A recent Mean Girls reunion has fans wondering why Rachel McAdams was missing from the on-screen get-together. Ahead of Black Friday, the annual post-Thanksgiving day of shopping deals, Walmart released a clever advertisement that served as a mini reunion for a number of Mean Girls cast members. Featuring Lindsay Lohan, who played fish-out-of-water teenage protagonist Cady Heron in the film, the commercial blends some of the movie’s most memorable jokes with its holiday shopping premise. While both Amanda Seyfried and Lacey Chabert, who played the ditsy-but-sweet Karen Smith and the insecure Gretchen Wieners, returned for the TV spot, McAdams was notably absent.
Partly based on Rosalind Wiseman’s deep dive into teenage cliques and bullying, Queen Bees and Wannabes, Tina Fey’s 2004 teen comedy sees new student Cady navigating high school’s social hierarchy. Mean Girls‘ North Shore High is lorded over by the Plastics, a popular-yet-fake trio of teen girls. The group’s queen bee, Regina George (McAdams), is the most evil and manipulative of the Plastics, and Seyfried and Chabert’s approval-seeking characters are pulled into her alluring orbit. Soon enough, Cady teams up with outsiders Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan), who has a vendetta against Regina, and Damian Leigh (Daniel Franzese), to unravel the Plastics and their control over the school.
Rachel McAdams Was Offered The Part In Walmart’s Mean Girls Reunion Ad
In addition to becoming an enduring pop-cultural touchstone, Mean Girls grossed an impressive $130.1 million worldwide against a comparatively slight $17 million budget. Since its release, the film has inspired a made-for-TV sequel, which was largely unrelated to the original cast and crew’s project, and a Mean Girls Broadway musical-turned-movie. In 2020, the Mean Girls cast hopped on the virtual reunion trend, something the actors believed might “open the door” to a proper movie sequel (via U.S. Weekly). As the film’s 20th anniversary approaches, there are no officially announced sequels in the works, which makes the Walmart commercial reunion all-the-more exciting.
The nearly two-minute long commercial serves as a kind of mini-sequel, with Lohan’s Cady now working as a guidance counselor. “At North Shore, some things never change,” Cady says in voiceover. However, one thing is markedly different: 2023’s North Shore community doesn’t include Regina George. According to a Page Six interview with a Mean Girls insider, “They [the original cast] were all offered [roles],” including McAdams. The interviewee goes on to claim that McAdams didn’t want to do the spot. While some actors aren’t inclined to doing commercials, it’s also possible that the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness actor simply had an incredibly packed schedule.
Every Mean Girls Cast Member & Reference In The Walmart Commercial
“Get in, sweetie—we’re going deal shopping,” Chabert says in just one of the spot’s many parody moments. There’s also mentions of terms from the film’s lexicon (“grool” and “fetch“), as well as a reminder that Wednesdays are for wearing pink (via Walmart). In addition to Lohan, Chabert, and Seyfried, the reunion features cameos from Rajiv Surendra’s Kevin Gnapoor; Daniel Franzese’s Damien, who runs the winter talent show; and even Missy Elliot, whose “Pass That Dutch” song features in the movie. However, other cast members, including McAdams, still have the chance to appear: Walmart will be releasing new Mean Girls TV spots every Wednesday in the lead-up to Black Friday.
Sources: U.S. Weekly, Page Six, Walmart
