It’s official: Ryan Evans from the ‘High School Musical’ franchise is gay

What’s up, Wildcats? The long-debated fan theory has just been made canon.

In a sneak peek for the final season of the Disney+ series “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” the short clip confirmed Ryan Evans’ (played by Lucas Grabeel) sexuality.

The 3-minute clip sees past characters Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman), Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu), Martha Cox (Kaycee Stroh), and Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel) performing together on the HSM stage. Ryan then goes backstage to thank another character (played by Scott Hoying from Pentatonix) and kisses him before going back on stage.

That whole sequence, although just a few seconds in one’s time, just answered the decade-old question surrounding one-half of the beloved Evans twins. Fans couldn’t believe it themselves and were just happy to see this all turnout. Others weren’t surprised by this revelation, as Ryan had already been so “queer-coded”.

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In an interview with Variety back in 2020, “High School Musical” director Kenny Ortega revealed that he had always intended for Ryan to be gay, but Disney wasn’t always too progressive at that time. “The character of Ryan in ‘High School Musical,’ Sharpay’s twin brother, we decided he’d probably going to come out in college. It was less about coming out and just more about letting his true colors come forward.”

In another interview, a.k.a. the “High School Musical: The Musical: The Holiday Special” back in 2020, the OG stars revealed some secrets about the franchise that nobody really knew about. Lucas Grabeel, the actor behind Ryan Evans’ iconic role, said that he had wanted Ryan’s sexuality to be explored.

“After reading the script, the first thing I said to [Kenny Ortega] was, ‘Okay, Kenny, Ryan’s gay, right? I know it’s Disney Channel so I’m not really gonna be gay, but I mean, yeah, right?’ Kenny then said, ‘Well, think of it this way: You have the opportunity to play a character who’s young, he’s into theater, he’s an artist and let’s go at it from that point of view.” Kenny Ortega also revealed that he had seen himself in Ryan, “Yeah I knew I was gay in high school, but I didn’t tell anybody.”

 

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