‘High School Musical’ Series Creator Tim Federle on Crafting That Ending, the Original Movie Stars’ Cameos and Why Olivia Rodrigo Didn’t Return
variety.comHunter Ingram SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the fourth and final season of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” now streaming on Disney+. The Wildcats of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” have taken their final bow.
The Disney+ extension of the popular movie musical trilogy concluded this week with an eight-episode fourth season that found its cast performing a stage — or rather, basketball court — production of 2008’s “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.” Members of that film’s original cast returned to East High to shoot the fictional “High School Musical 4: The Reunion.” Although the original films have had a presence since the pilot episode — the series is set at the high school where the films were shot — the final season is the show’s most meta endeavor yet. “I think that’s one reason we wrapped up the show, or why I wanted to wrap up the show, because how do you out-meta Season 4?” creator Tim Federle tells Variety.
The final season brought to a close what has been an impressive run for the spin-off, which launched the careers of its young cast, including Grammy winner Olivia Rodrigo, Tony nominee Julia Lester and Joshua Bassett.
In the final episodes, the new Wildcats found themselves making big decisions about their post-high-school futures. Gina (Sophia Wylie) segued her surprise casting in “HSM 4” into a starring role in a new adaptation of “Romeo & Juliet” — and cornered the director into filming in New Mexico so she could finish out her senior year at East High.
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