‘High School Musical’ Cast on Returning to the Disney Franchise

Getting their heads back in the game? More than a decade after the first High School Musical film aired on the Disney Channel, Zac Efron revealed that he’s open to putting his Wildcats uniform on once again.

“Of course, of course,” the 17 Again star told E! News in May 2022 when asked if he would consider reprising his role for a future High School Musical reboot. “I mean, to have an opportunity in any form to go back and work with that team would be so amazing. My heart is still there. That would be incredible. I hope it happens.”

The beloved Disney Channel Original Movie centers on Troy, a high school basketball star who meets shy, beautiful mathelete Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) while singing karaoke on winter break. When Gabriella ends up transferring to Troy’s high school — East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico — the pair threaten to upend the school’s status quo when they decide to audition for the school’s annual musical. But in order to land the role, they’ll have to beat resident theater kids Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale) and Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel) and convince their best friends Chad (Corbin Bleu) and Taylor (Monique Coleman) to try new things.

High School Musical spawned two sequels, released in 2007 and 2008 respectively, and was the inspiration for the Disney Channel series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, which premiered in November 2019.

While Efron might be interested in returning to East High, some of his costars are more hesitant. “I just feel like I wouldn’t be able to really do that again and give it justice,” Tisdale told Entertainment Tonight in August 2021 about playing Sharpay again. “You know what I’m saying? I think at that moment in time, I was very unaware of myself and my surroundings, and I feel like that’s a big part of Sharpay. She is just not really aware, and so as I grew up and became more aware, I think that it’s just something that it wouldn’t be the same.”

She continued: “It’s so good, and it’s like, for me, I would hate to ruin something that is perfect for that moment, and yeah, I don’t think I could go back to it.”

Three months later, Hudgens shared similar sentiments about a fourth High School Musical film with the outlet. “It was such a beautiful moment in time that so many people do hold so close and near and dear to their hearts, that I don’t know [if I’d return],” she told ET in November 2021. “It’s scary to mess with something like that, because it is so beloved. Someone’s got to write a script and send it to all of us, and if we like it, then who knows?”

Keep scrolling to see everything the High School Musical cast has said about reprising their roles: