Characters / Mean Girls

Warning! Character sheets are spoilerific.

Characters in Mean Girls.

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The Plastics

As a Whole

• Anti-Villain: All of them, in their own ways. See their separate character folders for details.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Except for Regina. The rest of the Plastics aren't all that bad (which includes Cady, despite her Took a Level in Jerkass moments); they were all just negatively influenced by Regina herself.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: After Cady enters, and especially after Regina leaves.
• The Chew Toy: There's a lot of slapstick comedy: Gretchen getting hit in the head by a ball, Cady tripping and falling into a garbage can, Regina getting hit by a bus, Karen alone trying to catch Gretchen when she was throwing herself into a crowd, etc.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Cady is the phlegmatic one because of her initially limited social skills, and the fact that she's normally well-intentioned in front of others. Even when she becomes full-on plastic, she's still this at heart.
  • Regina is the choleric one because of her domineering persona as one of the Plastics, as well as the fact that she's easily the most temperamental among them.
  • Gretchen is the melancholic one because deep down her attention-seeking ways is apparently a good girl who wants to feel loved by others, and is really emotionally broken inside thanks to Regina.
  • Karen is the sanguine one because while she's the least intelligent among the group, she's actually the least malicious among them, as well, thus making her the most approachable among them.
• Girl Posse: They're the titular mean girls that rule the school.
• Hated by All:
  • To quote Janis during the party scene at Cady's home:
    Janis: You think that everybody is in love with you, when actually everybody hates you!
  • This, however, is most evident with Regina (especially considering her Alpha Bitch persona). When Janis again tells to their fellow female schoolmates in the gymnasium about the Queen Bee's ruination with the help of Cady, those same schoolmates reacted with much joy towards Janis for such crafty plan of hers.
• Large and in Charge: The two dominant members (Cady and Regina) are noticeably taller than the two followers (Gretchen and Karen).
• Nice Mean And In Between:
  • In the original trio, Karen is the nice one (if only because she's too dumb to be truly malicious), Alpha Bitch Regina is the mean one, and Gretchen is in-between (fairly nice, only acting mean under the influence of Regina). Lampshaded on some DVD covers, which have pictures of the original trio with the captions Mean (Karen), Meaner (Gretchen), and Meanest (Regina). When Regina leaves, Cady briefly becomes the "mean" one as the new Queen Bee (albeit a much looser example, as well).
  • As a whole, Karen is the nicest, Regina's the meanest, and both Gretchen and Cady share the same role of being morally in-between.
• No Dress Code: The Plastics often get away with wearing clothes like short skirts and crop tops.
• Pink Means Feminine: The Plastics have these rules surrounding the color pink, which they must wear every Wednesday.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: They have no qualms about branding Janis a "dyke," and Regina casually uses the word "retarded" as an insult in her first on-screen conversation. (Granted, the movie came out in 2004 and the R-word in particular was not considered a slur until the 2010s.)
• Psycho Pink: The Plastics have a dress code where they wear pink on Wednesdays, with Gretchen opting for preppy pinks and Karen for baby pinks, but the domineering, manipulative Regina George takes the cherry on top, at least how the equally manipulative Janis sees her. By the time Cady dethrones Regina, she stops wearing pink as those clothes won't fit her and gets kicked out by the Plastics, while Cady accumulates pink skimpy clothes on her wardrobe as she becomes bitchier. And after Regina reforms, she gets pink accents on her neutral-colored clothes while also channeling her rage by joining the Lady Lacrosse team, and Cady dresses back to normal in a fashionable way.
• Popular Is Dumb:
  • Played very straight with Karen, who is the nicest of the Plastics but is also too shallow to be truly malicious.
  • Zig-zagged with Regina who, despite being able to manipulate most of the female half of the school into becoming her pawns, frequently shows herself to be rather Book Dumb.
  • Discussed and justified over the course of the movie — Cady, during her evolution into the Alpha Bitch, begins dumbing herself down so a boy will like her.
  • It's unknown about Gretchen, whose grades are never shown. While she is a bit ditzy, she is in the same English class as the academic Cady, so she may not be academic, but might be intelligent. However, she isn't great with emotional intelligence, judging by her speech in the Gym when the Sophomore girls are apologising. The Plastics also state joining academic clubs like the Math Club (or "Mathletes") is "social suicide".
• Sexy Santa Dress: In their "Jingle Bell Rock" routine that they do for the Winter Talent Show (which, according to Damian, they do every year).
• Toxic Friend Influence: Most notably, Cady becomes an Alpha Bitch after hanging around them for too long. The clique isn't good for any of them, though, and a lot of their awful behavior is egged on by each other, or done to either spite or impress one another, depending on the situation. After the Plastics break up, they're all much better off.
• Vanity Is Feminine: All of the Plastics are vain^note (Cady was only briefly obsessed with her looks as she became the new Queen Bee and later returned to her kind self) and are also very feminine.

Cady Heron

Cady Heron

"I know it looked like I was being a bitch, but that's only because I was acting like a bitch."

Played by: Lindsay Lohan (2004 film); Erika Henningsen (2018 original Broadway cast); Angourie Rice (2024 film)
"Calling somebody else fat won't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. And ruining Regina George's life definitely didn't make me any happier. All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you."

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Regina tries to invoke this trope, wanting Aaron to think that Cady is really obsessed with him in a really creepy, almost insane way so he would think she's nuts and lose his interest in her.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed in the 2024 version, but her behavior after becoming the new Queen Bee of the Plastics is a bit more colder than in the original, directly revealing Regina's infidelity to Aaron in the hopes of getting together with him and explicitly denying Regina permission to sit with the Plastics after her weight gain.
• Alpha Bitch: After Becoming the Mask, she turns into a popular "mean girl" just like the other Plastics, even replacing Regina as the school's new Queen Bee. She later realizes this, and eventually gets better after that.
• Anti-Villain: Even after she becomes the new Alpha Bitch, she's still a good person at heart, and is horrified to realize how mean she's become. She gets better.
• The Atoner: After she realizes the mess she makes, she starts doing good deeds to set things right.
• Beautiful All Along: She's naturally beautiful despite not fashionable and even before the makeover when joining the Plastics.
• Becoming the Mask: She pretends to be an Alpha Bitch to get on Regina's good side. Then later, she really becomes one.
• Beneath the Mask: She's just as capable of being a bitch as anyone.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Both Janis and Regina claim that Cady was acting like this, due to the latter "acting like she's so innocent."
• Book Smart: She is established as Good with Numbers when she first goes to school in order to contrast with her transformation into a seemingly book-dumb Plastic later in the film. She still manages to clinch the win for the Mathletes, despite being months out of practice, at the end of the film.
• Character Development: Starts out as a Naïve Newcomer, becomes the Alpha Bitch but by the end of the film she is shown to have dropped her naive and easy-to-influence side, as well as her bitchiness, and reached a healthy level of confidence now.
• Corrupt the Cutie: As Cady starts to hang out with the Plastics more often, especially under Regina's bad influence, those negative traits of the former start to kick in more and more.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: The "word vomit" is a recurring problem for her.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: Cady refers to this as "word vomit" and can't help herself once it starts.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Any time she sees Aaron Samuels, whom she finds utterly dreamy. Lampshaded by Ms. Norbury near the end, when she says nothing can trip Cady up during the Matholon competition because none of the boys on the opposing team are cute.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • While Ms. Norbury is understandably upset at Cady for starting the mean rumor that gets her in trouble (granted, Cady didn't really write it but claims she did, mainly out of guilt), she tells Cady she's absolved just as long as she will help the school win the Mathletes contest.
  • Let's not forget the moment where she has a personal speech after she won the Spring Fling Queen title, in which everyone who's in that yearly event, besides Mrs. Norbury, eventually forgave her fully from her past actions (including both of her parents, Janis, and even Regina).
• Eating Lunch Alone: On her first day at school, she ends up eating lunch in a bathroom stall because she doesn't know anyone. After everything blows up in her face, she eats lunch in the bathroom again because everyone knows her, and they hate her.
• Evil Costume Switch: Downplayed. After being fully integrated into the Plastics, she's given a makeover to look more like them: unkempt hair, shiny lipgloss, and so much makeup that her skin looks shiny like plastic.
• Fiery Redhead: Mostly after she Took a Level in Jerkass. She has a nasty temper and is willing to turn it on people.
• Fisher Kingdom: Staying too long amongst the Plastics causes her to start acting like them and becoming a snob.
• Fish out of Water: To the point where Regina describes her as both "like a Martian" and "socially retarded and weird."
• From Nobody to Nightmare: From an awkward Naïve Newcomer to the school's Alpha Bitch.
• Good with Numbers: Math is her favorite subject (even when she briefly lost that interest as she becomes one with the Plastics), to which she later joins the Maths Geeks as a Mathlete (although, she has also willingly done that out of guilt).
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Over the course of the film, the friendly and good-hearted Cady usurps Regina's position and becomes the mean-spirited Alpha Bitch of the school. She goes through a subsequent Heel–Face Turn when she's confronted with her actions.
• Helpless Kicking: After falling head-first into a trash can during a walk and getting stuck, she screams and kicks her legs as if it's eating her.
• He Who Fights Monsters: After a while, Cady is no longer pretending to be like the Plastics; she's genuinely acting like one.
• Homeschooled Kids: Until the beginning of the movie, Cady had never gone to a regular school and had been homeschooled since she was around four years old.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite overtaking Regina's role as the new Queen Bee, Cady herself still knows what is morally right and wrong, to which she even gives thought about them with much sincerity.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Although Cady is fully Plastic by this point, she is bang on when she says that Janis used her for her eight grade revenge against Regina. The fact that Janis deflects it only solidifies this fact!
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Even after she becomes the new Queen Bee of North Shore Junior High after overthrowing Regina, Cady herself still retains her own moral conscience.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Played with. Her crush on Aaron Samuels isn't strong enough to break her concentration with math (since she quickly recovers after being Distracted by the Sexy twice), but her desire to talk to him despite Regina's objections drives her to pretend to be bad at math so she'd have an excuse to talk to him. Aaron calls her out on it later, telling her that pretending to be stupid and failing on purpose is what's really dumb.
• Love Makes You Evil: Her crush on Aaron also exacerbates her plan to sabotage Regina and replace her as Queen Bee, then again Regina clam-jamming hugely contributed.
• Manipulative Bitch:
  • Convinces Regina to eat Kalteen Bars, knowing she'll be too thick to pick up on why she is bloating.
  • Dodges Janis' art show so she can pull Aaron at her party, only to then use Janis' art show as an excuse to dodge what she has to do with her parents.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Whenever people mispronounce her first name, it closely sounds like "Catty," since she becomes a catty Alpha Bitch later.
  • On the flip side, however, for that same abrupt nickname above, thanks to its root word "cat", this can also reflect her more "cat-like" personality, as well, mainly stemming from being sincerely gentle in front of others, as well as having the capacity to be socially independent from them, even when she becomes a fully-established Alpha Bitch of a Plastic later on.
• The Mole: Janis convinces her to infiltrate the Plastics so she can spy on Regina and take petty revenges on her.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When she realizes she's become just as cruel and horrible as the other Plastics.
• Naïve Newcomer: She has no clue how to function or fit into the social climbs of high school. She's taken under Janis's wing, and then Regina's.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Zig-zagged. Kevin hits on her because of her looks and her math skills (though he later claims he prefers women of colour). Regina and Damian both tell her joining the Mathletes is social suicide and she dumbs herself down to impress Aaron (although Aaron likes her just fine, math skills and all).
• Nice Girl: Before she becomes the new Alpha Bitch she's pretty friendly. Even when she becomes the new Regina, her nice-girl self still shows through on occasion, such as from her interactions with Gretchen and Karen. In the end, she fully finds her good-natured self again.
• No Social Skills: Being homeschooled on a different continent makes for a serious lack of understanding how high school politics work. Downplayed in that she picks up the rules pretty well.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: She pretends to be terrible at math so that she can study with Aaron.
• Obliviously Beautiful: At the beginning of the movie, she seems unaware of her good looks, especially when other characters point out how pretty she is.
  Cady: They wanted me to get socialized.
  Damian: Oh, you'll get socialized, all right. A little slice like you.
  Cady: What are you talking about?
  Janis: You're a regulation hottie.
  Cady: What?
• The Pawn: For Janis to use to ruin Regina George's life.
• Pet the Dog: Does a couple nice things even whilst her transformation into Plastic is in full swing:
  • Tells Karen she's not stupid.
  • Tells Gretchen, "Good for you, Gretch," when Gretchen herself says that she's not taking the stuff from being mugged off anymore.
  • Didn't tear up the painting that's aggressively given to her by Janis after their fight out of remorse.
  • Greets both Janis and Damian with a sincere wave, accompanied with a genuine smile (though, those two expectedly responded to that negatively).
• Positive Friend Influence: Even though she had fully established herself as a Plastic (as well as an Alpha Bitch), she's actually the main reason as to why the Plastics as a whole clique became less threatening as the movie progresses, where they would eventually disband later on.
• She Who Fights Monsters: A quintessential teen comedy example. After joining the Plastics to defeat them from the inside, she slowly becomes exactly like them.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Part of what draws her to Aaron is how kind he is. When Regina tries to "warn her" away by saying that all he cares about is his schoolwork, his friends, and his mom, Cady doesn't see the problem.
• Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: She develops a crush on Aaron, one of the most popular and handsome guys in the school.
• The Starscream: To Regina, to the point of becoming the new Alpha Bitch.
• Tender Tears: After realizing that she has become a "cold, shiny, hard Plastic" (as Janis described it), Cady silently cries, which easily showcases that her emotional side is still kept within her.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: The more she spends time with the Plastics, the more of a Fiery Redhead she becomes. Could also count as Corrupt the Cutie.
• Tragic Hero: Actually manages to be a near-textbook example. She starts off as a completely Nice Girl who not only joined the Plastics, but also developed feelings for Aaron. Then, she rivals with Regina after the old Queen Bee romantically took him back. However, once Cady herself realized the error of her ways as a Plastic, she decided to make things straight by fixing her mistakes.
• Tsundere: As she spends time with the Plastics, combined with her developed feelings for Aaron, she slowly becomes this, but only as a Type B, largely because her inner goodness is still inside of her even when she becomes the new Queen Bee.
• Unkempt Beauty: Downplayed. While she clearly fits the bill as her original self, opinions about her makeover are split. More specifically, when Cady first appears, she keeps her hair in a messy ponytail, uses minimal makeup, and wears a baggy shirt and jeans, none of which are quite enough to conceal her natural beauty, but still give the impression that she either doesn't particularly care about her appearance or isn't aware of just how pretty she is.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Reaches this conclusion at the end. Ruining Regina's life did not give her any real happiness, nor did it solve any of her problems.
• What the Hell, Hero?: As Cady becomes more and more Plastic, more and more of her actions veer into "what a bitch" territory.

Regina George

Regina George

"You know what people say about you? They say that you're a homeschooled jungle freak who's a less hot version of me!"

Played by: Rachel McAdams (2004 film); Taylor Louderman (2018 original Broadway cast); Reneé Rapp (2024 film)
Janis: And evil takes a human form in Regina George. Don't be fooled because she may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing slut faced ho-bag, but in reality, she's so much more than that.
Damian: She's the queen bee, the star; those other two are just her little workers.

— Janice and Damian, on Regina

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• Alpha Bitch: Oh yes. The leader of the Plastics, and a fearsome one to boot!
• Anti-Villain: She's a bitch, and the worst of the Plastics, but she's still a teenager with issues. By the end of the movie, she is working through them, and is happier and a better person.
• Arch-Enemy: Is this to Janis Ian, having made her an outcast in the past.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Since Cady is deliberately messing with Regina as a member of the Plastics due to being an Alpha Bitch in general, the former made several attempts in doing so, but the one that stands out the most is making the latter gain weight through deceiving her into eating several foods constantly as a false form of diet, which includes Kälteen bars.
  • She got severely hit by a school bus, and even then, she's rather showing some form of smug attitude in front of the people who were giving her sympathy inside of her home as she's recovering from that accident.
• Attention Whore: She's subtler about it than Gretchen, but Regina wants all eyes on her, and dislikes it when Gretchen is trying to upstage her.
• Backhanded Compliment: She admits to Cady that if the Spring Fling Queen is the prettiest girl in school, then it should be Karen... and then claims that no one will vote for Karen, "because she's such a slut."
• Beauty Is Bad: For a Girl Posse that is heavily reliant on looking good, she's the only one of the Plastics who's qualifiable for this trope.
• Big Bad: Presented as one by Janis. Turns out she's just one of many mean girls around, including Janis; she just simply knew how to work the system to be at the top.
• Big Eater: After her weight gain due to eating Kalteen Bars, she's stuffing herself, noticeably in her Cut a Slice, Take the Rest scene. Her meal tray is overladen with junk food, while the other Plastics have an apple and a Diet Coke.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Although she doesn't bother with it for long, she can seem nice enough at first if she wants to.
• Book Dumb: She doesn't appear to do too well in school and comes off as vapid. But when it comes to social standing, manipulation, cliques, and popularity, Regina is a genius.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Regina made her parents trade bedrooms with her so she could have their balcony and bigger closet, and she tells her mom to "stop talking" when Mrs. George tries acting hip.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Imagine all she could achieve if she put as much effort into her schoolwork and learning as she does in controlling the student body. Come the end of the movie and she's finally growing out of it, with her lacrosse sports and everything.
• Butt-Monkey: Regina George, the butt of all of Cady's tricks and pranks.
• Character Development: The ending implies she's mellowed and is becoming a nicer person. More pronounced in the deleted scenes, where she forgives Cady and the two part ways respectfully.
• The Chessmaster: Comes up with her plan to get revenge on Cady and throw the entire school into chaos in the course of one screaming car ride home.
• Cool Big Sis: Her younger sister, Kylie, seems to be the person she cares for most in her family. Kylie is clearly heavily influences by Regina and their mother, and Regina is never shown ordering Kylie about or belittling her in any way like she does to their parents, instead greeting her kindly when Regina sees her. However, in the 2024 version, she's Adapted Out.
• Crocodile Tears: Regina sheds these to Principal Duvall when she turns in the Burn Book and shows him what the other girls "wrote" about her and the female student body.
• Deadpan Snarker: She gets a few passive-aggressive, snide comments in.
  • "So you can go shave your back now.", to Jason.
  • Still, half true.", is what she says about the fat virgin in the plastics Burn Book.
  • "Oh my god, it's her dream come true, diving into a big pile of girls", which she says about Janis.
• Death Glare:
  • In a deleted scene in which Cady rigs the weight scales, Regina gives one to Gretchen when Gretchen is about to say Cady's hair will look so fetch but corrected it to "knobby".
  • In the movie proper, she gives a scathing one to Cady after leaking the Burn Book to Principal Duvall.
• Devil in Plain Sight: She has a pretty fashionable wardrobe, and is very stuck-up and vain in front of others, so those two traits of hers are really a match made in hell.
• Didn't Think This Through: Her leaking the Burn Book to every student and teacher in the hallway via photocopies. While it does succeed in ruining the Plastics' reputations, as a result Principal Duvall threatens to cancel the spring fling dance unless the girls shape up (although he says he can’t because they already booked the DJ). They also cause serious property damage and even parents think a school shooting happened. What's more, Janis takes the opportunity to reveal that Cady was sabotaging Regina the whole time, and the student body cheers on Janis. It reveals to Regina that no one actually likes her; they fear her. 
• Dumb Blonde: Subverted. She's vapid, shallow and doesn't even know if butter is a carb but she is not dumb on a social level.
• Entitled Bitch: She even displays this through the Plastics' "ex rule", where, according to Gretchen, any ex-lover of Regina's is "off-limits to friends" (though, hypocritically, Regina herself is also capable of cheating behind them, thus making her a maneater).
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Doesn't approve of sexual harassment, as demonstrated when she verbally stomps on Jason's balls for creeping on Cady.
  • Regina's not a fan of Jason two-timing Gretchen with Taylor Wedell and prank calls Taylor's mum to make Gretchen feel better.
  • It doesn't make up for her actions, but Regina reluctantly raises her hand along with everyone else when Ms. Norbury asks the students if they have ever betrayed a friend.
  • In the 2024 film, she's genuinely creeped out when her mom says that North Shore has the hottest boys, calling it disgusting.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Some of the devotion showed by other girls borders on Les Yay. She starts a rumor (albeit an untrue one) that Janis had a huge crush on her.invoked
• Everyone Loves Blondes: The Alpha Bitch who everyone worships is a blonde, of course. Though she's not quite as loved as she thinks.
• Evil Counterpart: She can be considered as this to the other Plastics in some ways.
  • She is heavily this to Cady, especially after the latter became an Alpha Bitch herself. However, Cady is still a much softer example than Regina because the former's inner goodness is still present inside of her.
  • She can be seen as this to Gretchen, as both are significant attention seekers who seem to be proud of themselves. However, while Gretchen herself is more open about attention-seeking, she's still much nicer, as opposed to Regina, who's subtler about being that and is a lot meaner in comparison.
  • To an extent, she's also this to Karen, as both are considerable academic dumb blondes. However, Karen herself, despite being the less intelligent one (not just academically speaking, of course), is actually much friendlier than Regina, who's still smarter on a social level, where the latter uses it to nonchalantly or spitefully manipulate others, even for no reason at all.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Her arbitrary rule of her ex-boyfriends being off limits to other girls.
  • Cady not inviting her to her party is a big deal for her, even though she gave Cady a very good reason not to.
• The Fake Cutie: Has no problems for faking a nice persona in front of others.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Regina becomes this to the other Plastics before getting kicked out by Gretchen, with very passionate "You can't SIT WITH US!!!" scream.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: For most of the movie she's a fashionable queen bee obsessed with her appearance and social status. However at the end she joins the lacrosse team and turns out to be very good at it. It was her therapist's idea for her to start playing sports and let all of her anger out on the field.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Regina George has a snappy temper which Gretchen seems to frequently trigger by accident. By the end she's channeling all her rage into sports and has a calmer temperament as a result.
• Hated by All: As revealed during the movie's climax, out of all the Plastics, it's apparent that Regina herself has always been the least liked among her fellow North Shore female students (including both Janis and Cady) despite her academic social dominance there, which can be easily stemmed from her Alpha Bitch attitude in front of others.
• Head-Turning Beauty: She's extremely attractive and seems to attract most of the guys in school, and she's damn proud of it too.
• Heel–Face Turn: At the end. The Plastics are disbanded, and Regina joins the lacrosse team — and seems to be much happier for it. Helps that the other girls aren't afraid of her.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Oddly enough, she seemed genuinely surprised and hurt when she realizes how much her schoolmates and even her teachers dislike her.
  • In the musical, she seems to genuinely believe she was helping Cady out, helping her survive by making her Plastic, and a large part of her fury over the whole "made her gain weight and lose Aaron" thing stems from that. As she puts it, "This is what I get for helping." And she sings this lyric while she's alone, which indicates that she really does feel this way.
  • In the musical, she reconciles with Cady and advises Cady to never care what other people say, implying that her Alpha Bitch front did bring her a lot of security from mean comments.
• Hypocrite:
  • Utterly shocked that Aaron would dump her and she was being with Shane Oman, at the same time.
  • Gets upset about finding out that Cady has manipulated her into living in a more disadvantageous lifestyle, yet earlier in the movie, Regina herself tricked Cady into thinking that the latter would hook the former up with Aaron.
  • Criticizes Cady for "acting so innocent". This is coming from the resident Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who compliments a girl's skirt to her face but secretly says said girl's skirt was 'effin' ugly.
• Idle Rich: One of her many problems. She's obviously rich (living in a big house), yet has no hobbies or extra-curricular activities to fill her time besides mindless consumption (shopping at the mall) and is clearly bored with her own life, so she manipulates and spreads rumors behind other girls' backs to fill her time. Averted at the end, when her physical therapist helps her to channel her rage into sports, being in girls' lacrosse team clearly helps her mellow out.
• In-Universe Catharsis: After she is hit by a bus, her physical therapist helps her channel her rage into sports. Being able to work off all her rage in a healthy way clearly helps her mellow out, and by the end she has less energy to hurt or play games with her fellow students.
• It Amused Me: At the start of the film, she seems to enjoy manipulating and controlling the entire student body (including tormenting and spreading nasty rumors) because she's rich and bored. Post-Character Development, she seems to grow out of it.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Regina is the most arrogant bitch in the school but it's revealed of the course of the movie that she has anger issues triggered by crippling insecurities about her body weight and how well truly liked she is. The reveal that she's actually rather hated triggers her second Villainous Breakdown.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Whilst it was selfish of her to blow off Janis, she does have a point that Janis constantly badgering her for not calling her back and being jealous of Regina's first boyfriend Kyle is not healthy behaviour.
  • In-Universe — Fetch never happened, it was a verb and not an adjective, after all.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's a rather nasty and selfish person to even her plastic friends, especially when putting down Gretchen and slagging off Janis. However, she gets better near the end. Even before that, she did seem to care about her fellow Plastics, albeit in her own twisted way.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Ostracising Janis Ian because she thought she was a lesbian.
  • Clamjamming Cady with Aaron was a colossal dick move which is the tipping point that motivates Cady to conspire against her under Janis Ian's guidance.
  • Cheating on Aaron with Shane Oman.
  • Calling Karen a slut behind her back. Notably, Karen was really hurt by this.
  • Framing the other Plastics to save her reputational ass and get revenge on them.
• Laborious Laziness:
  • If she put half as much effort into her studies or hobbies as she did into manipulating her fellow classmates for a cheap laugh, she'd actually be a premier student.
  • If she just ate healthily instead of coming up with convoluted diet plans to try to "cheat" her way into thinness like cranberry cocktail cleanses, using illegal weight-loss drugs, and eating junk food with "carb-burning" nutrition bars.
• Large Ham: Rachel McAdams was clearly having fun playing the attention-loving, loud, evil Regina.
  • Done away with at the end, contrast her meek "Thank you", at the prom compared to the affected, overdramatic smugness she uses earlier in the movie.
• Laser-Guided Karma: She later gets hit by a bus for her bad behavior throughout the movie.
• The Leader: Of the Plastics as a whole group, at least before she was replaced by Cady.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Subverted. Cady thinks she's one at first and wonders if she's really as bad as Janis and Damian make her seem, but the moment we see what she's like behind closed doors, it becomes clear that they were right about her. Played straight near the end when she's way more approachable post-Heel–Face Turn (made much more apparent in the original script), where she channels her rage into lacrosse.
• Memetic Badass: An In-Universe example. Not content with being in charge of the Plastics, she's also an Lust Object, as everyone seems to want a piece of her.
• Manipulative Bitch: She's extremely skilled at twisting people's words and actions to get what she wants, or even just a cheap laugh.
• Meaningful Name: "Regina" is Latin for "queen", reflecting her earlier status as North Shore's "Queen Bee" while being one of the Plastics, as well as the fact that she had dominated that same school before. King George III was also a famously insane king.
• Mirror Character: A non-In-Universe example. She pretty much resembles Jessica Spencer from the more previously released movie The Hot Chick, since they're both known for being some of the most mean-spirited, rebellious, and entitled high-school students, as well as the fact that they were both portrayed by Rachel McAdams. That being said, Jessica has also proven herself that she can actually be a lot more openly nicer than Regina, whose sense of meanness is much more prevalent in comparison.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: While it was partially orchestrated by Cady and Janis, it's Regina's own continuous, horrible treatment of Gretchen and Karen that drive them to kick her out of the Plastics later. Also, Cady herself turns against Regina and plots her downfall due to Regina's unnecessary Kick the Dog moment.
• More Deadly Than the Male: From her "ex rule" to the sabotage she caused in the climax, it's no wonder why it's later revealed that she's not as very well-liked by others than she may have thought of at first.
• Narcissist: Regina shows many traits of narcissism such as:
  • Seeing herself as superior to her classmates (when really, almost nobody liked her).
  • Treating others like crap to make it to the top (which includes backstabbing the other Plastics).
  • Valuing her appearance a lot.
  • Lacking empathy for others (except herself, of course).
• Never My Fault: Her attitude toward Janis screams this. After constantly blowing her off to be with her first boyfriend in middle school, Regina chose to believe that Janis was "weirdly jealous" of Kyle and "obsessed" with Regina rather than hurt and rightly angry at Regina being a bad friend, and after Regina started the untrue rumor that Janis was gay, she acts like Janis' reaction to being bullied and ostracized for it (dropping out of middle school, returning to high school in the fall, chopping off her hair, and embracing outsiderism) was Janis' own problem and not Regina's.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Were it not for her dastardly scheme she wouldn't have had to confront the fact that everyone hates her, she wouldn't have got hit by the bus and wouldn't have gone through character development and learned to turn her rage into sports. Nice job fixing yourself, Regina.
• Pet the Dog: A couple times, she does things that are oddly nice, given her character... in her own, manipulative Alpha Bitch way.
  • When she first meets Cady, she rescues her from a creepy guy that's making a rather lecherous joke (albeit by telling him 'he can go shave his back now').
  • When Gretchen sees her boyfriend interacting with another girl and is obviously really torn up about it, Regina gets the girl out of the way by calling the girl's mother and pretending to be a Planned Parenthood doctor for no other apparent reason than to make Gretchen feel better.
  • She's pretty nice to her little sister, at least nicer than a character like her would normally be.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The reason for her falling out with Janis Ian — she thought Janis was a lesbian and didn't want her around anymore after that. She also has no qualms about using the word "retarded" when she means "stupid." (Although that attitude wasn't the least bit uncommon in 2004, unfortunately.)
• Rich Bitch: Huge house, endless wardrobe, cute convertible and is one of the meanest girls in the film.
• Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Regina's a specific example. She could rattle off several mostly-illegal weight loss drugs (most of which either were expensive before being banned or would be expensive to ship from countries where they're still legal). Yet, she didn't know enough about health and nutrition to know whether or not butter is a carb. This is most likely a jab at the stereotype of American teenage girls wanting to get thin or in shape the fast and unhealthy way than through actual healthy living.
• The Scream: When she finds out the bars Cady said would help her lose weight were actually helping her gain weight, she doesn't take it too well.
• Scully Syndrome: Played with. During her second Villainous Breakdown outside of the school (after finding out that nearly everyone in North Shore actually hated her), she bluntly says this to Cady (who was chasing after her during that breakdown of hers):
  Regina (to Cady): "Do you know what everyone says about you? They say that you're a home-schooled jungle freak who's a less hot version of me!"
• Shrouded in Myth: An interview montage with other students and even some faculty highlights the silliest myths and rumors about how cool/mean Regina is.
• Smug Snake: Regina is damn proud of every little manipulation that she pulls off and was so proud of herself she did not anticipate Janis or Cady having the audacity to plot against her. She can come up with smart, devious plans but is ultimately small potatoes compared to Principal Duvall who stops the riot in its tracks.
• The Social Expert: She's pretty Book Dumb, but a master at social manipulation.
• The Sociopath: In the theatrical version, "I don't care who you are, I don't care how you feel!".
• Spoiled Brat: She regularly tells her mother to shut up or leave her alone. She also has the master suite in her house because she forced her parents to switch rooms with her.
• Strolling Through the Chaos: During the now-iconic hallway brawl, Regina stands in the middle of the chaos, watching and looking very proud of herself.
• Stupid Evil: She's usually socially smart, but her Kick the Dog moment with clam-jamming Cady with Aaron was unnecessarily cruel and bites her in the ass.
• Tranquil Fury: When Cady is summoned into the office over the burn book, Regina doesn't even say anything to her, she just shoots a Death Glare as she walks past.
• Technical Virgin: Apparently, she was "half a virgin" when she met Aaron. Make of that what you will.
• Token Evil Teammate: The only one of the Plastics who is a true "mean girl" by the book (no pun intended).
  • Gretchen and Karen aren't that bad, and Cady's bitchy behavior is mostly the result of Regina's Toxic Friend Influence, but Cady herself is still a good person at heart and gets better after her Heel Realization.
• Tomboyness Upgrade: Her Character Development at the end of the movie shows her going from a Valley Girl to a Passionate Sports Girl.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Out of all the Plastics, she's the one who influenced the whole group the most in the first place, mainly due to her significantly hateful attitude.
• Tsundere: Initially a Type A, especially given her earlier Alpha Bitch status, she later mellows out becomes more of a Type B by the end of the movie, to which she transforms into a Lovable Alpha Bitch instead.
• Twisting the Words:
  Regina: You're, like, really pretty.
  Cady: Thanks.
  Regina: So you agree?
  Cady: What?
  Regina: You think you're really pretty?
• Two First Names: "George" is more common as a first name, though using it as a surname isn't unheard of.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Her father isn't very much of a looker but Regina, meanwhile, is a fashionable Proud Beauty and your typical Alpha Bitch.
• Villainous Breakdown: Two significant ones towards the end:
  • When she realizes that Cady deliberately made her gain weight. But then she recovers almost immediately and turns right back into The Chessmaster.
  • After Janis humiliates her in front of the school by revealing her ploy with Cady, Regina viciously snaps at Cady when the latter tries to apologize. This time, it is cut short by a school bus.
• Villainous Valor: You have to admit her scheme near the end was an awesome comeback to her initial humiliations from Cady and Janis.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Janis, until she felt Janis was being too obsessive about Regina spending a lot of time with her first boyfriend Kyle. The final nail in the coffin was Regina spreading rumours about Janis being a lesbian.
  • Also this with Gretchen and Karen before getting barred from sitting with them at lunch due to not following the rules of not wearing sweatpants on Monday.^note Friday in the 2024 version
• Weight Woe: She wants to lose a few pounds, despite the fact that she's a) gorgeous, and b) very skinny already. Cady exploits this insecurity.
• While Rome Burns: Regina stands idly by while the school goes into chaos caused by The Burn Book.
• With Friends Like These...: The most likely among the Plastics to be a backstabber to almost anyone she knows, even nonchalantly speaking.

Gretchen Wieners

Gretchen Wieners

"That is so fetch!"

Janis: Gretchen Wieners knows everybody's business, she knows everything about everyone.
Damian: That's why her hair is so big, it's full of secrets.

Played by:

Lacey Chabert (2004 film)

Ashley Park (2018 original Broadway cast)

Bebe Wood (2024 film)

• Anti-Villain: She's a Plastic, but she is more shallow, desperate for attention and affection, and insecure than mean.
• Attention Whore: She wants people to like her as much as they like Regina.
• Beneath the Mask: Gretchen seems to admire Regina at first and also appears happy about being her friend. Later it's revealed that she's a Stepford Smiler and miserable about their so called friendship and being treated poorly by Regina.
• Beta Bitch: Gretchen is only friends with Regina for popularity, however at the same time Gretchen wants Regina's approval and is hurt when Regina is cold to her. The only sign of independence she demonstrates is after she cracks and kicks Regina out of the Plastics - after that, Cady becomes the new Alpha and Gretchen immediately pledges her loyalty to her. After the Plastics disband she joins the Cool Asians, and the Head of even clique, Trang Pak, becomes Gretchen's new Queen Bee to serve. Ultimately she seems to prefer being a follower to a leader.
• Break the Cutie: She eventually gets her final nail in the coffin once Regina told the former, for the second time, that the expression "fetch" is, in the latter's own words, "not going to happen" (i.e. become popular or trending).
• Butt-Monkey: In her Establishing Character Moment, a football hits her head. Not to forget her diarrhea incident at Barnes and Nobles. After her Backhanded Apology, she falls down flat on the back. Pretty dangerous, but it's treated as funny, since Karen is the only one who makes an effort to catch her. Her bad luck and low self-esteem are the reasons why she's the Plastic Janis wants to be cracked.
• Character Catchphrase: She desperately wants to start one: "That is so fetch!"
• Cute, but Cacophonic: She screams "You can't sit with us!" in a shrill voice.
• The Dog Bites Back: Spills Regina's secrets to Cady in retaliation for Regina constantly putting her down. In the 2024 film, she lays into Jason about overcoming her self esteem issues and triumphantly declaring herself as "fetch" after he mistakes her for another girl.
• Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas: She is complicit in Regina's bitchery to the school but her recounting of how Regina forbade her from wearing hoop earrings and her tears at having to turn down a beautiful pair her parents once got her for Hanukkah seems to betray some guilt about possibly prioritizing her parents' feelings over Regina's wants.
• Everyone Is Christian at Christmas: Despite the fact that Gretchen's Jewish, she performs Jingle Bell Rock, which is a Christmas song, with the other Plastics every year for the Winter Talent Show. This makes sense, though. Gretchen kowtows to Regina — if Regina wants her to dance to a Christmas song, Gretchen will dance to a Christmas song. And to be honest, "Jingle Bell Rock" is not a Christmas carol - there's no Christian imagery in that song. Also, a lot of real-life Jews celebrate Christmas (at least externally) with their gentile friends.
• Extreme Doormat: She is submissive and lives to do Regina's bidding. Even after the breakup of the Plastics, she’s unable to function without someone to tell her what to do, and finds another queen bee to serve.
• Forced Meme: Gretchen tries to make "fetch" a cool slang term.
  Regina: Gretchen, stop trying to make "fetch" happen! It's not going to happen!
• Gossipy Hens: She's the gossip queen, see the quote above.
• Heel–Face Turn: At the end. She joins another Girl Posse, but without Regina around, she's not as mean as she was before.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Karen. Karen and Gretchen have genuine affection for each other. Rather than trying to embarrass Karen for not knowing the cousin thing, Gretchen quietly explains it to her - and immediately lets her know when Regina calls her a slut. Karen's also the only one who catches Gretchen after her Backhanded Apology.
• Hidden Depths: She confesses to Cady that she's miserable as Regina's friend and has to pretend to like and not like certain things in order to gain Regina's approval.
• Ignored Epiphany: Her big song in the musical, "What's Wrong With Me?", gives her a heartbreaking one. Towards the end of the song, which is about her toxic friendship with Regina and her crippling insecurity, she briefly wonders if maybe Regina is the problem... but immediately backtracks and comments, "It's probably me."
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: She comes off as vain, but her problems stem from being incredibly insecure and needing approval.
• Informed Judaism: At one point, she mentions receiving Hanukkah presents from her parents.
• Innocent Beta Bitch: She's only mean when doing Regina's bidding, or when she's getting back at Regina for hurting her feelings. She's a good and sweet friend to Karen, and is nice and accommodating to Cady for the most part. Gretchen just seems to be desperate for attention and for people to like her, and more neurotic and cripplingly insecure than anything.
• Insecure Love Interest: Seems to be this for Jason, willing to put up with his cheating just to stay with him, though she drops it in the 2024 version.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed. She's only pretty vain and vapid, especially for attention. However, she can also be just as friendly as both Cady and Karen are.
• Jewish American Princess: Not just any JAP - her father invented toaster strudel.
• Loose Lips: She kept on accidentally spilling Regina’s secrets to Cady.
• Love Martyr: To Jason, who two-times her, yet she keeps fawning over him. She gets over it in the 2024 version, however.
• Masochism Tango: Gretchen's relationship with Jason is clearly not healthy for her but that doesn't stop her from going back to him.
• Neologizer: Primarily in the form of "fetch". Which will never catch on.
• Nervous Wreck: Insecure, neurotic and constantly on the edge of a breakdown.
• The Pratfall: Performs one when the crowd in the "circle of trust" refuses to catch her, except for Karen.
• Proud Beauty: She acknowledges her beauty when she "apologizes" to the other girls for her behavior.
• Royalties Heir: "She's totally rich because her dad invented Toaster Strudel."
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Gretchen's ticket into the Plastics is that she's rich. When they get called to the principal's office for the burn book, she specifically tries to use her money and her father's notoriety to get out of trouble.
• Shipper on Deck: When she believes Cady has a crush on Kevin, she seems genuinely excited and tries to set them up. She's sorely mistaken (since neither is interested in the other) but it's the thought that counts.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: "I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me. But I can't help it that I'm popular."
• Status Cell Phone: Her being the only teenage character with a cell phone is a signifier of how rich her family is.
• Stepford Smiler: Gretchen seems to be happy as Regina's second in command, but as Cady begins to chip away her facade we see a Nervous Wreck that is just one more slight away from a breakdown.
• Tender Tears: After her breakdown via a class speech, Gretchen later has a personal talk with Cady in a school bathroom about the former's actual misery from being under Regina's rule, to which Gretchen herself can be seen crying as she's giving that confession to Cady.
• Villainous Breakdown: "WE SHOULD TOTALLY JUST STAB CAESAR!!!"
• Villainous Friendship: She's best friends with Karen, and genuinely likes her, not just fear her like she does Regina. She also seems to like Cady as a friend, confiding in her at one point and for the most part being nice to her. Though maybe this isn't that surprising, given that Gretchen's a Minion with an F in Evil.
• Yes-Man: At first to Regina, then Cady, and finally finds a new Queen Bee at the end of the movie, Trang Pak.

Karen Smith

Karen Smith

"So if you're from Africa... why are you white?"

Janis: That one there, that's Karen Smith. She is one of the dumbest girls you will ever meet. Damian sat next to her in English last year.
Damian: She asked me how to spell orange.

Played by:

Amanda Seyfried (2004 film)

Kate Rockwell (2018 original Broadway cast)

Avantika Vandanapu (2024 film)

• Adaptational Name Change: In the 2024 movie musical, Karen Smith becomes Karen Shetty due to her Race Lift.
• Advertised Extra: Karen doesn't have that large of a part (especially compared to the other three Plastics) and has little impact on the plot, but is featured in all of the advertisements because she is a Plastic and thus one of the Mean Girls.
• Anti-Villain: She's barely a villain at all — she's a member of the Plastics and does what Regina (and later Cady) tells her to do, but she's kind, sweet, and optimistic.
• Asian Airhead: Due to being played by Avantika in the 2024 version, she invokes this trope in full force.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Despite the fact that all of the Plastics, including Cady, are presumably of the same age (16 years, to be exact), Karen can somewhat be seen as this, largely due to the lack of genuine meanness in her, and the fact that her ditziness tends to occasionally make her behave rather childlike.
• Brainless Beauty: One of the iconic examples. Karen is one of the most beautiful girls in school (to the point where even Regina admits she should be the Spring Fling queen), but she's also one of the dumbest.
• Cloudcuckoolander: She's convinced she has psychic powers... you know, a fifth sense? ESPN? Well, at least her boobs do. They can predict when it's going to rain... well when it is raining.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: She has several moments of being this in the movie.
  • In her introduction, she was seen trying to catch a football, but it instead hit on her breasts (though she didn't feel the pain that much after that).
    • She managed to get that same ball when another student threw it at her, and when she tries to throw it back at that other student, she instead accidentaly hit Gretchen with it (who was in a middle of a phone call) by the head, causing the latter to fall down to the ground from that injury.
  • During a Halloween party at Aaron's house (where she's dressed up as a mouse), after seeing Cady's "zombie bride" costume at first, Karen's horrified reaction from that caused her to bump onto another girl behind her and even spill her own drink.
  • While at the four-way call with her fellow Plastics, she was going to talk to Regina to confess her annoyance about Gretchen, but she abruptly let herself still be in the same line with the latter when she initially uttered that confession.
  • When she is the only Junior girl in North Shore High who is catching Gretchen after the latter's apology (which was rather backhanded) during their trust falls at the school's gym, said latter just fell on the former completely, and both of them felt a significant amount of pain after that, only for Karen to have it more than Gretchen did.
  • After the Plastics broke up, she later became a weather reporter for North Shore with the use of her self-assumed "psychic breasts," but while doing so for the first time, she was standing in the rain without any rain protection item, like an umbrella or a raincoat.
  • In a deleted scene, she fell on a cafeteria prank that was set up by Cady instead of Regina, who was supposed to be the target of that prank.
• The Cutie: Because of her rather sweet, albeit naive personality despite being a Plastic, she can be easily seen as this.
• Dark and Troubled Past: In the musical, her part in the song "Stop" reveals that a boy manipulated her into sending him a picture of her naked, and then shared it with his friends, who spread it all over the internet—when she was thirteen.
• The Ditz: Stands in the rain, feeling her breasts (see Informed Ability below), and declares that "there's a 30% chance that it's already raining!" With complete straight-faced sincerity.
• Dumb Blonde: A classic example with shades of old Marilyn Monroe roles where she's just as sweet as she is dumb (in fact, it was even confirmed by her own actress Amanda Seyfried that part of her own character was based off of Monroe herself, specifically in the movie Some Like It Hot).
• Dumb Is Good: She's the nicest member of the Plastics, but also the dumbest.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: She's a member of the school's ruling clique, and has no problem finding male attention. Regina even acknowledges that Karen's prettier than her at one point (in her usual backhanded fashion, of course).
• Fun Personified: Out of all the Plastics, she represents this trope the best, given that she has often displayed a very positive personality all throughout the movie.
• Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Karen has a toy rabbit on her bedroom desk and a pink toy dog and other stuffed animals on her bed.
• Good Bad Girl: She is one of the nicest characters but it's implied that she Really Gets Around. In the musical, she gets a whole song celebrating the Sexy Whatever Outfit and how much fun it is to dress up in them.
• Heel–Face Turn: During the epilogue, she's shown as the only member of the original plastics to be spending time with Cady, Janis and their new circle of friends, carefully combing the hair of one of their new friends (the wheelchair-bound girl).
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has light blonde hair, and a sweet, sunny disposition.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Gretchen. Karen and Gretchen seem to have genuine affection for each other. Rather than trying to embarrass Karen for not knowing the cousin thing, Gretchen instead quietly explains it to her - and immediately lets her know when Regina calls her a slut. Karen's also the only one who catches Gretchen after her Backhanded Apology.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Subverted and Played for Laughs in the original movie. Cady tries to bond with her while Regina and Gretchen are busy by asking if she has any talents, and all she can bring up is "I can stick my whole fist in my mouth" and "My breasts can tell the weather." Unsurprisingly, Cady does not want to see a demonstration of the former.
  • At one point in the musical, she indicates that, while she likes dressing up all sexy and having fun with boys, she does not like that this results in people treating her like a sex object. She then comments that maybe people should start teaching their sons not to treat girls like that in the first place.
    I'm actually a human being, and not a prop!
  • In the musical, Karen later comments on Regina's treatment of her stemming from insecurity and shows herself to be one of the most emotionally mature characters in the cast.
• Informed Ability: Apparently, her breasts can tell when it's going to rain. Or at least, when it's already raining. And even then, she's not completely sure, even if she's actually OUTSIDE in the rain.
• Innocent Beta Bitch: There doesn't seem to be a mean bone in her body. When she does unkind things, she's usually just following the lead of one of the other girls.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: She has huge light blue eyes and is by far the nicest Plastic. Subverted since she isn't innocent when it comes to sexual things, but she has a sweet and optimistic personality.
• Kind Hearted Simpleton: While she's not the smartest, she's set up as the nicest Plastic even before her Heel–Face Turn.
• Kissing Cousins: Gretchen is highly disturbed when Karen boasts about what a good kisser her own cousin is.
  Karen: You know who's looking fine tonight? Seth Mosakowski.
  Gretchen: Okay, you did not just say that.
  Karen: What? He's a good kisser.
  Gretchen: He's your cousin.
  Karen: Yeah, but he's my first cousin.
  Gretchen: Right.
  Karen: So, you have your cousins, and then you have your first cousins, and then you have your second cousins...
  Gretchen: No, honey, uh-uh.
  Karen: That's not right, is it?
  Gretchen: That is so not right.
• Nice Girl: Only mean when doing Regina's bidding and is pretty friendly otherwise.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Karen is mostly seen smiling and is along with Gretchen a loyal follower of the queen bee but she does get really upset and hurt at Regina calling her a slut.
• Perpetual Smiler: Moments she isn't smiling are incredibly short-lived.
• The Pollyanna: As well as being the least malicious Plastic she's easily the happiest too, lacking Regina's rage, Gretchen's crippling neuroses, or Cady's need to fit in. She's even aware of (and comfortable with) the knowledge she's not very bright.
• Really Gets Around: Somewhat of an Informed Flaw, but she has a reputation and is perfectly willing to hook up with her cousin.
• Satellite Character: She's not as fleshed out a character as the other Plastics, she mostly just rounds out the trio and provides comic relief.
• Token Good Teammate: She is the only one who isn't mean-spirited and did things out of naivete rather than malice.
• Villainous Friendship: She and Gretchen are best friends and clearly care a lot for one another. Though they barely even count as villains, anyway.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: She's the type of person who would at least try to make others happy (e.g. suggesting Regina about going to Taco Bell), to which, additionally speaking, this trope even applies to her literally.

Other Students

Janis Ian

Janis Ian

"There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil stuff and those who see evil stuff being done and don't try to stop it."

Cady: You know what? You're the one who made me like this so you could use me for your 8th grade revenge!
Janis: God! See, at least me and Regina George know we're mean! You try to act so innocent like, "Oh, I use to live in Africa with all the little birdies, and the little monkeys! [...] you are a mean girl! You're a bitch!

Played by:

Lizzy Caplan (2004 film)

Barrett Wilbert Weed (2018 original Broadway cast)

Auli'i Cravalho (2024 film)

• Adaptational Name Change: In the 2004 film, she's Janis Ian. In the musical, she's Janis Sarkisian. In the 2024 film, she's Janis I'mi'ike due to her Race Lift.
• Ambiguously Gay: Is Janis Ian a lesbian? Nope! She's "Lebanese". In the musical this is played more straight, where Janis never denies the lesbian rumor and actually sort of implies it's true. The only time Janis is shown having a genuine interest in men is when she starts dating Kevin at the end of the movie. Ultimately she could be straight, bi, or gay and simply not ready to be out yet. Averted in the 2024 film, where it's not ambiguous - she's out and proud.
• Arch-Enemy: Regina George, the Alpha Bitch who made her an outcast.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When she gives her "apology" to Regina in front of the girls she exposes that she developed a plan with Cady to ruin Regina's high school life, that Cady turned Gretchen and Karen against Regina, that Cady made out with Aaron Samuels then convinced him to break up with Regina, all before revealing... they gave Regina foot cream for face wash. Surprisingly that last one brings out the most angry look from Regina.
• At Least I Admit It: As the character quote above shows, Janis knows she's just as manipulative and mean as Regina and doesn't try to hide that. There is an element of Self-Serving Memory here, however, since Janis never actually acknowledged it until Cady called her out about it in their fight. However she certainly never pretended to be nicer than she really was, like Regina, when Cady first met her.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Whether she can be considered bad or not is debatable, she does get back at Regina in the end and does it spectacularly.
• Becoming the Mask: A case could be made for this regarding her relationship with Cady; while Janis's motives for befriending her were not originally centred around getting revenge on Regina, she was very quick to take the opportunity when it came up. However over the course of the film she considers Cady more and more of a friend, which possibly explains why she takes Cady taking Regina's place as Queen Bee so badly.
• Berserk Button: Bringing up the fact that Regina spread rumors of her being a lesbian. Cady making the same accusation unprompted is what really sets off Janis's tirade.
• Brainy Brunette: She's smart, quick-witted, and cunning.
• Butch Lesbian: The 2024 version, Janis is out and her style seems to reflect this.
• Card-Carrying Jerkass: She self-identifies as one of the titular mean girls.
• The Chessmaster: Janis masterminded a plan to ruin Regina George's life using Cady as The Pawn to do so.
• Deadpan Snarker: And how! Everything she says is snarky.
• Dirty Coward: Uses Cady as a social human shield in her "eighth-grade revenge" against Regina because she couldn't take her head-on. Downplayed in that she does admit everything to Regina during the apology session. Justified in that she didn't have the social capita to pull off the level of manipulation she used on her own.
• Emo Teen: She definitely has the looks and partially the attitude of one. Those who attended middle school in the early 2000's would recognize her as such.
• Evil Is Petty: She uses Cady to take petty revenge on Regina, as opposed to just confronting her upfront.
• Fallen Princess: Janis used to be popular, but her reputation was destroyed by a rumor and she now willingly embraces outsiderdom. Some fans have actually speculated that Janis was once the Queen Bee, while Regina (her best friend at the time) was kind-hearted like Cady, but slowly became mean as her social life evolved, which resulted in Regina betraying her best friend by starting the Lesbian rumour and replacing Janis as the new Queen Bee.
• Former Friend of Alpha Bitch: She was good friends with Regina in middle school, until Regina started dating and they began fighting.
• Foil: Aside from her Jerk with a Heart of Gold tendencies and her justified vendetta against Regina, she's just as spiteful and manipulative as she is when it comes to Cady. Difference is whilst Regina is punching down, Janis is punching up when it comes to the school social hierarchy.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Tiny Girl to Damian's Huge Guy.
• Hypocrite: With a side-dish of Never My Fault in terms of influencing Cady. While claiming to target Regina due to her meanness and oppressive cruelty over the school, it's pretty clear that Janis can ultimately be just as cruel and mean as Regina.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Janis is a hypocrite, but she was right to call Cady out on Becoming the Mask and fucking off her real friends in favour of trying to pull Aaron.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: She teases Damian plenty, but will get pissed off if someone else does it. Lampshaded; she outright says calling Damian "too gay to function" is only okay when she says it.
• Important Haircut: Offscreen. After Regina spread the rumor in middle school that Janis was a lesbian, Janis dropped out of school for the rest of the year; when she returned in the fall, "all her hair was cut off, and she was totally weird."
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be just as spiteful, petty and cruel as Regina herself. However, she's also a genuinely loyal friend and will help you when you need it.
• Karma Houdini: Janis, despite influencing and encouraging Cady to join the Plastics specifically to damage Regina, gets zero comeuppance when she reveals it to the entire crowd of girls following the revelation of the Burn Book. However, in the musical she does actually admit that it was wrong and that she was just as guilty.
• Manipulative Bitch: Janis convinces Cady to join the Plastics just so she can get information from them.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Masculine Girl to Damian's Feminine Boy.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Shares her name with the folk singer Janis Ian.
• Never My Fault: Cady does call Janis out for using her in her personal vendetta. Janis doesn't really own up to it.
• Non-Answer: When Cady calls Janis out for making her like the Plastics to get her 8th grade revenge, Janis doesn't fully deny it, but she doesn't own up to it either, instead hedging by claiming that Regina and she at least know they're mean (even though she never admitted to it previously either)...
• N-Word Privileges: She calls Damian too gay to function and only she can say it, but it's because they are friends, not that she is gay.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Her plan to take down Regina consists of this. She hatches a plan of revenge against Regina for some past slight, using Cady as the infiltrator.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Damian. They are best friends almost always seen together.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Regina spread the rumor that Janis was obsessed with Regina. The rumor caused Janis to lose her former friends and become an outcast, which made her hate Regina...which caused her to become obsessed with Regina.
• Self-Serving Memory: Despite claiming in her At Least I Admit It retort to Cady that she is at least willing to acknowledge her meanness, there's an element of this going on; we've never actually seen her do so until Cady calls her out on it.
• The Snark Knight: No one is safe from her razor sharp snark, not even her BFF Damian.
• Tough Love: Her speech to Cady about the latter Becoming the Mask is arguably this. While it was pretty harsh for Janis to call Cady a bitch especially after manipulating her, Janis telling Cady about herself is what helped Cady see the error of her ways and revert back to her old self.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Not as much as the Plastics, but she has a hand in Cady's transformation, too; specifically encouraging Cady's hatred of Regina.
• True Companions: While she does take advantage of Cady's social pull despite genuinely caring about her, Janis' friendship with Damien is 100% healthy, and they have each other's backs the whole movie. When the Burn Book is made public, she doesn't care about her entry in the slightest but is genuinely offended by Damien's entry. While she does snark at him too, she only does it to a level she knows is in good humor.
• Tsundere: She's a definitive Type A, especially because of her cynical personality all throughout the movie.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Not particularly considerate of the risk Cady went through to infiltrate the Plastics and fight Janis' war for her, as the villainous breakdown below demonstrates.
• Villainous Breakdown: When she realizes that Cady has become the mask and has thus escaped her influence, she yells and curses at her from the top of Damian's car whilst deflecting the blame for her part in any of what happened.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Regina, until Regina started seeing her first boyfriend Kyle and Janis was calling Regina out for neglecting their friendship.

Damian Leigh

Damian Leigh

"And I want my pink shirt back. I WANT MY PINK SHIRT BACK!"

Damian: "Too gay to function?"
Janis: Hey! That's only OK when I say it.

Played by:

Daniel Franzese (2004 film)

Grey Henson (2018 original Broadway cast)

Jaquel Spivey (2024 film)

• Adaptational Name Change: In the musical and movie musical, he's Damian Hubbard.
• All There in the Script: His last name is never mentioned in the film.
• But Not Too Gay: At no point in the film is he shown to be romantic with, or have a crush on, any specific boy. The musical partially fixes this with the song "Stop!" as does the 2024 film by showing him flirting with a boy sitting with the theatre kids.
• Camp Gay: Damian is "too gay to function," though to be fair he's only mildly flamboyant.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's a typical, snarky, gay best friend.
• The Dragon: To Janis. He helps Janis with her schemes against Regina.
• Et Tu, Brute?: He and Janis already felt plenty betrayed by Cady spending less and less time with them as she truly becomes a Plastic, and not invited to her party. Then he discovers that "too gay to function" has made its way into the Burn Book, for all the student body to see.
• Gay Best Friend: To Janis, he's her closest friend and she describes him as "too gay to function".
• Gentle Giant: He's 6'3 and heavily-built, yet is one of the nicest people in the film.
• Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: Too gay to function, to be specific. However, it's only funny when Janis says it.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The Huge Guy to Janis' Tiny Girl. He noticeably towers over her.
• Large Ham: "AND I WANT MY PINK SHIRT BACK!!" And there's his proud and determined performance of "Beautiful".
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Feminine Boy to Janis' Masculine Girl.
• Nice Guy: He's one of the few genuinely nice people in this movie (though he can let out a sassy line).
• One of the Girls: He even talks to Janis and Cady in the girls bathroom.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: A Running Gag. Every time he's pretending to be someone he's not (a robber stealing Cady's purse, the Secret Santa passing out candy canes, a member of the all-girl assembly) he just wears a hoody and sunglasses.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Janis. They are best friends almost always seen together.
• Satellite Character: He's really only ever seen with Janis, and most of his character tropes are centered on the fact that he's her friend.
• That One Guy: He's the only male character of the movie's primary head trio (with the others being Cady and Janis).

Aaron Samuels

Aaron Samuels

"Your face smells like peppermint!"

Played by:

Jonathan Bennett (2004 film)

Kyle Selig (2018 original Broadway cast)

Christopher Briney (2024 film)

• Betty and Veronica: He's the Archie while Cady and Regina are Betty and Veronica respectively.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He calls out Cady for acting like a clone of Regina straight before Cady throws up on him.
• Big Man on Campus: He's reasonably popular himself and is a nice guy.
• Book Dumb: In contrast to Cady, Aaron is actually terrible at math, but he doesn't act like a Brainless Beauty or Dumb Jock and actually seems to be a fairly level-headed person.
• Gentle Giant: He's 6'2", and a Nice Guy.
• Hypocrite: With a dose of Love Forgives All but Lust, Aaron willingly dates Regina, who is spoiled, shallow, selfish, rude, and sometimes downright cruel, even to the people she calls her friends. He doesn't seem to mind any of this, and when asked why he likes her, he defends her by saying "everyone has good and bad in them, she's just more upfront about it than most." But when it turns out she's cheating on him, that apparently is too far, and he immediately breaks up with her.
• Lovable Jock: He's on the football, soccer and swim teams and is a nice person.
• Love Interest: Cady's of course as much of the film's conflict is about Regina and Cady pining after him!
• Mr. Fanservice: Cady and Regina certainly think so.
• Mundane MacGuffin Person: Aaron's only function is to be the source of conflict between Regina and Cady because he is so dreamy. He disappears from the story once he has achieved his purpose.
• Nice Guy: One of the few genuinely nice and non-judgemental people in North Shore High. Though he is definitely not a doormat.
• Only Sane Man: Refuses to get caught up in most of the drama, and is turned off by Cady's transformation into a Regina clone.
• Pretty Boy: Cady can't help but gush over how cute he is. If it wasn't his cuteness Cady explicitly pointed out a few times, he could also qualify as a Hunk, considering his athletic built.
• Satellite Love Interest: All we know about him is that he's cute, sucks at math, used to date Regina, and "all he cares about is school and his mom and his friends". He gets fleshed out a little more in the original screenplay, which has a scene where he does his laundry with Cady and explains that he helps out with housework because it's just him and his mom.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Rightfully calls Cady out for her stupid plan to be bad at math to get his attention and for being like a clone of Regina.

Kevin Gnapoor

Kevin Gnapoor

"From my grades, to my lines, you can't touch Kevin G!"

Played by:

Rajiv Surendra (2004 film)

Cheech Manohar (2018 original Broadway cast)

Mahi Alam (2024 film)

• Adaptational Name Change: Subverted in the stage musical, who is established as having a different first name here than in the film; he chooses to call himself Kevin, instead of being born with the name. Played straight in the movie musical, however, in which his surname is Ganatra.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Gnapoor sounds similar to actual South Asian surnames such as Kapoor, but Gnapoor doesn't seem to exist as a real-life name. The 2024 movie musical rectifies this by changing Kevin's surname to the Gujarati name Ganatra.
• Bollywood Nerd: South Asian and the leader of the Mathlete team. He's also prone to rapping and bragging about his sexual prowess though, so it's not all stereotypes.
• Casanova Wannabe: Kevin's behaviour comes off as very similar to Howard Wolowitz's, but surprisingly, he turns out not to be interested in Cady. And he does succeed with Janis in the end of the 2004 film, and at least dances with Gretchen at the Spring Fling in the 2024 film.
• Race Fetish: Inverted. He turns down Cady because he only dates women of color. He doesn't seem to mind what race, as long as they're not white. When he makes a movie on Janis, he says it's cause he thinks she's Puerto Rican, and rolls with it when she corrects to Lebanese.

Other students

• The Beautiful Elite: The Cool Asians and the Unfriendly Black Hotties both carry off these vibes, as they are cliques of beautiful members of minority groups and carry off a similar sense of superiority.
• Girl Posse: The female-dominated Cool Asians count as well.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: The girl Jocks seem to have this vibe, outside their uniforms a few of them dress in a feminine manner (like the girl who threatens to kick Cady's ass if she mixes her up with a teacher) and are not above getting involved in the same petty things as the other girls in their school.
• Handsome Lech: Jason seems to be fairly popular, and a member of the Varsity Jocks, dating one of the Plastics and taking another pretty girl out. Even if sometimes he is shown to care for Gretchen sometimes, whenever he opens his mouth, you really wonder how that happened.
• Nerds Are Virgins: One of the reasons why Ms. Norbury wants Cady to join the mathletes is because she wants their members to meet a girl, as she jokingly says.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Trang Pak and one of her friends both date Coach Carr. This is Adapted Out of the musical.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Shane accidentally sets the ending into motion, since he's the one that tells Regina what Kalteen Bars actually do.

Teachers

Ms. Sharon Norbury

Ms. Sharon Norbury

"You girls have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores, because if you do, it makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores."

Ms. Norbury: I know having a boyfriend might seem like the only thing important to you right now, but you don't have to dumb yourself down in order for a guy to like you.

Played by:

Tina Fey (2004 film & 2024 film)

Kerry Butler (2018 original Broadway cast)

• Born Unlucky: She's convinced she's this. Considering all the bad things that happen to her before and during the film (divorced, broke from getting a divorce, crashing into Cady and having coffee spilled all over her sweater on the first day of school, breaking her glasses when the girls riot, being investigated for drugs thanks to the Burn Book...) she might not be far off.
• Brainy Brunette: She's the school's math teacher.
• Broken Bird: She's fresh off a divorce and you can see she's still fragile from it.
• Cool Teacher: She's young and genuinely cares about her students. Once Cady stops being a Plastic, she starts realizing how cool Ms. Norbury actually is.
  Cady: [stating why she can't go to the dance] I'm grounded.
  Norbury: You're already out.
• Clear My Name: During the intervention, she confronts Cady and asks if there's anything specific she would like to confess. Cady refuses. Ms. Norbury ends up the subject of a police investigation as a consequence.
• Disappointed in You: Says this word-for-word when Cady initially refuses to admit she wrote the "drug pusher" page in the Burn Book.
• Dropped Glasses: Happens after someone bumps her while she's trying to break up the fights where they inevitably get stepped on.
• Forgiveness: She has more than enough reason to be mad at Cady for getting her in trouble, by writing that she was a "drug pusher". Yet when Cady finally owns up to writing the entry to save Ms. Norbury's job, all Ms. Norbury does is sarcastically ask if she wants to buy drugs before admitting she's proud that Cady came clean, and asking her why she took all the blame. It's a pretty reasonable response; all she asks is that Cady join Mathletes to get "extra credit" and pull up her grade.
• Hot Teacher: Young and attractive, she's obviously caught Principal Duvall's eye.
• Humiliation Conga: She's just gone through a divorce, she works a humiliating side-job as a bartender to pay for said divorce, and every earnest attempt to help her students seems to backfire horribly, culminating in her being handcuffed and strip-searched by the police.
  Mr. Duvall: How was your summer?
  Ms. Norbury: [after inadvertently flashing her bra at her students while cleaning up hot coffee spilled down her front] I got a divorce.
  Mr. Duvall: Oh. My carpal tunnel came back.
  Ms. Norbury: I win.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: See "Humiliation Conga" above. Cady even evokes the trope by name toward the end of the film.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She's a fountain of good advice for the students (even though they rarely listen to her) and she genuinely cares about both their grades, and their worth as human beings.

Principal Ron Duvall

Principal Ron Duvall

"Aw, hell no, I did not leave the Southside for this!"

Principal Duvall: I just wanted to say that you're all winners. And that I couldn't be happier the school year is ending.

Played by:

Tim Meadows (2004 film & 2024 film)

Rick Younger (2018 original Broadway cast)

• Batter Up!: When he discovers the students are fighting, he grabs his baseball bat before going out and breaking up the commotion.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He looks like he can handle himself in a fight and it's suggested he grew up a rough neighborhood.
  "Aw hell no, I did not leave the Southside for this!"
• Butt-Monkey: He's the head of a school that's the ground for a war between the Plastics and Janis. Naturally, he takes a lot of shit.
• Cool Teacher: The students may not think so, but he's a very nice guy, and he breaks up the infamous hallway brawl single-handed, armed only with a baseball bat, which would've sent many other teachers running for the hills.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's the principal of a school that contains the likes of Regina, Gretchen, Karen, Cady, and Janis. Sarcasm is his only hope for survival. Especially during prom night.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: He normally appears to be an easygoing guy, but when an all-out brawl breaks out in the hallway, he grabs a baseball bat and goes out into the thick of it to break it up himself, pulling a fire alarm and ordering all the girls into the gym. Needless to say, no one argues.
• Nice Guy: He's a reasonable, friendly guy that genuinely wants the best for his students. He still has his limits, though.
• Papa Wolf: Looks completely ready to beat the crap out of Coach Carr when he hears that he's been sexually involved with students.
• Putting the "Pal" in Principal: When you get right down to it, he's one of the nicest faculty members at the school. That being said, he's not afraid to throw his weight around when he has to, as Coach Carr finds out the hard way.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He cares about his students, he just can't do the squishy girly things. Case in point, when he talks with the Plastics about the Burn Book, while he is mad at the amount of gossip and allegations, he's also worried. Kids do stupid stuff and can be unintentionally cruel. Principal Duvall knows that if the word got out about the Burn Book, it would cause a riot and he respects that the girls establish no one was supposed to read the pages. Rather than suspend all the junior girls for the hallway altercation, he instead tells them they need to shape up or he's cancelling prom ^note  The only reason he doesn't cancel it right away is because they put too much money in as is , and they are working out their aggression towards each other in a healthy fashion. When he gets squicked out on hearing about heavy menstruation, he defers to Ms. Norbury. Later, when Ms. Norbury is being investigated, he establishes that he doesn't want the police to check the allegations, but they have to because the allegations against Coach Carr were true and that means anyone accused of committing crimes may actually have done wrong.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Metaphorically, at least; he initially takes charge of the conference to allow the girls to air their grievances, intending to act as counsellor and mediator. When the very first complaint is a girl complaining about how she's targeted due to her menstrual cycle, however, he instantly realises he's completely out of his depth and hands the proceedings over to Miss Norbury.
• Ship Tease: Has a fairly obvious crush on Miss Norbury.
• That Came Out Wrong: After the entire female student body riots, he tries to help the girls "adjust their attitudes toward each other" by having a talk "lady to lady." What little does he know, a "lady problem" is usually a euphemism for "that time of the month", and when a girl predictably starts talking about her period, he quickly realizes how far out of his depth he is, and hands the reins over to Mrs. Norbury.
• Tranquil Fury: When he starts talking loud and authoritative, everyone listens up.
• Verbal Backspace: He has a habit of threatening punishments he doesn't have the authority to actually deliver and backtracking after this is pointed out.
  Principal Duvall: I will keep you here all night if I have to
  Teacher: We can't keep them past four.
  Principal Duvall: I will keep you here till four.

Coach Carr

Coach Carr

"Don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die."

Coach Carr: At your age, you're going to have a lot of urges. You're going to want to take off your clothes, and touch each other.

Played by:

Dwayne Hill (2004 film)

Jon Hamm (2024 film)

• Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. While he's no less dislikable, the musical and 2024 film removes some of his more heinous actions, though this is more because his role is less prominent.
• Creepy Gym Coach: It's revealed he's sexually involved with Trang Pak and her friend. This is absent from the musical, however.
• Demoted to Extra: His role in the musical and the 2024 film is significantly reduced compared with the first film.
• Dirty Coward: When Principal Duvall looks like he's going to beat the shit out of him for his sexually predator ways, he flees the school.
• Hypocrite: He preaches abstinence to his students but is revealed to be having an affair with at least two of them.
• Jerkass: The man is a creepy, hypocritical teacher who abuses his power to sleep with underage students.
• Race Fetish: Both of the students he is confirmed to have made out with are members of the Cool Asians clique.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Sleeps with underage girls as the Burn Book outed. Principal Duvall is not happy when he finds out.

Parents

Chip and Betsy Heron

Chip and Betsy Heron

Betsy: "Do you remember your phone number? I wrote it down for you just in case. Put it in your pocket, I don't want you to lose it. OK? You ready?"

Betsy: Where's Cady?

Chip: She went out.

Played by:

Neil Flynn (Chip) & Ana Gasteyer (Betsy) (2004 film)

Kerry Butler (Betsy) (2018 original Broadway cast)

Jenna Fischer (Betsy) (2024 film)

• Absent-Minded Professor: They are both academic sorts who have been traveling the world for their studies and homeschooling a daughter in the rural areas of Africa... and enroll her in a suburban school after barely getting acclimated into the country and its cultural nuances.
• Adapted Out: Chip doesn't appear in the 2024 version.
• All There in the Script: Although it's never mentioned anywhere in the film, the script shows that the names of Cady's parents are Chip (her dad) and Betsy Heron (her mom).
• Bumbling Dad: Mr. Heron. He doesn't even know what being grounded exactly means.
• Good Parents: Cady's parents are loving towards her, and always support her.
• Parents as People: They are good parents and likely academics. On the other hand, they homeschooled a daughter who hasn't been exposed to the nuances of U.S. culture long enough to know what she is getting into when they enroll her into a public high school in the suburbs. They are also shocked when she ends up being corrupted by the shallow, materialistic influences around her and breaks rules.
• You Are Grounded!: Subverted as they do not know what being grounded means, but they said this for word when they find out about her failing math.

Mrs. June George

June George

"I just want you to know, if you ever need anything, don't be shy, OK? There are no rules in the house. I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom."

Mrs. George: What kind of mother do you think I am? Why, do you want a little bit? Because if you're going to drink I'd rather you do it in the house.

Played by:

Amy Poehler (2004 film)

Kerry Butler (2018 original Broadway cast)

Busy Philipps (2024 film)

• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. In the original, she was vacuous and pathetically trying to be friends with her daughter and her friends, Gretchen and Karen, but mostly polite, pleasant and harmless and very lenient. In the 2024 film, while she still has most of these traits, she is the one who introduces the Burn Book, calling it the funniest thing the Plastics used to do.
• Affably Evil: Evil is a massive stretch, but she is very pleasant, lenient, and harmless (if somewhat ditsy and embarrassing to be around), even as the mother of a Alpha Bitch who pretty much runs the school.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: She felt this enough to get breast implants and she shows off her new cleavage every chance she gets.
• Dumb Blonde: She's a good-natured but very ditzy blonde woman who gets taken advantage of by her daughter.
• Extreme Doormat: Somehow she and her husband caved to Regina's demands to get their Master bedroom with the balcony and restroom. Also barely says a word whenever Regina mouths off to her.
• Hidden Depths: In the musical, at least, she's shown to miss the times when Regina looked up to her as a role-model as a child, and is visibly worried for Regina when she looses her social standing after being publicly humiliated.
• Mum Looks Like a Sister: She looks more like the mother of her grade schooler daughter rather than both that and the teenage Regina.
• Parents as People: Wants to be seen as cool and fun to her daughter and her friends but this led to having an angry daughter who has no productive outlet for her energy and uses it to mistreat people.
• Pink Means Feminine: She is first introduced in a soft pink tracksuit.
• Sleeping Single: According to Gretchen, Mrs. George and her husband no longer sleep in the same bed.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Mrs. George looks very beautiful, due to her plastic surgery keeping her from looking her age. The same can't be said for her overweight husband.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In the 2024 film, she's the one who tells Regina what Kalteen Bars actually do, setting her daughter's breakdown in motion, as well as the Burn Book being left out in the open for all the students of North Shore High to see.

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