Is High School Musical Giving Joshua Bassett a Queer Storyline?

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series might be about to get even gayer!

A scene in an episode of the show’s third seasons left fans wondering whether Ricky Bowen (Joshua Bassett) was interested in another male character at Camp Shallow Lake, the musical summer camp where the latest run of episodes takes place.

Ricky speaks briefly with EJ (Matt Cornett) about the possibility of them both playing the male leads in a reimagined version of Frozen, suggesting the characters could be “friends? Enemies? Lovers?” in a scene that had shippers’ hearts racing.

Although we once lived in a world where the High School Musical franchise was only winking at the idea of LGBTQ+ theater students, the series has changed that. Queer characters actually exist in this world, and showrunner Tim Federle, who is queer himself, seems completely open to the idea of letting Ricky explore his sexuality.

“One of the joys of a long-running show is that you get to explore all facets and all aspects of all of these characters,” he told Digital Spy. “So as a queer storyteller myself, I feel a real responsibility to try to tell the truth about the experience of young people today, which is so much more fluid and accepting and exploratory than I think it was when I was a youth.”

Bassett himself came out as bisexual last year, and shared that he’s open to his HSM:TM:TS character having a similar journey, should the powers that be decide it's right for the narrative.

“I trust the writers, and I trust Disney to do what’s best, and you know what, I would love that,” he said. “I’m down for whatever they choose.”

The way Ricky approached EJ was definitely a choice, but fans will have to keep tuning in to the rest of the season to see where that goes!

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