How 'HSMTMTS' Addressed Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale's Absence in Season 4

Series creator Tim Federle exclusively tells PEOPLE where he thinks Troy, Gabriella and Sharpay are now

Warning: This post contains spoilers from the final season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series reunited several OG Wildcats for its fourth and final season — though a few faces were noticeably missing on screen.

Season 4 followed the fictional filming of High School Musical 4: The Reunion, with Corbin Bleu (Chad), Monique Coleman (Taylor), Lucas Grabeel (Ryan) and Kaycee Stroh (Martha) reprising their characters from the original movies as they attended their high school reunion.

Federle previously told PEOPLE in 2022 that an invitation had been extended to all of the original HSM stars to appear in season 4, but he noted at the time, “It's a matter of juggling and holding my breath and praying and lighting candles and seeing who wants to come play with us."

Ultimately, Zac Efron (Troy), Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella) and Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay) didn’t reprise their iconic roles — but their characters were still mentioned a few times during the season.

Related: 'HSMTMTS' Season 4: Everything to Know About the Final Season

In the opening number “High School Reunion” sung by the OG HSM stars, Martha gave a quick nod to their absence when Coach Bolton (Bart Johnson) asked if she’d seen them around the school, to which she quipped, “They have been silent in the group chat.”

Related: Corbin Bleu on His 'HSM' Family and Returning to East High for 'HSMTMTS' Season 4: 'I Started Crying'

During a later scene when Bleu met with the East High drama club, he gave an update on everyone’s characters in the fictional High School Musical movie: Taylor and Chad are happily married, Martha is a world-famous choreographer, Ryan is partnered with Pentatonix singer Scott Hoying and getting ready to welcome twins, and Gabriella and Troy are still together but in “couples therapy.”

Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE, series creator Tim Federle notes that even though he was able to write new endgames for the beloved characters, he was really adamant about staying as true to the original franchise as possible.

“I always felt like I was being handed a franchise that I wanted to put away either as intact as when I found it, or at least different with a new generation twist,” Federle says. “I really wanted the endorsement of the OGs and they were so cool to play.”

Related: Look Back at All the 'High School Musical' Cast Reunions Over the Years

In fact, he enlisted the help of the original stars to write their new storylines. “When I had them on set, I was like, ‘What is most important to you?’” he recalls. “Because I had written something for Kaycee and she was like, ‘I think Martha would be a world-famous choreographer.’ I was like, ‘Put it in the script.’”

“It really was about High School Musical was an extraordinary thing in all of their lives,” he says. “[But] also, they've had these big lives outside and their own heartbreaks and successes and ups and downs.”

Though the new season didn’t explicitly mention what Sharpay has been up to, Federle suggests she’s on a similar career path to Tisdale.

“She's now a full CEO and I think she's a Goop competitor that's about to IPO,” he says, adding the pink-loving theater girl definitely “consulted on Barbie and coached Margot [Robbie] through” her character. “I think she's a businesswoman, of course.”

Related: 'HSMTMTS' Cast Reflect on Show's Legacy Ahead of Final Season: 'Best Times of My Life' (Exclusive)

When Federle spoke with PEOPLE on set last year, he noted that his main goal in creating the series was that people would fall in love with the new generation of Wildcats.

“I always had a bet about this series, which is in the beginning, the fans would say, ‘Where are Troy and Gabriela?’ And that I always hoped that by the end of the first season, they would say, ‘I love Ricky and Nini and Gina and Big Red and Kourtney and all of them,’” he recalled of breakout stars Joshua Bassett, Olivia Rodrigo, Sofia Wylie, Larry Saperstein and Dara Reneé.

“What's been so heartening after all these years is seeing how these kids have really ascended the throne and now are really the center of the show. So as fun as it is to have the OGs back, and we would not have a show without them, this really is Josh and Sofia and Dara and all of their show now.”

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All four seasons of HSMTMTS are now streaming on Disney+.

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