Olivia Rodrigo’s return to High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (the Disney+ show that first brought her to public attention last year) is currently up in the air, for very obvious reasons.
Chief among those being she is, of course, currently the biggest pop star in the world with the biggest songs in the world and shows no sign of stopping or slowing down any time soon.
Olivia stars as Nini Salazar-Roberts in the series, which acts as both a soft reboot, quasi-sequel and post-modern reimagining of the High School Musical cinematic universe, following the exploits of a group of students mounting a musical production of the titular show at the very high school in which the original films were set (while being followed by cameras, Parks and Rec style).
In the recent second season finale of the show, Olivia’s character was shown to be at something of a career crossroads, as she made a connection with a famous music producer. Fans are obviously questioning what the pop star’s presence in a potential third season of the show would look like, but it seems that things are all very TBD at the moment.
Speaking to EW.com, HSMTMTS showrunner Tim Federle admitted that there is “no specific plan” for how Olivia’s music career could affect a season 3 (which hasn’t been commissioned yet) due to contract negotiations he has no part in.
“I will say it’s hard to imagine High School Musical without Olivia, but Olivia is also experiencing a level of success and fame and opportunity that I would never want to stand in the way of,” he said. “I want the show to succeed, but the actors who make the show are always more important to me than the product.”
He went on to say: “I want Olivia to be happy. I’d love for her to keep making the show, but at the end of the day I’m there to be both the head cheerleader of my series and also read the moment and say, ‘Wow, what Olivia is going through feels so unprecedented that I just want to support her in all of her dreams.’”
Which seems like a lovely stance to have on the situation, right? Bosses everywhere, take note.
HSMTMTS also stars Joshua Bassett as Nini’s love interest and ex-boyfriend Ricky (the Troy to her Gabriella if you will), which adds just another layer of meta-commentary to the situation, given the accepted stance that Bassett is the inspiration behind much of Sour, including Number 1 hits ‘Drivers License’ and ‘Good 4 U.’
God! It’s brutal out here, etc etc.
High School Musical The Musical The Series is streaming now on Disney+.
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