Evan Rachel Wood explains why she turned down a Mean Girls role

In an alternate reality — perhaps the same one where Lindsay Lohan played the Regina George role and Rachel McAdams played Cady (yes, that was once an option) — Evan Rachel Wood of Westworld acclaim had a part in Mean Girls. But, as she explained to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, she turned it down.

“There’s a good reason,” she promised. “The only reason is because I was already supposed to do a film called Pretty Persuasion that was set in a high school, that was very Heathers-esque, and it was very similar [to Mean Girls].”

In Marcos Siega’s 2005 movie, Wood played a 15-year-old mean girl who causes chaos at her school when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment. It did not rise to the same acclaim as Mean Girls, however. But Wood found her own big sensation in Westworld, which is returning for season 2 on April 22.

“Tina, if you’re here, I’m so sorry we got off on the wrong foot,” Wood shouted into the Tonight Show studio.

Fey also appeared on The Tonight Show Thursday night in promotion of the Mean Girls musical on Broadway. She notably surprised fans who had been recording thank you notes to her, the same format Fallon used for Black Panther‘s Chadwick Boseman and former First Lady Michelle Obama.

“As long as the next movie you’re doing is not about a robot uprising, I will happily, happily [do it],” Wood added.