High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Confirms Major Detail About Character From the Original Movies

Years after Disney rejected the idea, High School Musical franchise character Ryan Evans has been confirmed to be gay. The character, who appears in the fourth and final season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, debuted in the original 2006 movie, and appeared in High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year, plus had a brief appearance in Sharpay’s Febulous Adventure, the spinoff movie that centered on Ryan’s fraternal twin sister. 

Director Kenny Ortega has made it no secret over the years that both he and Lucas Grabeel, the actor who played Ryan, viewed the character as gay. Back when the original movies were being made, Disney rejected the notion, saying the didn’t think a gay character was appropriate for a G-rated movie franchise, according to the High School Musical Wiki.

“We decided he’d probably going to come out in college,” Ortega told Variety in 2020. “It was less about coming out and just more about letting his true colors come forward.”

In a newly-released clip, it seems that has been borne out onscreen. 

You can see this week’s clip below.

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You can read a description of the new season here: “After spending season three at theater camp, the East High Wildcats return to school for their senior year in the final season. They’re prepping a stage production of High School Musical 3: Senior Year, but those plans are upended when Disney announces the long-awaited High School Musical 4: The Reunion movie will shoot on location at their beloved high school. (The movie exists only within the world of show, however.)” 

Original High School Musical cast members Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel, Bart Johnson, Alyson Reed, and Kaycee Stroh are set to return as themselves as “they get back into character for the movie-within-the-show, while the high school students will play featured extras.” Joshua Bassett, Sofia Wylie, Dara Reneé, Julia Lester, Frankie Rodriguez, Kate Reinders, and Liamani Segura will star in season four. The cast also features recurring guest stars Kylie Cantrall, Matthew Sato, Caitlin Reilly and Vasthy Mompoint along with Mark St. Cyr, Matt Cornett, Larry Saperstein, Joe Serafini, Adrian Lyles, and Saylor Bell Curda. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series returns to Disney+ on August 9th.

Are you excited about the final season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series? Are you bummed that the show is ending? Tell us in the comments!