Tina Fey on the One Rule She and Tim Meadows Had to Reprise ‘Mean Girls’ Roles

Tina Fey has revealed the one stipulation that she and Tim Meadows had about reprising their roles in the new Mean Girls movie.

It’s been nearly 20 years since Fey and Meadows initially starred as Ms. Norbury and Principal Duvall, respectively, in the 2004 film. But they decided to return as their iconic characters in the new movie musical adaptation, based on the 2018 Broadway musical, as long as they didn’t have to sing.

“I am reprising my role as Ms. Norbury because we thought, well, teachers work for a long time. So it might make sense if Tim and I did it,” Fey recently told People magazine. “So I called Tim and I was like, ‘Will you do it? I’ll do it if you do it.’ And we said, ‘Yes, as long as we don’t have to sing.'”

The actress-comedian added of working with Meadows again, “It was fun. It’s been nice to see Tim. One of us has aged — the other one of us is Tim Meadows! But it’s been really nice to get to work with Tim again.”

After the original film, written by Fey and starring Lindsay Lohan (Cady), Rachel McAdams (Regina), Amanda Seyfried (Karen) and Lacey Chabert (Gretchen), Meadows also reprised his role in the 2011 TV movie, Mean Girls 2, which Fey was not associated with.

The films follow Cady, a new high school student, who meets the A-list girl clique known as “The Plastics.” But the drama heats up when Cady falls for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina.

The movie musical, which Fey also wrote and produced, stars Angourie Rice (Cady) Renée Rapp (Regina), Anantika (Karen) and Bebe Wood (Gretchen).

The new Mean Girls film is now playing in theaters.