Zac And Vanessa Both Returned To East High For Some Nostalgic HSM Pics

Nostalgia is soarin’ and flyin’ high for High School Musical fans this summer. Co-stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens took turns revisiting the iconic high school the mid-2000s movie series was set in. The stars took photos and videos of themselves at East High School in Salt Lake City and shared them on Instagram one month apart. What time is it? It’s time to take a walk down memory lane. School’s back, scream and shout.

Zac Efron, who played Troy Bolton, captain of the East High Wildcats basketball team, showed off his school spirit in a July 22 Instagram post. The triumphant photo showed the actor standing in front of East High with a fist in the air, with the caption, “Don’t you… Forget about me,” a nod to the 1985 film The Breakfast Club. Fans certainly have not forgotten about him or High School Musical. His post came days before the Season 3 premiere of the Disney+ spinoff High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on July 27.

OG fans are hopeful for a fourth HSM movie and it’s not that unlikely. Efron expressed interest in a reboot in a May 10 interview with E!. He said, “Having the opportunity in any form to go back and work with that team would be so amazing. My heart’s still there. That would be incredible. I hope it happens.”

Vanessa Hudgens, who played Gabriella Montez in HSM, shared her tribute to East High in a July 26 video on Instagram set to Troy and Gabriella’s climactic duet “Breaking Free.” She captioned the video with one of Gabriella’s most memorable quotes: “Do you remember in kindergarten how you'd meet a kid and know nothing about them, then 10 seconds later you're playing like you're best friends because you didn't have to be anything but yourself?” OK, now she’s just tugging at my heartstrings.

Not to burst your nostalgic bubble, but unlike Efron, Hudgens isn’t as convinced by the idea of a fourth movie. In November 2021, she spoke to Entertainment Tonight about HSM. "It was such a beautiful moment in time that so many people do hold so close and near and dear to their hearts, that, I don't know. It's scary to mess with something like that, because it is so beloved,” she said. “Someone's got to write a script and send it to all of us, and if we like it, then who knows?" So, it’s not entirely off the table. But she does have a point, would a reboot do the OG movie justice?

What is certain is that a HSM cast reunion of some sort is long overdue. The last cast get together was in 2020 for a virtual singalong of “We're All In This Together.” Let’s all agree that a HSM reunion is “More than you. More than me. Not a want, but a need.”