Midway through shooting Season 4 of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” creator Tim Federle told Disney he was turning in the final script for the Disney+ musical comedy.
He recalled telling Disney+ executives, “You’re going to get to the end [of 408], and it’s going to feel like I’ve wrapped the series. And that’s on purpose,” Federle told TheWrap.
“We mutually decided in this streaming era, when so few shows even go beyond two seasons, that we might as well go out on top with a complete story rather than ending on a cliffhanger,” Federle explained. “I’m really grateful that we got to end on our terms.”
Thus marks the end of one of the most ambitious shows ever brought to streaming. “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” which dropped its final season on Wednesday, premiered in 2019 as one of Disney+’s flagship series. The mockumentary initially followed a group of high schoolers at East High as they put on a stage production of the Disney Channel original movie, “High School Musical.” Four years later, it ended as the group of high schoolers performed a stage version of”High School Musical 3: Senior Year” while their real senior year was disrupted by a Disney-certified “High School Musical” reunion that’s looking for featured extras. The students have to balance their on-stage production, theatrical roles, secret romances and the headache that is senior year all at once.
“I don’t know how we out-meta Season 4,” Federle joked.
“I think we had an idea that it was coming to a close,” Joshua Bassett, who has played Ricky since Episode 1, told TheWrap in an interview conducted prior to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. “It was very sad. I mean, it’s a good thing that it was sad, because it means that it impacted us and it was meaningful.”
Bassett recalled “soaking it all in” during his last day on set. “You start to really appreciate everything, which sucks that it takes the show ending to appreciate things. But it’s true,” the actor and singer said, noting that there were “a lot of tears” at the end.
For Sofia Wylie, who’s played Gina from Episode 1, the entire experience pushed her to expand her creative boundaries. Prior to joining the show the only connection Wylie had to music was dance.
“I didn’t do music at all, I didn’t sing at all. It was all very new to me,” Wylie told TheWrap in an interview prior to the strike. “Getting to be surrounded by amazing musicians like Josh and the rest of the cast, it really exposed me to how exciting that world of songwriting and composure can be. I’ve really been diving into it more in this past year.”
It’s not a world that’s new to her anymore. Throughout the interview, Bassett repeatedly sang Wylie’s musical praises, complimenting the original pieces she wrote on the piano and admitting to listening to her songs “for fun.” In fact, when Bassett was trying to figure out his own album, he trusted his co-star to drive around with him for “like an hour and a half” as he played her every demo.
Perhaps more than anything, it’s that bright-eyed optimism that will be this show’s legacy. When asked about their futures, both Bassett and Wylie said that they were open to doing more musicals. “I’ve always talked about how I want to bring back ‘Catch Me If You Can’ the musical. I also want to bring back ‘Footloose’ the Musical,” Bassett revealed. But more than that, both stars want to push themselves further.
“There’s just so many different things I want to do in life that I’m like, ‘Who knows, really, exactly what’s next?’” Bassett said. “That’s the beauty of 2023, I feel like there’s little limitation to what we can do.”
Even though Bassett apologized for giving the most “non-interview answer ever,” Wylie echoed his enthusiasm, noting that she was open to everything from acting and producing to directing and writing.
“I never, ever want to constrict myself. Like you’re saying, 2023, there are so many fewer restrictions, not even in this industry or as an individual but in the world,” Wylie said. “We’ve just exited a period of time where everyone was confined by a lot of rules… The possibilities are endless.”
That also applies to the future of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.” Though Federle has several other projects lined up, including upcoming shows at Hulu and Disney+, he said he was open to returning to his flagship comedy.
“Whether we formally do a big, old college spin-off on Hulu or something like that, that is for fate to decide. Honestly, that, in some ways, is for the audience to decide, just in terms of how many people show up to watch the show,” Federle said. “But for now, I think this is really the end of an era. You can’t stay in high school forever.”
All episodes of “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” are now streaming on Disney+.
