Summary
- High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 4 will feature a reunion of the original High School Musical cast, including Lucas Grabeel and Corbin Bleu, in a meta storyline. Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, and Ashley Tisdale may also make appearances.
- The fourth season of the series will be released all at once on August 9, 2023, following a Netflix-style binge-watch format. This is a new release strategy for Disney+.
- Olivia Rodrigo, the original series lead, will not be returning for season 4 due to her busy schedule. The story will revolve around the cast and crew of the High School Musical movies filming a sequel, as well as the theater students staging a production of High School Musical 3.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is back for season 4 on Disney+ with an iconic returning cast and an exciting new storyline – and this time, all the episodes will be released at once. Rather than taking place in the films’ universe like most TV shows based on movies, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series instead adapts the cultural phenomenon of the movies themselves. It takes place in a fictionalized version of East High School, where the High School Musical movies were filmed, as the students mount a stage musical adaptation of the original film (and later Beauty and the Beast and, at summer theater camp, Frozen).
The TV show departs from the style of the High School Musical movies with its mockumentary format. But, just like the movies it’s based on, the series is a love letter to the passion and commitment of theater students. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series was one of the earliest hit original shows on Disney+, launching the career of its breakout star Olivia Rodrigo and drawing a whole new generation of fans to the High School Musical franchise. After three hugely successful seasons on the streaming service, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is back for its fourth and final season.
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HSMTMTS Season 4 Latest News
With this being the last season of the series, the best piece of High School Musical season 4 news would be a full original High School Musical cast reunion. That could be exactly what’s slated to happen in season 4 of the Disney+ series. The meta show has referenced the roles and real-life careers of actors in the High School Musical franchise throughout its run. Several cast members, most notably Lucas Grabeel and Corbin Bleu, have appeared in the show in the past. One clip teases the possibility of more cast members appearing.
The video clip released on official Disney+ social media accounts features Grabeel, Bleu, Monique Coleman, and Kaycee Stroh performing in character for a High School Musical reunion movie. Part of the performance teases that Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, and Ashley Tisdale could be making an appearance while their characters of Gabriella, Troy, and Sharpay are missing in action. Getting the three of them to appear in the final season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series would certainly be a great capper to the show.
Disney also dropped a teaser trailer for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 4. The teaser hints at some of the storylines that will be explored in the new season, like Ricky and Gina’s burgeoning relationship and the theater students’ production of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. The trailer gives audiences a glimpse at some of the actors returning from the High School Musical movies as well.
HSMTMTS Season 4 Release Date
The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 4 release date is August 9, 2023. The series will premiere on Disney+. Whereas the previous seasons released their episodes weekly, like a traditional TV series, season 4 will have more of a Netflix-style all-at-once release. On August 9, Disney+ will drop all eight episodes of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 4, allowing fans to binge-watch the new season if they so choose. This is a new release strategy that Disney is testing out with its streaming content.
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HSMTMTS Season 4 Cast
The cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 4 will feature returning actors from the previous seasons of the show, promising new additions to the ensemble, and a bunch of familiar faces from the High School Musical movies. High School Musical season 4 stars Joshua Bassett as Ricky Bowen and Sofia Wylie as Gina Porter, whose blossoming romance will be explored further. The main cast also features Julia Lester as Ashlyn Caswell, Dara Reneé as Kourtney Greene, Frankie Rodriguez as Carlos Rodriguez, Liamani Segura as Emmy, and Kate Reinders (who returns to the main cast after recurring in season 3) as Miss Jenn.
Since the season revolves around a meta reunion of the original movies’ cast, a few familiar faces from the films will pop up in the High School Musical season 4 cast, all playing versions of themselves. These returning movie actors will include Corbin Bleu, who played Chad Danforth; Monique Coleman, who played Taylor McKessie; Lucas Grabeel, who played Ryan Evans; Bart Johnson, who played Coach Jack Bolton; Alyson Reed, who played Ms. Darbus; and Kaycee Stroh, who played Martha Cox. There will also be guest appearances by Joe Serafini as Seb Matthew-Smith, Mark St. Cyr as Benjamin Mazzara, Adrian Lyles as Jet, and Larry Saperstein as Big Red.
There are a couple of new actors joining the sprawling ensemble in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 4. Kylie Cantrall, the star of Gabby Duran & The Unsittables, will play a social media star named Dani. Matthew Sato, the star of Doogie Kamealoha M.D., will play a sitcom actor named Mack. Scott Hoying, best known as a member of a cappella group Pentatonix appears in the High School Musical season 4 cast as a member of the reunion movie cast, playing the partner of Ryan Evans. Other recurring cast members include Caitlin Reilly as Quinn and Vasthy Mompoint as Krystal. Saylor Bell Curda will guest-star in the season as Maddox, while Matt Cornett will guest-star as E.J. Caswell.
Clips from the series have teased the possible appearances of original High School Musical cast members Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, and Ashley Tisdale, though none of them are officially listed as members of the cast. All three have expressed their gratitude for the movies and Efron and Hudgens even visited the real-life high school where they filmed the movies in 2022, prompting speculation that they could appear in High School Musical season 4. Vanessa Hudgens has previously said she would "leave it up to fate" when asked about appearing in the High School Musical series.
Will Olivia Rodrigo Return For HSMTMTS Season 4?
The original series lead, Olivia Rodrigo, left the main cast of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series after season 2 and had a brief role in season 3. Unfortunately, there is no High School Musical season 4 news indicating Rodrigo will be reprising her role as Nini Salazar-Roberts. Showrunner Tim Federle told Entertainment Weekly that Rodrigo had gotten too busy to continue working on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. After Rodrigo’s debut studio album Sour became a huge hit, she was launched to stardom and embarked on a tour that conflicted with the show’s filming schedule. Federle said that the intention with season 3 was to give Nini “a proper send-off.”
HSMTMTS Season 4 Story Details
The story of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 4 will get more meta than ever. The cast and crew of the High School Musical movies return to East High School to film the long-awaited sequel, High School Musical 4: The Reunion. During the shoot, the show’s characters get the chance to appear as extras in the new movie. At the same time, the theater students are mounting a new production, this time turning High School Musical 3: Senior Year into a stage musical. Season 4 will also follow Ricky and Gina’s blossoming romance, which has been brewing since the beginning of the series.
The High School Musical season 4 story also features most of the main cast in their senior year of high school. The group's own stories will mirror that of High School Musical 3, the same musical they are supposed to be staging, as they all look to the future. Characters will be deciding on colleges and evaluating their relationships.
HSMTMTS Season 4 Trailer
The full-length High School Musical season 4 trailer debuted just three weeks before the series was scheduled to drop on Disney+. This trailer added a bit more detail to the story already teased in the shorter trailer, allowing for better looks at new cast members, the original High School Musical cast in action, and just how emotional the final season of the series will be. The High School Musical season 4 trailer places a special focus on the real East High seniors moving on as Courtney examines her collegiate options and Ricky reminisces about how much his friends believing in him has made a difference.
Though High School Musical season 4 is sure to be full of nostalgia for adults who grew up watching the original movie, it’s also going to be a bittersweet ending for the modern audience watching it now. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series teases that perfect blend of nostalgia with the original movie cast and moving on with the TV series cast.
