The Disney+ series is officially back in production!
Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme...
It's official! The spring musical the East High drama students will be putting on in season two of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series will be a beloved Disney classic: Beauty and the Beast.
Expected to debut in late 2020, the Disney+ series' upcoming 12-episode season will continue to feature iconic musical numbers from the High School Musical movie franchise, as well as the stage production of Beauty and the Beast. Like season one, which premiered new original songs such as "Just for a Moment," expect the sophomore season to include new bops.
"The outpouring of love and support for season one has been incredibly exciting, and I’m thrilled that the Wildcats are putting on Beauty and the Beast in season two," said creator Tim Federle. "It was one of the first Broadway shows I ever saw, when I was 14, and it's got all the perfect metaphors for the high school experience: Do people judge me for how I look? What is true love? Will I achieve the future I dream of? And, perhaps most importantly, it's got dancing forks."
Filming has already begun in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Watch the High School Musical: The Musical: The Series cast perform the title track to Beauty and the Beast below.
Following the freshman finale, Federle spoke to ET about whether he would be veering away from using High School Musical 2 as the framework for the second season (and High School Musical 3 for a hypothetical third season) as the series' in-show musical production.
"Definitely not abandoning. There are so many great songs in this entire franchise that I wouldn't be surprised if somehow we heard some of these, but in terms of expanding the universe, it's going to be hard for me to go past three seasons and all we did was High School Musical. And so I think even loosening some of the self-reference [would be nice]," Federle said in January.
"There will always be the Zac [Efron] and Vanessa [Hudgens] generation. And we really tried hard, not only to not take anything away from that but rather to celebrate that moment in time. But to get to the end of the season and see the internet light up about Carlos and Seb and Ricky and Nini and Gina and Kourtney and Big Red and Ashlyn has given me the strength and confidence to truly lean into saying this is a new generation, both as an audience and as a group of actors. There's over a thousand musicals a year that get done at high schools across the country. So why shouldn't we have our pick?"
Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, Matt Cornett, Sofia Wylie, Larry Saperstein, Julia Lester, Dara Reneé, Frankie Rodriguez, Joe Serafini, Mark St. Cyr and Kate Reinders star in the series.
The entire first season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is streaming now on Disney+.
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