‘High School Musical’ Cast Members Weigh In on Possible Returns to the Franchise: ‘My Heart Is Still There’

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‘High School Musical’ Cast Members Weigh In on Possible Returns to the Franchise: ‘My Heart Is Still There’

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. [jwplayer On9XyurG-zhNYySv2] 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: [podcast_block]

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Zac Efron

"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 Firestarter star told E! in May 2022.

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Vanessa Hudgens

More than a decade after the first film premiered, Hudgens revealed that she felt too much time had passed for her to play Gabrielle Montez once more. "I mean, I'm 28," she told E! News in March 2017. "I could be a teacher, but I refuse to be a teacher! I'm still a teenager at heart. So probably not with me, but I'm excited to see what they whip together."

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Vanessa Hudgens

The Princess Switch star echoed those sentiments two years later during a conversation with J-14. “They’re already making a [new] High School Musical and I think their spin on it is so smart,” she said in November 2019, about HSM:TM:TS. “I love what they’re doing. [The original film] was a moment in time that was really special. I’ll always be grateful for it, but let’s let it be that moment in time.”

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Ashley Tisdale

“Looking back, it was such a perfect thing for its time and was so pure that I just don’t know how you go from there,” Tisdale told New You in June 2016 about possibly making a fourth movie. “High School Musical didn’t make us, we made High School Musical because of our friendship, how close we were, and the magic there at the time.”

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Ashley Tisdale

In November 2018, the Phineas and Ferb star revealed that she didn't think she could replicate her performance a decade after she first played Sharpay. “I honestly don’t think I would [do another one]. I don’t know if I could fill her shoes again," Tisdale told E! News. “I’ve matured so much, I just don’t know if I could give her justice — Sharpay — and be that character again. And I would hate to not have it be great.”

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Lucas Grabeel

Tisdale's onscreen brother, however, is much more open to the idea of being a Wildcat once more. “Yeah, of course [I would]," Grabeel told J-14 in September 2017. "If Disney calls, my door is always open,” he said at the time. “We work well together.”

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Monique Coleman

"I love Taylor and I feel like I learned a lot from [playing] Taylor," Coleman told Entertainment Tonight in December 2021 about a fourth HSM movie. "I can't imagine what that story would be like, but I can't say that it's not possible. You never know."

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Corbin Bleu

Bleu confessed that he would play Chad once more, just for the chance to work with his former castmates once more. "Obviously, when it comes to the relationships of all of us in the cast, we went through so much," he told ET in December 2021. "Such a life-changing time together, obviously that created these very strong root relationships that any time I see anyone it's just a lovefest. So getting a chance to work together again would be wonderful."