‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’ Showrunner Reveals Why Original ‘High School Musical’ Stars Missed Final Season Cameo

The fourth and final season of  was another nod to the trilogy that started it all, but three original stars were noticeably absent from the eight-episode season. It was previously announced that Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel, Kaycee Stroh, and Bart Johnson, among a few others, would be making cameos in the hit Disney+ series for the final season. The premise was that they would be filming a fourth High School Musical movie at East High with the students serving as extras. Despite it being labeled as a reunion movie, Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale did not return.

Fans had been hoping that the trio would come back, especially since all three had previously recalled their East High days on social media, whether it was going back to the actual East High in Utah or creating TikToks with the songs. Alas, that was not the case, but it’s not because they didn’t want to. They simply didn’t have time, according to showrunner Tim Federle in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. 

“It was definitely discussed,” Federle shared. “Here’s my fully transparent answer: First of all, Zac is busy. He has 20 movies going. Second of all, Ashley’s in LA launching a very successful line of products, and she’s a new mom, and she’s launching her own show at CBS. Vanessa’s super busy and so gracious.”

While it was great seeing the others cameo in Season 4 of HSMTMTS, it was a disappointment that those three weren’t able to, and a full didn’t happen, but the reasoning makes sense. Even so, Federle explained that it actually all worked out in the end since he “felt like if I bring back too many of the OGs, that’s going to be the story.” He didn’t want the focus to be taken away from the cast of the Disney+ series, which wouldn’t be a good thing for the final episodes.

The High School Musical trilogy ended in 2008 with High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and since then, there have been numerous attempts at another movie or even a show, as Disney+ was even developing a spinoff series before High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. It’s unknown if we will ever actually get HSM 4 or another , but at least fans can somewhat watch it on the final season of HSMTMTS now on Disney+, even if Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale aren’t in it.