Cameos pay tribute to past versions

Musical fans were already excited when Reneé Rapp was cast as Regina George in the movie. Rapp, who also starred in HBO Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” was the first replacement for George during the musical’s Broadway run and has remained a fan-favorite. 

After the first trailer for the new movie dropped, fans also learned another familiar face from the original Broadway cast would return. Ashley Park, who originated the role of Plastics member Gretchen Wieners in the musical, plays a French teacher at North Shore High.

But another big cameo surprisingly remained under wraps: Lindsay Lohan, aka the original and iconic Cady Heron, returns to the “Mean Girls” world as the judge of the Mathletes competition that the new Cady (Angourie Rice) competes in toward the end of the movie. 

Iconic scenes get self-referential

The original “Mean Girls” had a lot of iconic lines — and the remake knows it. 

Most people will recall that Gretchen tries to make “fetch” happen in the first movie. In the new movie, when viewers meet the Plastics for the first time, Gretchen (Bebe Wood) tells Cady that it’s “so fetch” that she’s an international student. When Regina asks her what “fetch” is, Gretchen replies, “It’s like slang, from an old movie. ‘Juno,’ I think,” referencing a film also made in the 2000s when the original “Mean Girls” was released.

Later, during the Mathletes competition, two teams face a tiebreaker. Judge Lohan remarks this has happened only once before. This is in reference to the same scene in the 2004 version in which Lohan’s Cady also faces a sudden-death round.

Cady and Regina keep their necklaces

A necklace is used as a subtle detail marking Cady’s transition from new girl to queen bee in the original movie. As Cady becomes more embedded with the Plastics, she starts wearing a “C” initial necklace that looks like Regina’s “R” initial necklace. The girls keep their jewelry in the new movie and slightly update the look with a trendy half pearl, half gold link chain.

An old romance is confirmed (and still going strong)

The original movie showed a budding flirtation between math teacher Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey) and Principal Duvall (Tim Meadows), ending with an intimate slow dance at the North Shore’s “Spring Fling” dance. 

The new movie confirms that Norbury and Duvall are a couple and live together, as revealed in the gym scene where the two educators lecture North Shore’s junior girls about the infamous Burn Book, which details insults about each female junior.