‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’ Star Julia Lester Isn’t Afraid to Get Serious

Don’t be fooled by High School Musical: The Musical: The Series‘ delightful renditions of “Belle” and “Bet on It.” This Disney+ show isn’t afraid to get serious. In Season 2’s third episode, “Valentine’s Day,” Ashlyn (Julia Lester) reflects on what it means to be cast as Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Underneath the excitement of her peers is a heartfelt discussion about typecasting, fear, and body positivity.

Ashyln’s insecurities are explored well before Episode 3. During the audition episode, cleverly titled “Typecasting”, Ashlyn repeatedly tells her friends that she’s a shoe-in for Mrs. Potts and that she’s confident the new girl Lily (Olivia Rose Keegan) will get Belle. Each of these declarations are said with the resigned air of someone who has accepted they won’t get what they want. But when Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders) casts Ashlyn as Belle it opens up a whole new can of nervous worms. Despite reassurances from her friends and cast-mates that she’s perfect for the role, Ashlyn spends most of Episode 3 quietly doubting herself. It’s a conversation most women who have grown up alongside Disney princesses will understand.

It all comes to a head in an aside to the camera early in the episode. “I know who I am. I’m proud of who I am,” Ashlyn says. “But I’ve seen the movie a hundred times. Belle has a certain look. It’s iconic, and that look isn’t really me. And sometimes that feels complicated.”

“I think it’s a really important story to tell and something that, a lot of people can relate to, something that I’ve related to in the past,” Lester told Decider when asked about Ashlyn’s self doubt this season. “Just to be able to portray a story that someone can take something away from is really special. It’s a really important arc for for Ashlyn, and it was just really cool to get the opportunity to dig deeper into into parts of Ashlyn that we haven’t seen before.”

According to series creator Tim Federle, Ashlyn was cast as Belle early in the Season 2 writing process. “I think Julia’s really beautiful and really modern. Julia represents the best of today,” Federle said.

“One of the cool things about high school theater is that you sometimes play roles that are less on-the-nose casting than what Hollywood or even Broadway would do,” Federle explained. “And so I loved the opportunity to show Ashlyn step into the role of feeling beautiful and being beautiful as she’s also managing what it’s like to be a girlfriend for the first time. I think those stories are parallel.”

Talking through Ashlyn’s insecurities reminded the showrunner of a conversation he had with his bosses about the end of Season 1. In the season’s final moments Big Red (Larry Saperstein) and Ashlyn kiss after a season spent quietly flirting. “I remember my bosses being like ‘Please don’t play this as a joke.’ And I was like ‘I would never play this as a joke because I do not think of them as jokes,'” Federle said.

“Even though Josh and Olivia and Matt and Sofia, for Season 1 especially, were the face of the show and a lot of fan chatter around those romantic couplings are an obvious byproduct of making a teen show, I think in real life we’re all the stars of our own story. None of us are side characters. And if we are we need to find new co-stars,” Federle added. “So for Julia it was really the conversation of ‘Do you understand what this story is? Because Ashlyn is probably in a place you were in a couple of years ago as a genuine high schooler.’ And she was like, ‘I got this. I know what this is.’ So for her there was very little discussion. She just always knows how to play it.”

New episodes of High School Musical: the Musical: The Series premiere on Disney+ Fridays. 

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