‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’ Cast Explains the Bigger, Better Season 2

One of the absolute wildest shows on television is about to get even wilder. After a breakout first season and the meteoric rise of one of its stars, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is finally set to return this May, and once again it’s subverting expectations. Instead of doing High School Musical 2, the East High team is putting on a production of Beauty and the Beast.

Half a meta exploration into the High School Musical universe, half a thrilling teen saga in its own right, HSM:TM:TS doesn’t stand out only because of its title. Thanks to its endlessly talented cast, whip-smart writing, and catchy musical numbers, the comedy has emerged as one of the most heartwarming shows on television. Ahead of the Season 2 premiere, Decider spoke to series creator Tim Federle as well as its stars Joshua Bassett, Matt Cornett, Julia Lester, and Larry Saperstein about this season’s path to competitive high school theater.

But first, the platinum elephant in the room. While Season 2 was in the middle of production, something happened that will forever change the history of this show: Olivia Rodrigo released “drivers license.” Shortly after its release, Taylor Swift posted on Instagram about the song. That’s when Rodrigo’s name and voice became household staples.

Even though this song is believed to be about the romantic relationship and falling out between Rodrigo and her co-star Joshua Bassett, Federle says the two were nothing but professional on set. “I did not feel the material impact anything other than everybody, including Josh, being exceptionally excited for Olivia with this crazy rocket ride,” Federle said.

As for how “drivers license” affected High School Musical: The Musical: The Series‘ popularity, that’s a whole other topic. “I know it’s certainly impacted album streams,” Federle revealed. “I don’t always love the algorithm, but the algorithm is such that she has one single, and then all of a sudden ‘All I Want’ starts playing and I think people are like, ‘Wait what’s this?’ They’re picking up their phone and they’re going, ‘Wait, High School Musical?’ I’m aware that with a series called High School Musical: The Musical: The Series there will always be a portion of people who are like, ‘That’s a no for me, dawg.’ But I think there are enough people who are either amused by, alarmed by, or confused by the title who then realize the next big true pop stars are in the show and have begun sidling into it. Some of my favorite tweets are the many people who are like, ‘I started watching this show as a joke and now somehow I’m on episode 107.'”

And now is a great time for new fans to hop on board. Whereas Season 1 largely revolved around staying true to the series’ High School Musical roots, this season feels more confident in becoming its own thing. This can be felt in everything from the series’ increase in original songs, to how this season focuses on the whole cast rather than just Nini (Rodrigo) and Ricky (Bassett).

“We came into Season 2 feeling like, what can we do better? What can we do bigger? But how can we stay true to our Waiting for Guffman, Christopher Guest roots?” Federle said. “It starts with the cast. Then the writers room, there was a real investment made. It’s a largely female writers room largely made up of women of color, and the voices and authenticity and truth that these incredible writers brought to the table everyday I think really made their way on screen, which was intentional because I wanted to see Dara [Reneé] step into the limelight, as she should, and have a character who isn’t only defined by her relationship to Nini, for instance.”

This expansion also meant exploring some heavier topics for the main cast. “Ricky and EJ are less focused on themselves and their needs,” Bassett said. “In Season 1, [they] were maybe not thinking about other people when they were doing what they were doing. Now there’s other people involved in their life… They’re learning how to be with other people and just grow up.”

“Learning that there’s more people in the world than themselves is a great, great note for both of them,” Cornett, who plays EJ, added. “They do have different journeys, but also the way that they kind of navigate those journeys are pretty similar. Just like Matt and I are very similar and navigate our own journeys in real life.”

But the biggest change this season has to do with Julia Lester’s Ashlyn and Larry Saperstein’s Big Red. Last season Ashlyn and Big Red were confined to the sidelines. Big Red was Ricky’s best friend and counsel; Ashlyn was the quiet girl playing Ms. Darbus. That changed with Season 1’s finale, which ended with the two sharing a sweet kiss. This season ups the ante on their budding romance, making Ashlyn and Big Red’s relationship just as important as Nini and Ricky’s.

“The characters are going on this journey of self discovery, figuring out the things that make them happy and what they love and what their passions are. They bring out the best in each other and see the best in each other, which is really important for where they’re at in their lives,” Saperstein said. “So it was wonderful to go on that journey and to be in that vulnerable state as Big Red and watch him grow a little bit through this relationship was really fun.”

“I was really excited to explore these two characters together because this season does such a great job of exploring who each character is as an individual. Getting to explore that side of things while also getting to explore who Big Red and Ashlyn are together as two people is really wonderful,” Lester said. “The relationship is starting off on a really strong note with the beginning of Season 2.”

But just because the production this season is Beauty and the Beast, don’t think you know the songbook. There will be plenty of High School Musical 2 callbacks as well as a ton of original songs. “I thought it would be really fun and funny for Josh to sing ‘Bet On It’ and to recreate some of Efron’s classic moves. There’s beautiful music in High School Musical 2 that was fun to reinvent as a more acoustic stripped down medley,” Federle revealed. “There’s only so many Vanessa Hudgens references you can make before it feels like all we’re doing is self promoting. So we wanted to flex and expand. But that is all to say you can’t do a High School Musical show without singing ‘You Are the Music in Me.'”

Likewise the original music this season is only going to get more ambitious. Federle recalled that when he was working on Season 1, he though that High School Musical classics like “Stick to the Status Quo” would be the ones that would resonate the most. That wasn’t the case. “What we actually found was ‘All I Want’, ‘Just for a Moment’, ‘Born to Be Brave’ — these songs really broke out. They got onto like a lot of depression and exercise playlists. So this season it was like, ‘Let’s push it even further.’ It’s more original songs, and it allows characters, surprising characters, guest actors, to flex their vocal chops as well. It allows a character like Sofia Wylie’s Gina to sing her own solo as she long overdo deserves to.”

“I’m just so excited for season two. I think that there’s just going to be so many surprises that people aren’t prepared for,” Lester said.

“Bigger and better,” Saperstein added.

The first episode of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Season 2 premieres this Friday, May 14, on Disney+. New episodes will premiere on Disney+ Fridays.

Watch High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Disney+