Everything to know about High School Musical 4 , the fake movie reunion in final season of HSMTMTS
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Get'cha head in the game, because (most of) the original Wildcats are reuniting for High School Musical 4!
Well, kind of. Yes, High School Musical film stars Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel, Kaycee Stroh, Bart Johnson, and Alyson Reed are all reprising their original roles for a project titled High School Musical 4: The Reunion. But it's actually a fake movie at the center of the final season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, so you unfortunately won't be able to see it in full (in theaters or on Disney Channel and Disney+).
The scenes you do get to see in HSMTMTS, however, are definitely not sticking to the status quo. EW was on set last year in Salt Lake City, Utah during production on the final season, and creator Tim Federle and the stars revealed everything you need to know about HSM4.
Disney 'HSMTMTS' on Disney+
What is High School Musical 4?
The whole show-within-the-show concept isn't new for HSMTMTS, which has put on at least one student-led production each season. But the final season goes for broke with the East High drama department's production of High School Musical 3: Senior Year while a big Hollywood movie decides to shoot on location all over the school (and steal the auditorium) at the same time. Plus, the East High students starring in HSM3 also get cast as featured extras in HSM4. The drama ramps up when the movie and the musical become at odds, as students and stars are stretched thin across both projects and some of them also have to focus on what their futures hold as graduation approaches.
"Even I have trouble explaining what's happening this season, and I read every script and I'm here every day, so it's definitely confusing," Joshua Bassett, who plays Ricky, tells EW with a laugh. "But they do a really good job of making it clear in the show."
One of his favorite aspects of the fake movie within the show is how they were able to highlight real crew members who have been working on the series from the very beginning. "We actually are using a lot of the actual crew in the show now as fake crew members — literally our cameraman is the cameraman for the movie High School Musical 4," Bassett says. "It's just so trippy to me. And they're filming, normally, the stuff that you're never supposed to film, but it works because it's a movie within a show."
Who's returning?
Actors Bleu, Coleman, Grabeel, Cox, Johnson, and Reed are all playing fictional versions of themselves playing their original characters Chad Danforth, Taylor McKessie, Ryan Evans, Martha Cox, Coach Bolton, and Ms. Darbus. "It was nice to not be the oldest by so much for once," Kate Reinders, who plays drama teacher Miss Jenn, says with a laugh.
"Since season 1, we've all been manifesting that we would be able to really collaborate with the OG Wildcats," Julia Lester, who plays Ashlyn, says. "So to have them come back and be so excited to be a part of our show was really all of our wildest dreams from season 1 coming true. And they've been so supportive since day one."
disney+ Joshua Bassett and Sofia Wylie on 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series'
What was it like filming with the OG stars?
The new Wildcats loved getting to meet and work with the OG Wildcats, and it turned into a massive celebration of the franchise on set. "It was just so wonderful to share our mutual love for each other — I mean, they're just as much fans of the show as we are of their original movies, and so to have that reciprocated affection toward each other was really cool," Bassett says. "It was really, really special."
Sofia Wylie, who plays Gina, says that her favorite days on set were with the returning stars. "I remember Lucas Grabeel came up to all of us on his first day and he was like, 'This is so surreal for me because I'm a fan of you guys,'" she adds. "And we were all looking at each other like, 'What did he just say? He's a fan of us?!' He watches the show, and we've all grown up watching him and looking up to him as well as the rest of the OG cast, so it's really been such a pleasure."
The young actors will always remember the advice Reed gave to them on set. "She was just so wise and has so many stories and we all just listened to her in awe," Bassett says. "She told us about her life story and the journey she's been on and kind of just helping us remember what matters most in life."
"That was definitely a highlight for me as well, because she is so kind and so talented and so special and so unique," Wylie says. "And just hearing her stories about her life and her time in this industry has been really eye-opening to me. I hope I can take a lot of her advice with me for the rest of my career."
Dara Reneé, who plays Kourtney, was overjoyed to reunite with Coleman after working together on a previous project. "I've been a super fan since I was a little girl, and Monique has given me such great life advice and I just feel such a connection to her," she says. "To share a screen with her is just a dream come true and I'm so grateful. She was literally a pivotal point in me gaining my confidence and being sure of myself, so shout out to Monique Coleman, because she really pulled through and I love her so much."
And Reneé loved getting to carry on Coleman's legacy on the show. "Seeing her emotions come back up, because they haven't been at East High since High School Musical 3, I was glad to be able to share that with her," she adds. "She looked at me and I looked at her and I knew, wow, she created something so amazing, and now I get to follow in her footsteps next to her."
Frankie Rodriguez, who plays Carlos, says filming with all the OG HSM stars was a "surreal" experience. "I mean, I grew up with High School Musical, so to go into work, and then to see all of these people that basically shaped your childhood, it's the biggest manifestation I could have ever come up with," he adds. "And to see the way that they've embraced the show, it's just really nice."
Federle was especially moved to see how the original film stars got emotional while on set filming this season.
"I saw the admiration Corbin and Lucas and Monique and they all had for this cast, and they pulled me aside and they were like, 'These kids are real,'" he says. "It was so meaningful. I wanted the young actors in my show to see how grateful and grounded this group of original stars still are — they were playing like 70,000-seat stadiums at the height of High School Musical mania, and here they are, and they're just people — wonderful people. And so as Sofia and Dara's careers take off, and Josh is going to tour the world, and Julia Lester hopefully wins a Tony Award, I also want them to look and be like, 'Look at how grounded and real they are. They're still talking to the crew and they're still waiting in line for lunch.' Because life is too short for divas. We don't have any divas on set, we just have theater kids."
disney+ Lucas Grabeel
How have the characters changed?
Since it's been almost 20 years since their characters first debuted, the showrunner was excited to update one of them in a very specific, meaningful way — something that fans have been questioning ever since the first movie premiered.
"Right away in [the premiere], you see Lucas Grabeel as Ryan having this big journey where he has come out and is living happily with a partner who's played in a big cameo role by [Pentatonix's] Scott Hoying," Federle tells EW. "Lucas came up to me on set and said, 'I and my audience have been waiting for this for 15 years.' I think it's a really beautiful extension of the franchise, and very much to Disney's credit, they've let me do what I want to do here in Salt Lake City."
Lester was especially excited to see that Ryan was finally confirmed to be gay. "I'm a huge cheerleader of Ryan having a boyfriend," she says. "Everybody's been like, 'Someone needs to confirm that he's always been queer.' And it's so cool that our show gets to do that. And Scott Hoying playing Ryan's boyfriend is the greatest thing ever because I'm a huge fan of his."
But it's not just Ryan — fans will get to learn how all of the characters have grown up in the fictional movie. "We get to see that Chad and Taylor have stayed together, and Taylor is now the principal of East High," Lester says. "It's going to be really exciting for the audience to see what happened to these characters, because I think that the world has been itching for High School Musical 4 since the third one came out. It's been over a decade of wondering what happened to these characters, and now our show gets to reveal this is what happened in their lives."
Could a real version of HSM4 happen?
Federle isn't counting it out! While this is the final season of HSMTMTS, he still envisions a future for this universe beyond the series.
"Maybe this will actually launch the movie and then maybe we can get them all back," Federle says. "You heard it here first! But also I think, sometimes when you watch a movie from your childhood and you're like, 'Well, that's different than I remember,' in some ways I feel like Troy and Gabriella and Sharpay exist best in the crystal Jurassic Park amber of our memories when they were perfect. Maybe they just stay there. We'll see. Fate will tell me."
All eight episodes of the fourth and final season of HSMTMTS premiere Wednesday, Aug. 9, on Disney+.
These interviews were conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
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