really wanted to make us feel warm and invited to play with these characters,” she said. She noted that they decided on the surname 'Imi'ike because it means “striving for the stars” or “reaching the summit.”

“That feels important for her character,” she continued. “She has a best friend in Damian, she's got a great friend in Cady and she's not worried about fitting in with the cliques. She's staying true to herself.” 

Gretchen is of Latina descent 

Paramount Pictures

Gretchen’s backstory is also slightly different in the new movie. While Regina’s righthand is Jewish in the original movie and Broadway show, she is of Latina descent in the movie. 

After learning that Bebe Wood had Cuban heritage, co-director Arturo Perez Jr. added a small change to the script to pay tribute to her heritage. “I’ve never played a Latina character before,” Wood said. “Art wanted to incorporate that in a small way, so instead of mentioning my grandfather, I say ‘my abuelito.’”

Janis is a lesbian 

Paramount Pictures/YouTube

In the original film, Janis is tormented by a rumor started by Regina that she is a lesbian. However, in the new film, Cravalho told Screen Rant that her character is a “loud and proud” lesbian. “Previously, in our '04 version, lesbian for Janis was used kind of as a slur, and we're taking that back,” Cravalho told the publication about the updated storyline. 

As a result, the backstory of how Janis and Regina’s friendship crumbled is slightly tweaked. In the movie, Damian explains that the two were best friends and Regina was the first person Janis came out to. Though Regina supported her, she eventually started a vicious rumor about Janis being super clingy. He reveals that the feud eventually reached a climax when Janis set off a fire at school, giving her the nickname “pyro-les.”

Several jokes have been altered 

Paramount Pictures/YouTube

While the new film does feature many notable lines from the original — such as “You go, Glenn Coco!” — others have been altered for modern day. “I was writing in the early 2000s very much based on my experience as a teen in the late ’80s. It’s come to no one’s surprise that jokes have changed,” Fey told The New York Times about the script changes. “You don’t poke in the way that you used to poke. Even if your intention was always the same, it’s just not how you do it anymore, which is fine. I very much believe that you can find new ways to do jokes with less accidental shrapnel sideways.” 

Fey points out that in the new movie, Regina doesn’t joke about Janis’ sexuality during the gym scene: “There’s a joke in the original movie when Janis gets up on the table and Regina says, ‘Oh my God, it’s her dream come true: diving into a huge pile of girls.’ It was mine and Sam Jayne’s feeling that Regina wouldn’t try that now because she knows the kids around her would be like, ‘That’s homophobic.’ She would know not to be homophobic, and hopefully, truly would not be homophobic.”  

Damian sings a different song during the talent show

Paramount Pictures/YouTube

One very small (but hilarious) tweak in the movie is the song Damian sings during the talent show. In the original, Damian performs Christina Aguilera’s LGBTQ+ anthem “Beautiful." However, in the new movie, the performance gets a Gen Z update as he performs the iCarly theme song ... in French.

Gossip is spread through social media

Jojo Whilden/Paramount 

With the movie now taking place in 2024, social media plays a very active role in how rumors get spread around the school. The film features various segments where internet personalities such as Chris Olsen weigh in on all the drama surrounding Regina and Cady on TikTok (at one point, Megan Thee Stallion even gives her two cents!). 

The takedown of Regina as queen bee also plays out differently as a result. After she’s hit by a bus, social media is flooded with clips of the event as some people “cancel” Regina by bringing up receipts of her past actions and others theorize that Cady pushed her. 

Regina’s mom is the one who tells her about the Kälteen bars

Jojo Whilden/Paramount 

The truth about the Kälteen bars comes out a little differently in the new movie. In the first film, Regina storms out of Cady’s party and stress-eats a bar, at which point her boyfriend Shane Oman tells her he uses them for weight gain in wrestling, In the new film, Regina is seen logging miles on the treadmill at home. As her mother tries to comfort her, Mrs. George is the one who tells her that the bars cause you to gain weight. 

Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall are an official couple 

Jojo Whilden/Paramount

Perhaps one of the cutest changes to the new movie is that Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall are an official couple. During the gym scene, Mr. Duvall pleads with Ms. Norbury to take over the seminar with the girls, to which she quips that he’ll have to walk their dogs as payback. It’s presumed that the two are married as Mr. Duvall is shown wearing a gold wedding band on his ring finger.

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How the New Mean Girls Movie Differs From the Original - PEOPLE
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