The stars of Disney Channel’s “Zombies” love “High School Musical” just as much as you do

Between its story of forbidden romance and catchy AF song-and-dance numbers, there’s so much to love about Disney Channel’s latest original movie, Zombies. And that’s true off-screen, too: Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim, who play aspiring cheerleader Addison and zombie athlete Zed, respectively, have a deep appreciation for one of the great DCOMs to come before Zombies: High School Musical. 

If you ~thrived~ in the mid-2000s, then you definitely watched High School Musical and its two sequels over and over and over again — and, also, probably still remember all the moves to “We’re All in This Together.” (It’s like riding a bike, right?) You’ll be delighted to know that we can count Donnelly among us as a wannabe Wildcat.

“I watched High School Musical a gazillion times so I am sure I was influenced [while working on Zombies] in some way LOL,” Donnelly explained to HelloGiggles via email. Not only that, but High School Musical encouraged Donnelly’s love of performance.

“Seriously, I started going to Annie’s Playhouse, my theater school, right around the time HSM was on Disney Channel,” Donnelly continues. “That is when I started to dream about being in a Disney Channel Original Movie filled with song and dance. My dream came true and I still pinch myself because I can’t believe how lucky I am to be part of such a great movie like Zombies!”

Manheim echoed, “I used to reenact the entire show in my garage. I played every character and knew all the moves. We have some pretty hilarious home movies.” So like, we’ll get some of those moves in the Zombies blooper reel, right?

It’s always nice to see young stars have a deep appreciation for the C-L-A-S-S-I-C-S, and that’s *especially* true when talking Disney Channel and High School Musical.

Be sure to catch Zombies when it premieres on Disney Channel on Friday, February 16th.