Rachel McAdams Explains Why She Turned Down the ‘Mean Girls’ Reunion Commercial

Rachel McAdams attends the 33rd Annual Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on November 27, 2023, in New York City.

Rachel McAdams was notably absent from the Mean Girls reunion commercial and now we finally know why.

The ad saw a majority of the original cast members, including Lindsay Lohan (who portrayed Cady Heron), Lacey Chabert (Gretchen Wieners), Amanda Seyfried (Karen Smith), Daniel Franzese (Damian) and Rajiv Surendra (Kevin Gnapoor), as they gave their all for a spoof of the 2004 cult classic movie to promote some of Walmart's Black Friday deals.

While speaking with Variety reporters for a piece published on Wednesday, Dec. 20, McAdams dished on her decision to not appear in the ad and reprise her role as Regina George–and it wasn't because she wasn't asked.

"I don’t know; I guess I wasn’t that excited about doing a commercial if I’m being totally honest. A movie sounded awesome, but I’ve never done commercials, and it just didn’t feel like my bag," she said.

Instead, the 45-year-old went to work on a few new projects, including a starring role in the movie adaption of Judy Blume's Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and a special appearance in the comedy series Dave.

McAdams also revealed that she had no idea all of her former co-stars would be involved in the bit, and had she known, it may have swayed her to make a different decision.

"Also…I didn’t know that everyone was doing it," she told the outlet. "I would, of course, always love to be part of a ‘Mean Girls’ reunion and hang with my plastics, but yeah, I found that out later."

While the commercial felt like a tease for fans trying to make fetch happen again, given McAdams' latest statements, it sounds like she'd be interested in shooting a sequel.

It may be some time before a second film with the original cast is proposed, let alone solidified with a burn book of its own, considering the Mean Girls musical movie has yet to hit theaters–but it will soon, as it's slated to be released on Friday, Jan. 12.

Next: Tina Fey Opens up About the Inspiration Behind 'Mean Girls'