One of Disney+'s most popular shows is unexpectedly coming to an end despite a stellar first three seasons.
Disney surprised everyone when it removed a plethora of content from its streaming library, marking the first time that notable Disney+ originals became victims of the purge. Some of the shows included in the content purge are Willow, Big Shot, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
This led to concern that some of the hit Disney+ shows could take the fall sooner rather than later.
Disney Announces High School Musical Series' Final Season
Buckle up for one final musical, Wildcats.
After three incredible seasons, Disney announced that High School Musical: The Musical: The Series will be canceled following Season 4.
Instead of a traditional weekly release, the House of Mouse confirmed that all eight episodes of Season 4 will premiere on Wednesday, August 9, on Disney+.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is one of Disney+'s longest-running series since it made its debut on November 12, 2019 (the streamer's launch date).
The hit musical comedy is also considered to be Disney+'s longest-running kids' show. In 2020, the High School Musical series, via Just Jared Jr., won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming while also being a nominee in 2022 and 2023.
Season 4 is set to revolve around an epic crossover between the series' lead stars and the High School Musical movie's original cast members as the latter group will film a fictional High School Musical 4 reunion movie in East High.
Will Disney+ Remove the High School Musical Series After Season 4?
These are the Disney+ originals that premiered alongside the High School Musical series on the day of launch:
- The Mandalorian
- Marvel's Hero Project
- The Imagineering Story
- The World According to Jeff Goldblum
- Encore!
- Forky Asks a Question
Among the shows, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Encore!, and Marvel's Hero Project were part of Disney+'s major content purge.
After a game-changing and stellar third season, The Mandalorian's future is still bright, especially with Season 4 set to arrive in the future.
The Imagineering Story is a safe bet to be retained on Disney+ since it is a highly acclaimed documentary that focuses on the creation of Disney theme parks and attractions.
Despite being canceled (via IndieWire) by Disney+ for a potential second season, the fact that Forky Asks a Question is under the Pixar banner makes it less likely to be removed from the streamer.
But will the High School Musical series be removed from Disney+ following its final season? The answer is unlikely due to its high viewership.
In the latest data obtained by Parrot Analytics, the analysis revealed that the audience demand for the show is 9.6 times the demand for the average TV series in the United States in the last 30 days. Only the top 2.9% of the most-watched streaming shows have this level of demand.
Moreover, Parrot Analytics also pointed out that the show has higher demand than 97% of all comedy titles in the United States, thus essentially proving its rewatch value.
Despite its upcoming swan song, this data proves that the High School Musical series is poised to stay on Disney+ in the foreseeable future.
The first three seasons of The High School Musical: The Musical: The Series are streaming on Disney+. All episodes of Season 4 will drop on August 9.
