Paramount+ Announces Cast for 'Grease' Prequel

By Daniel S. Levine

The Pink Ladies are riding again in Paramount+'s Grease prequel series, now titled Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. The streaming platform announced the show's cast on Monday, headlined by a crop of new talent. Rise of the Pink Ladies is set in 1954, four years before Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson fell in love.

In the series, four outcasts at Rydell High decide to have fun on their own terms, no matter what kind of moral panic they might cause. The cast includes Marisa Davila as Jane, Cheyenne Isabel Wells as Olivia, Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia, Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy, Shanel Bailey as Hazel, Madison Thompson as Susan, Johnathan Nieves as Richie, Jason Schmidt as Buddy, and Maxwell Whittington-Cooper as Wally. Jackie Hoffman, who recently earned an Emmy nomination for starring in Feud: Bette and Joan and was seen in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, will play Assistant Principal McGee.

Paramount+ ordered 10 episodes of the Paramount Television Studios series, which is already in production in Vancouver. The show is expected to premiere later this year. Annabel Oakes (Angel From Hell, Awkward.) serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner. Alethea Jones is directing three episodes, while Jamal Sims is the choreographer. The show also counts Marty Bowen of Temple Hill; and Adam Fishbach, Erik Feig and Samie Kim Falvey of Picturestart as executive producers. Grace Gilroy is a producer and Justin Tranter is an executive music producer. 

"We are thrilled to unveil our new original series that will introduce an incredible cast of young stars in the making and electrifying musical numbers you will fall in love with," Nicole Clemens, president of Paramount Television Studios & Paramount+ Original Scripted Series, said in a statement to Variety. "Annabel and Alethea have managed to brilliantly capture the spirit of the iconic beloved classic film which like Rise of the Pink Ladies, is both set in the past but relevant to the present."

Grease began life as a Broadway musical in 1971. It was later adapted into a movie in 1978, starring John Travolta as Danny and Olivia Newton-John as Sandy. A sequel starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Grease 2, hit theaters in 1982. Fox also aired a made-for-TV remake in 2016. Paramount is also working on a prequel film, Summer Lovin', directed by Brett Haley and written by Leah McKendrick.

There hasn't been much news on Summer Lovin' lately. In August 2020, Haley told CinemaBlend it would definitely be a musical. "I can't say much about it, but I can tell you, yeah it's going to be a full-on Grease musical," the Heart Beats Loud director said at the time. "I can tell fans of the franchise it's going to be really true to the movie and I also tell people who maybe don't like musicals that I think it'll be something that will be a wonderful experience and a wonderful, surprising, fun, feel-good, fully-realized journey. So I'm really excited about what we're cooking up, and it's a dream project for me. I feel really honored to have gotten it."

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