Sofia Wylie as Gina and Joshua Bassett as Ricky in ‘Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Sequence.’ Disney/Fred Hayes
Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Sequence bid farewell to the East Excessive wildcats in its season 4 finale, however not with out seemingly honoring former costar Olivia Rodrigo.
Within the collection finale, which dropped on Disney+ earlier this week, Ricky (Joshua Bassett) will get a candy praise that pertains to Rodrigo IRL.
“That took guts — what you probably did again there,” Gina’s mother, Terri (performed by Napiera Groves), stated after Ricky professed his love for Sofia Wylie’s character in track. “Guts are good [and] perhaps you had been definitely worth the wait.”
Whereas having “guts” is nice for sharing emotions, it’s also the title of Rodrigo’s second album. Rodrigo, 20, starred as Nini — Ricky’s first girlfriend — on the primary two seasons of HSMTMTS, finally exiting in the midst of season 3 as her budding singer-songwriter profession began to take off in actual life.
Rodrigo — who dropped her debut LP, Bitter, in 2021 — is slated to launch Guts on September 8. “For me, this album is about rising pains and making an attempt to determine who I’m at this level in my life,” she stated in a press launch in June about her musical inspiration. “I really feel like I grew 10 years between the ages of 18 and 20 — it was such an intense interval of awkwardness and alter. I believe that’s all only a pure a part of progress, and hopefully, the album displays that.”
Olivia Rodrigo as Nini, Joshua Bassett as Ricky, Matt Cornett as E.J. and Sofia Wylie as Gina in ‘Excessive Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Sequence.’ Walt Disney Photos/Kobal/Shutterstock
Whereas it has not been addressed if the “guts” line was a selected nod to Rodrigo, many followers instantly picked up on its potential allusion. “OK, BUT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO NOTICED???? ‘GUTS are good.’ Gosh Olivia its everyere [sic], even she is just not on the present anymore, wow,” one social media consumer tweeted on Wednesday, August 9. “HSMTMTS solid is a Guts stan and we knoww about that!!!!”
Rodrigo didn’t seem within the fourth and remaining season of HSMTMTS, although her character was talked about fairly a bit. Within the penultimate episode, Ricky even famous that he was following Nina’s custom of handing out customized playing cards to everybody within the drama membership upfront of the college musical’s opening night time. Present creator Tim Federle, nonetheless, didn’t plan to put in writing a further storyline for Nini after the character moved from Salt Lake Metropolis to California to pursue a profession as a songwriter.
“I felt actually assured about that ending and Olivia is so busy together with her songwriting profession. At this level, we’re introducing so many new folks, the OG characters and we wished to deliver again different actually vital characters,” Federle, 43, informed Selection on Wednesday, August 9. “I form of felt like, with solely eight episodes, it simply turns into cameos versus actual tales. The provide was prolonged to her insomuch as Olivia understanding from me that she will at all times come again. But it surely was by no means actually severely mentioned as a result of there have been new relationships we needed to write for.”
HSMTMTS as an alternative primarily centered on Ricky and Gina’s relationship. “My evolving thought is that Ricky and Gina are actually in love for the primary time collectively as a result of they’ve skilled among the world,” Federle solely informed Us Weekly earlier this month. “They’ve gotten just a little pushed down. A lot occurs and it’s stunning to have the ability to write this relationship — no holds barred.”
