Vanessa Hudgens Says Her Return to High School Musical 's East High Was 'for Old Time's Sake'

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Vanessa Hudgens will always be a Wildcat at heart.

After the 33-year-old actress raised eyebrows in June when she returned to East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico — where the beloved High School Musical movies were filmed — Hudgens set the record straight about why she was there.

However, much to the disappointment of fans, it had nothing to do with reprising her role as Gabriella Montez.

"My boyfriend was playing in Salt Lake — he's a baseball player," Hudgens told Entertainment Weekly of boyfriend Cole Tucker. "So he was at the field and I had rented a car and I was like, 'I want to go check it out and take some pictures for old time's sake.'"

This summer, The Princess Switch star shared an Instagram video of herself outside of East High. Quoting a line her character said in the first film, Hudgens captioned the post: "Do you remember in kindergarten how you'd meet a kid and know nothing about them, then 10 seconds later you're playing like you're best friends because you didn't have to be anything but yourself?"

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The following month, Hudgens' HSM costar Zac Efron also shared a photo of himself on the iconic school grounds.

"Don't you… Forget about me ✊🏼" he captioned the post, referencing another famous teen film, The Breakfast Club.

"What can I say? I'm a trendsetter," Hudgens told EW of Efron following her lead on social media.

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However, Hudgens played coy about her involvement in the upcoming fourth season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series after it was announced that  Monique Coleman, Bart Johnson,  Alyson Reed would be joining the Disney+ series.

It was already announced that Corbin Bleu, Kaycee Stroh and Lucas Grabeel would be back, after appearing in previous seasons of the Disney+ show.

"I don't know," she teased. "We leave it up to fate. Leave it up to the gods."

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Hudgens played Gabriella across three High School Musical films from 2006 to 2008. The first two movies aired on the Disney Channel while the third had a larger, theatrical release.

Ahead of the first High School Musical film's 15th anniversary last year, Hudgens said she can still "find joy" in hearing frequent references to the movie.

"It allows me to reminisce a bit and connect to my younger self," she told ABS-CBN in 2020. "That project opened up so many doors for me and I'll always be grateful for that."

Disney Channel/Everett

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In June, Hudgens spoke about the Disney Channel Original Movie's lasting legacy.

"The fact is kids are still watching it," she told Entertainment Tonight. "Kids are still being introduced to it. I just saw 'Gotta Go My Own Way' is trending on TikTok."

Hudgens added, "It never dies, thanks to you guys!"