Vanessa Hudgens, Sydney Sweeney Shutterstock (2)
Passing on the torch! While hosting the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards, Vanessa HudgensThis unique perspective on the topic was offered by Euphoria vs. High School Musical debate.
“Apparently high school musicals have changed since 2006. Euphoria High is not as good as East High. There’s a lot less singing, a lot more hair pulling and a lot more cleavage,” Hudgens, 33, joked after a skit where she portrayed Sydney Sweeney‘s character Cassie Howard before the HBO star, 24, took the stage on Sunday, June 5.
The Spring BreakersGabriella Montez was the opposite star who rose to stardom as star Gabriella Montez Zac Efron‘s Troy Bolton in Disney Channel’s High School Musical. Hudgens starred in the franchise’s first three films from 2006 to 2008 and took part in the High School Musical: The Concert tour.
Hudgens later stated that she didn’t plan to play her character in a fourth movie. High School Musical film. “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 [if I’d return],” she told Entertainment Tonight in November 2021. “It’s scary to mess with something like that, because it is so beloved. Someone’s got to write a script and send it to all of us, and if we like it, then who knows?”
Olivia Rodrigo, Matt Cornett and Kate Reinders Walt Disney Pictures/Kobal/Shutterstock
The California native’s costar and real-life friend Ashley TisdaleHe also expressed his hesitation about returning to East High.
“I just feel like I wouldn’t be able to really do that again and give it justice,” Tisdale, 36, told ETIn August 2021, about playing Sharpay Evan again. “You know what I’m saying? I think at that moment in time, I was very unaware of myself and my surroundings, and I feel like that’s a big part of Sharpay. She is just not really aware, and so as I grew up and became more aware, I think that it’s just something that it wouldn’t be the same.”
She added: “It’s so good, and it’s like, for me, I would hate to ruin something that is perfect for that moment, and yeah, I don’t think I could go back to it.”
Alexa Demie. Barbie Ferreira. Maude. Apatow. Sophia Rose Wilson. Sydney Sweeney. Eddy Chen/HBO
After D.A.R.E., Euphoria was the talk of the town. The series’ approach to drug use was questioned by D.A.R.E. The educational organization expressed in a statement that they were worried about the show “misguidedly glorifying and erroneously depicting high-school student drug use.”
In response, ZendayaDefended EuphoriaAfter starring in Rue since its 2019 premiere, “Our show is in no way a moral tale to teach people how to live their life or what they should be doing,” the Emmy winner, 26, told Entertainment WeeklyFebruary. “If anything, the feeling behind Euphoria, or whatever we have always been trying to do with it, is to hopefully help people feel a little bit less alone in their experience and their pain. And maybe feel like they’re not the only one going through or dealing with what they’re dealing with.”
At the time, Malcolm & Marie star recalled having “a lot of people reach out” about Euphoria reflecting their own lives, adding, “So many parallels with Rue and her story and Rue means a lot to them in a way that I can understand, but also maybe in a way that I could never understand, and that means that means the most to all of us.”
