Everyone wants to know. As Olivia Rodrigo‘s musical career continues to blow up, fans have questioned what that means for her future on High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
The California native has played Nini Salazar-Roberts since the series debuted on Disney+ in 2019. After the first season premiered, Rodrigo rose to stardom when her single “Driver’s License” went viral in January 2021. Four months later, her debut album, Sour, dropped to resounding success.
At the time, the actress opened up about how her music was inspired by her dating life. “I totally understand people’s curiosity with the specifics of who the song’s about and what it’s about, but to me, that’s really the least important part of the song,” Rodrigo, who previously sparked romance rumors with her HSMTMTS costar Joshua Bassett, told Billboard in January 2022. “It’s resonating with people because of how emotional it is, and I think everything else is not important.”
As Rodrigo’s career continued to blow up, viewers wondered if that meant the singer was leaving HSMTMTS. After being billed as a series regular for the first two seasons, Rodrigo became a recurring cast member for season 3.
On screen, Nini started to move away from her interest in high school theater as she attempted to build a professional music career in Los Angeles. “It feels like these last few years have been leading up to something big,” the character said in the trailer for season 3 before deciding not to attend summer camp with her friends.
The show’s creator, Tim Federle, previously admitted that Rodrigo’s music career would impact her role as Nini. “It’s hard to imagine High School Musical without Olivia, but Olivia is also experiencing a level of success and fame and opportunity that I would never want to stand in the way of,” he told Entertainment Weekly in August 2021. “I want the show to succeed, but the actors who make the show are always more important to me than the product.”
Federle noted that his priority was making sure Rodrigo was “happy” amid the show shake-up. “I’d love for her to keep making the show, but at the end of the day I’m there to be both the head cheerleader of my series and also read the moment and say, ‘Wow, what Olivia is going through feels so unprecedented that I just want to support her in all of her dreams,'” he added.
Ahead of season 3, the screenwriter elaborated on how the story lines were altered to reflect Rodrigo’s limited availability.
“From a pure logistical standpoint, the idea of Olivia doing the entire season and doing her tour was immediately looking impossible,” he told EW in July 2022. “But she was and is such an important part of the DNA of the show that it also didn’t feel right to not give an explanation for where the character of Nini went. That was thing one: how do you make both things work, schedule-wise?”
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Federle added: “Thing two is, Olivia is amazing, but I really think this whole cast is amazing. … I guess it’s a little bit like a wedding where it’s like, ‘We’re not losing a daughter, we’re gaining a leading lady.’ That’s how this season felt.”
Scroll down for everything the cast and crew have said about Rodrigo’s possible departure:
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