Disney Channel has announced on Tuesday, March 1 that a High School Musical 4 is officially in the works. The casting process has started a decade after the success of the original High School Musical starring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens.
Jeffrey Hornaday will direct and choreograph the newest film in the franchise, and Dan Berendsen and Peter Barsocchini are back as screenwriters after having penned all previous films in the High School Musical franchise.
In a statement, president and chief creative officer of Disney Channels Worldwide, Gary Marsh, said, "High School Musical is part of Disney Channel’s DNA. It embodies all that we stand for.”
He added, “As a way of continuing to embrace that heritage, we're excited to announce 'the start of something new' -- as we launch a search for a new class of East High Wildcats to star in a fourth installment of the High School Musical franchise."
March 1 began the search for the newest cast of East High students and their rivals, the West High Knights.
The original cast of HSM reunited for an anniversary special that aired exactly 10 years to the date it first aired on the Disney Channel, on Jan. 20. Fans were upset that Efron couldn’t make it, but he had prior commitments to promote his film Bad Grandpa.