Copyright Us Weekly
If there were to be a Mean Girls sequel, Jonathan Bennett thinks his character, Aaron Samuels, should be straight. “I think Aaron would be straight because I wouldn’t want to change the narrative of Aaron Samuels because Jonathan Bennett is gay,” Bennett, 44. said during Entertainment Weekly’s preview of his upcoming appearance on the “I’ve Never Said This Before” podcast on Monday, November 3. “You would keep the narrative of Aaron Samuels because that’s the story.” Bennett publicly came out as gay in 2017. Three years later, he got engaged to his now-husband, Jaymes Vaughan. The couple tied the knot in March 2022. The actor noted that he was not the only one of his costars who publicly came out as members of the LGBTQIA+ community following the film. Daniel Franzese, who played Damian, publicly came out as gay in 2014, while Rajiv Surendra, who portrayed Kevin G, revealed he is gay four years later. “The three main guys all came out at some point which I thought was really funny,” Bennett reflected. “It’ just ironic in a way.” Mean Girls premiered in 2004, starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. Bennett played McAdams’ on-again, off-again boyfriend and Lohan’s love interest. While there hasn’t been any official talk of a Mean Girls sequel yet, Bennett shared that the topic has been a subject in the costars’ group chat. “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,” he said. “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 [on with] your lives… So it’s like, we would love to come back and bring the band back together.” Bennett joked that the question about whether there would ever be a sequel was “above” his “pay grade,” adding that the only person who could give a real answer is writer Tina Fey. However, Bennett does have some ideas for potential inspiration. If there were a sequel, Bennet visualizes Aaron becoming a teacher after high school and now is instructing his classmates’ children. “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 and it’s managing the parents with the kids in high school,” Bennett said. “It’s just in your face, like, that’s the storyline. It’s not rocket science.” Bennett added that if that storyline came to fruition, it would be great for new and old fans of Mean Girls. “You could have a storyline for all the parents who are the millennials that are fans of the movie [and] grew up with it,” he shared. “So they’re going to be attached to, like Lacey [Chabert], Amanda [Seyfried], 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 also joked that Fey should start writing the movie soon since he isn’t “getting any younger.”
