Jonathan Bennett would never turn down a chance to return to the Mean Girls universe — yes, it’s a multiverse, Tina Fey said so — but he would prefer that his iconic ladies man remain as such.
“I think Aaron would be straight,” Bennett tells host Tommy DiDario in Entertainment Weekly‘s exclusive preview of his upcoming appearance on the I’ve Never Said This Before podcast, when the host questions if he would want Aaron Samuels to be depicted as gay in a potential sequel, considering his own sexuality.
Bennett, who is over 20 years removed from playing the North Shore hottie who catches the eye of Lindsay Lohan‘s Cady Heron and Rachel McAdams‘ Regina George, points out that “almost all the guys” who play the major characters in Mean Girls have come out as queer since the film’s release, “which is just funny to me.”
Bennett, Daniel Franzese (who played Damian Leigh), and Rajiv Surendra (who played Kevin Gnapoor) were all closeted while making Mean Girls, and came out in 2017, 2014, and 2018, respectively.
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Jonathan Bennett and Rachel McAdams in ‘Mean Girls’
“I think Aaron would be straight because I wouldn’t want to change the narrative of Aaron Samuels because Jonathan Bennett is gay. You would keep the narrative of Aaron Samuels because that’s the story,” he reasons.
That’s not to say that Bennett doesn’t have ideas on what would happen should a sequel come to fruition. The Finding Mr. Christmas star acknowledges that no one has actually conceptualized the idea of a follow-up to the 2004 film, but says the desire to reprise their original roles is there for “99 percent of the cast.”
Bennett tells DiDario, “I don’t think there’s been an actual conversation between us that I can remember. But, like, in the group chat, do we want to do it? Yes. It’s just, we did that movie 22 years ago, so it’s like… everyone grows up. We were kids shooting this movie. And then you grow up and get your lives… So it’s like, we would love to come back and bring the band back together. It’s just way above my pay grade. That’s a Tina Fey question.”
And if Fey gives a sequel the green light, Bennett shares that he believes his character would have become a teacher in the decades since the original film.
“Why don’t we just do the movie everyone wants; we all come back, I’m a teacher at the school, the girls are grown up [and] have their own kids, and now their daughters are coming to school,” Bennett suggests, adding that the film’s plot would center on the parents’ of the kids in school as they’re the former Mean Girls. “It’s just in your face, like, that’s the storyline. It’s not rocket science.”
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The actor quips that as someone that does Hallmark Channel movies, he thinks “a lot about multi-generational viewing,” which would be a perfect way for both new and old fans of Mean Girls to enjoy a sequel.
“You could have a storyline for all the parents who are the millennials that are fans of the movie [and] grew up with it; so they’re going to be attached to, like Lacey, Amanda, me. And then you have the kids who are the new [stars] for their kids to be watching, so they can identify with those kids,” Bennett pitches.
DiDario jokes that Bennett is “such a producer,” which the star takes on the chin, adding, “Tina, write [the movie]. I ain’t getting any younger, sweetie.”
Jojo Whilden/Paramount Christopher Briney as Aaron Samuels in ‘Mean Girls (2024)’
Mean Girls — based on the 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman — has become a modern classic, and inspired a Broadway musical that ran from 2017 to 2019, which laid the foundation for Fey’s 2024 movie musical adaptation starring Angourie Rice in the role of Cady, with Reneé Rapp in the role of Regina.
Bennett passed the torch of Aaron Samuels to The Summer I Turned Pretty star Christopher Briney for the film, who called the role a “dream.”
As for the possibility of a sequel that features the original stars, Fey previously said she tried to bring back all four actresses for the movie musical but “it didn’t come together.”
“I have a feeling Paramount would love that. I have not really thought much about that,” Fey told The New York Times in January 2024. “To me, part of why the stakes are so high in the story is because everyone’s so young and feelings are huge, love is huge and friendship is huge in a way [that it isn’t with] middle-aged moms. I love writing about middle-aged people, but I don’t know.”
Watch the clip of Jonathan Bennett on the I’ve Never Said This Before podcast above. The full episode drops on Tuesday.
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