High School Musical The Musical The Series Season 3 - What We Know So Far

2000s kids might distinctly remember the "High School Musical" series, a franchise of Disney original musical movies responsible for launching the careers of several Disney actors, most notably Zac Efron. The original series concluded in 2008 with "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," and from there, many might have thought that the era of "High School Musical" had ended.

On the contrary, the series has been revived, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, Disney created a spinoff series wherein, like our universe, "High School Musical" was nothing but a film series. Streamed exclusively on Disney+, the show follows a group of high school theatre kids as they put on a production of the "High School Musical" play adaptation.

Most recently, the show wrapped up its second season, wrapping up the theatre group's production of "Beauty and the Beast," and setting itself up perfectly for a third season. With that in mind, here is what we know so far about the release date, cast, and plot of this upcoming "High School Musical" series.

Given how recent it has been since the finale of Season 2, Disney has yet to formally announce the beginning of Season 3 for "High School Musical the Musical the Series." However, that is not to say that the series is on its way out. The ending of Season 2 definitely left several plot threads hanging, no doubt with the intention of picking them back up when the series returns. The only question is, how long will fans have to wait before Season 3?

Luckily, the release schedules of previous seasons can give us an idea of what to expect in this regard. As Digital Spy pointed out, the gap between Season 1 and Season 2 of the series spanned around 18 months. Midway between the two seasons, Disney also released a holiday special. As it stands, fans are looking at an estimated wait-time of around a year before Season 3 debuts. It's also not unlikely that the show could take longer, extending the wait time by another six months or so.

In either case, "High School Musical" fans can think of this time as the intermission. So get up from your stuffy school auditorium seat, and rest assured knowing that the performers and stage crew are hustling hard to get the third act ready.

Following the finale of "Season 2," fans can expect the bulk of the series' recurring cast and characters to make comebacks when Season 3 of this "High School Musical" series finally debuts. Of course, the show wouldn't be the show without the leading lady — in this case, Olivia Rodrigo as high school drama kid/musician Nini Salazar-Roberts. Joining her as supporting characters will be the theatre teacher Miss Jenn (Kate Reinders), Nini's ex, Ricky Bowen (Joshua Bassett), and many more.

The mystery, if there is one, regarding Season 3's cast will not be in who returns, however. Rather, it's more about who might make their entrance as a brand new character as the series develops. Whether Disney intends to add more characters, or focus on the core cast it has already built is unknown. In all likelihood, it'll also be something that won't be revealed until the character actually appears in the show. Until then, fans can be content knowing their favorite familiar characters aren't going anywhere.

Based on the events of Season 2, the "High School Musical" series has a lot of loose ends to tie up next seasons. For starters, Nini is taking her first steps on the path to becoming a career musician. Whether this jeopardizes her role in the theatre group is unknown, as the group is still recovering from bowing out of their recent theatre competition.

Another mystery to be solved is the production the theatre group decides to put on for Season 3. Season 2 showed fans that the show wasn't afraid to depart from its "High School Musical" roots, instead choosing to make the group's production of "Beauty and the Beast" the main focus. Perhaps Season 3 will give fans something even more unexpected than before.

Aside from that, many of the supporting characters have their own story arcs that require further development. For instance, the romance between Gina and E.J. has only just begun as the couple shared their first kiss in the season finale. All of this, and more, is sure to be explored when the third season of "High School Musical the Musical the Series" releases.