'High School Musical 4' news: Film focuses on new characters; Ashley Tisdale's Sharpay rumored to cameo

High School Musical - Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay EvansDisney

"High School Musical 4" is moving forward but it will be focusing on a new group of characters given that the characters from the original trilogy have graduated. However, as pointed out in a report from the Romper, at least one of the original cast members may be coming back for a short cameo role.

According to the report, Ashley Tisdale could be coming back to portray Sharpay Evans. Sharpay was initially viewed as the antagonist in the 2006 original film but her character mellowed out through the sequels and eventually gained her own spin-off film in 2011, which focused on her life after high school as she trained to build a career in Broadway.

The report points out that the new character Campbell is Sharpay's cousin. This detail is stated to be important because it indicates Sharpay may be making an appearance in the film. If Tisdale was not going to reprise her role then it is indicated that Disney would not have revealed this relationship between the characters.

However, fans speculate that Tisdale may only appear at the very beginning of the film as she takes her cousin Campbell to school for the first day or perhaps at the very end when the group needs some encouragement and advice from their older alumni.

Campbell is described by E! Online as a theater star and the school's football captain. More importantly, he is interested in dating the film's new main character despite her already having someone pining for her. This will mirror Sharpay's initial role as an antagonist.

The other characters that will appear in the film include main character Erin, her best friend Nathalie, Erin's potential love interest Derek and Tamara, a cheerleader. None of the main characters have been officially cast yet.

"High School Musical 4" will be released in theaters in 2017.