Go back to Rydell High with Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, the prequel series to 1978s Grease will star Marisa Davila as Jane, Cheyenne Isabel Wells as Olivia, Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia, Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy, Shanel Bailey as Hazel, Madison Thompson as Susan, Johnathan Nieves as Richie, Jason Schmidt as Buddy, Maxwell Whittington-Cooper as Wally and Jackie Hoffman as Asst. Principal McGee.
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The musical series takes place four years before the original “Grease”; in 1954 before rock ‘n’ roll ruled, before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school, when the original Pink Ladies came to be. Four fed-up, outcasts dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever. This series wont see Frenchie (Didi Conn), Jan (Jamie Donnelly), Marty (Dinah Manoff), or Rizzo (Stockard Channing), instead, we meet a whole new group of ladies and a new cast of actors led by Marisa Davila.
“We are thrilled to unveil our new original series that will introduce an incredible cast of young stars in the making and electrifying musical numbers you will fall in love with,” said Nicole Clemens, President, Paramount Television Studios & Paramount+ Original Scripted Series. “Annabel and Alethea have managed to brilliantly capture the spirit of the iconic beloved classic film which like Rise Of The Pink Ladies, is both set in the past but relevant to the present.”
The cast definitely felt the weight of bringing these characters to life. “It’s a really big responsibility bringing something this iconic back,” says Davila. “Getting to be in the same colorful universe was the way we connected to them and honoring what they were able to do. The characters run into a lot of the same situations that people in the present day might be dealing with.” She added.
Entertainment Weekly recently released the first look at the series.
Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly
“Fans of the original should be happy,” says creator Annabel Oakes. “We call Grease the mothership and we always are talking about how we have to pay homage and respect the mothership.”
Oakes was first hesitant at the idea of bringing Grease back, “I thought, ‘Nobody needs a new Grease. The original Grease is absolutely perfect. But then, I thought about it for a second and I thought, ‘What unanswered questions do I have from Grease?’ Because everything was tied up really nicely with Danny and Sandy. But I was like, ‘What was up with the Pink Ladies? Were those were girl gangs real?’ I started googling and I found out that there were real Pink Ladies at the high school of the original creator of Grease, Jim Jacobs.”
The 10-episode season of the series will be available exclusively on Paramount+ and will premiere early 2023.
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