What To Expect From ‘High School Musical 4’: Will Zac Efron Return?


High School Musical is a series of films that defined an entire generation. Aside from influencing teenagers and pre-teens alike, High School Musical also broke records.

In 2006, when the first High School Musical aired, roughly 7.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the film. Not only was that breaking television records, but the movie’s soundtrack went triple platinum. In 2007, High School Musical 2 did it again and broke the record for most-watched program on basic cable.

By the time High School Musical 3: Senior Year came out, Disney executives finally realized that it was big-screen worthy and gave it a theatrical release that grossed over $250 million, worldwide.

Since the series seemed to meet its end in 2008, with the main characters graduating, there have been rumors related to High School Musical 4 circulating. Would Disney be able to bring back the beloved series? Would they reboot it? Would Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens ever reprise their roles?

[ Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images ]
Recently, Disney confirmed that the fourth installment of High School Musical will hit the Disney channel sometime in 2017.

Immediately, there were rumors about the original cast coming back, though an interview with Zac Efron conducted by Mens Fitness made those rumors seem highly unlikely.

The fitness magazine indicated that Efron knew his fans, and movie-goers in general, “think he’s a jack*ss.” Efron explained to the publication that he wasn’t happy to be constantly associated with High School Musical.

“I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy’s *ss sometimes. Like, f*ck that guy. He’s done some kind of cool things with some cool people—he did that one thing [Neighbors] that was funny—but, I mean, he’s still just that f*cking kid from [High School Musical].”

Although many fans took his statements to mean that he hated his time in the High School Musical series, it seems as though Efron really just wanted to move on from the teen-based films so that he could move his career in another direction.

After posting a throwback photo to his Instagram roughly three weeks ago, however, people began to see that as a sign that he and Hudgens had put aside their differences in order to appear in High School Musical 4, as cameos at the very least.

[ Photo by Zac Efron Instagram ]
The picture showed four members of the original High School Musical cast: Efron, Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, and Ashley Tisdale. Underneath the photo, Efron wrote: “So grateful I came across this picture… With the o.g. crew during one of the most cherished and exciting times of my life. Love you guys forever. #fbf”

It’s still unclear as to whether or not fans can expect to see Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez return in some aspect. Some publications, such as GameNGuide, are reporting that the two actors have already been seen filming.

According to the interview in Mens Fitness, it’s unlikely that the rumors are true due to Efron’s incredibly busy schedule.

In the meantime, Tisdale has outright stated, according to New You, that she will not be returning.

Disney held open auditions this spring for people to fill the roles of the five new main characters of High School Musical 4, which is being referred to as a reboot.

It seems as though High School Musical 4 will follow a girl named Erin.

According to E! Online, Erin is the only girl soccer player on an all-boy team in high school. She falls for the bad-boy with a heart of gold, Derek, while dodging advances from the soccer team’s captain, Campbell (who is the cousin of Sharpay and Ryan Evans). She’s joined by her loyal best friend, Nathalie, and is up against a cut-throat queen bee cheerleader trying to claw her way to the top, Tamara.

There’s not much else known about High School Musical 4, but more information is surfacing every day.

[Photo by Tinseltown/Shutterstock]

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