There’s a new trailer for the meta High School Musical: The Musical: The Series—and yes, we’ll explain
Sure, our attention may still be on the Lizzie McGuire reboot or Disney’s newest animated movie, but there was another nostalgia-fueled project announced at this weekend’s wild D23 Expo. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is coming to Disney+, the channel’s upcoming subscription streaming service. So many colons, so many proper nouns. What is going on here?
Thanks to a new trailer and information released to the media, we can tell you. It’s going to get a little weird, so buckle up.
This 10-episode, uber-meta, mockumentary-style scripted series is set at East High, the actual Salt Lake City, Utah-based high school where the three original High School Musical movies were filmed. The series follows a group of East High students as they triple-threat their way through their school’s first-ever production of High School Musical: The Musical.
“When I heard that the high school where High School Musical was shot had never staged a production of High School Musical: The Musical, says Miss Jenn, the school’s drama teacher, in the trailer, “I was shocked, inspired, and triggered, as a millennial.
Along the way, “show-mances blossom; friendships are tested, while new ones are made; rivalries flare; songs are sung; and lives are changed forever as these young people discover the transformative power that only high school theater can provide,” according to a synopsis released to the media.
Tonally, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series feels very different from the original HSM movies, the first of which debuted 13 years ago. Where the OG HSM was earnest, sweet, and maybe overly sanitized, the new series is a little irreverent and more self-aware—in other words, appropriate for 2019’s audience of self-aware Gen Zers and “triggered millennials.”
On Twitter, the announcement got some mixed reactions: Some HSM fans are thrilled to return to Wildcat country, others are accepting of their inevitable fate as paying subscribers to the streaming service, but some are…not so into it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/status
I watched the first episode of High School Musical The Musical The Series, and it’s going to be great to watch with my kids. I loved it! It’s a 10 episode love letter to the original High School Musical!#D23Expo #HighSchoolMusical pic.twitter.com/X8sN2z0dNI
— Tania Lamb (@LolaLambchops) August 24, 2019
this is clearly just pandering to get me to subscribe to Disney+ and i am one-hundred percent here for it #flying #soaring #theresnotastarinheaventhatwecantreach #HighSchoolMusical https://t.co/QDtTcplVIi
— Eric Anderson, Jr (@EricAndersonJr) August 26, 2019
I’m not impressed or happy about this 😐 #HighSchoolMusical pic.twitter.com/qoXq1h7Ut6
— sage carrillo (@sageloven3) August 23, 2019
#HighSchoolMusical The Musical: the Series
Me: pic.twitter.com/p1OL6ZWcHi
— Silvia Laera (@SilviaLaera) August 25, 2019
New #HighSchoolMusical series: pic.twitter.com/zCmaMlXcLU
— Heather (@impossible_cut) August 20, 2019
We’re pretty curious about how the series will pan out, though we’ll have to wait a couple of months to find out: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series will premiere on November 12th, the same date that Disney+ launches.
“I basically have zero chill about this right now,” says one teen in the trailer. Same, unchill teen. Same.
