What time is it? Summer time! And High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season three is here just in time.
The first episode debuted on Disney+ on Wednesday (July 27), and while seeing the crew at Camp Shallow Lake with a cameo from OG Wildcat Corbin Bleu was everything we could have hoped for, viewers may have noticed that a few major characters were missing from the episode.
Shedding some light on the matter, series creator Tim Federle has explained why the likes of Big Red (Larry Saperstein) and Seb (Joe Serafini) didn't make an appearance.
Related: High School Musical TV series confirms Olivia Rodrigo's exit in season 3
While speaking exclusively with Digital Spy, Federle said: "Yeah. I don’t think it’s High School Musical without Big Red or Seb or Miss Jenn. It’s a lot of characters now, which is sort of the amazing thing about a multi-season show."
He went on to tease that something special is in store for fans in later episodes, though, so we'll just have to wait and see.
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"It’s, in some ways, expanding and reinventing and trying to populate the show with new faces," he added. "But ultimately, we love Big Red, and you’ve got to stay tuned for what I hope is a very memorable appearance this season."
Related: Why High School Musical season 3 really is the start of something new
This season sees the characters in a whole new setting, as they've ditched the halls of East High to spend the summer at a theatre camp and put on a musical production of Frozen.
Discussing why they opted for a change of scenery, Federle continued: "It’s fun, after a couple of years of doing this show, just to shake it up a bit.
"And I know when I went to summer camp, all rules are off. You’re meeting people for the first time. They don’t know who you are. They don’t know your baggage or your history.
"I think summer camp offers not just sort of fun under the sun and a little bit of scandal under the stars, but it allows you to decide who you want to be when you go back to school. And this really is the summer that kind of changes everything."
The first episode of season 3 of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series premiered on Wednesday, July 27 on Disney+ , and new episodes are airing weekly.
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Social Executive, Entertainment Portfolio After completing her joint honours degree in Journalism and English Literature at Cardiff University, Iona joined Digital Spy as a Content Production Intern in 2022, where she wrote across both news and features, specialising in TV and movies. Following her internship, Iona continued contributing to the site as a freelance reporter, becoming social executive for the Hearst UK entertainment portfolio in summer 2025. Iona now leads the DS social channels, covering red carpets with stars such as Paul Mescal, Austin Butler, and more.
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