Corbin Bleu Says Returning to 'HSM' Franchise 14 Years Later Was an 'Emotional Roller Coaster'

For Corbin Bleu, it's once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat.

Nearly 14 years after the final High School Musical film premiered, the actor is returning to the iconic franchise for the third season of Disney+'s High School Musical: The Musical: The Series — only this time, he's not playing Chad Danforth, he's playing himself.

Bleu, 33, opens up about his guest appearance in season 3 and working with a whole new set of talented Disney stars, including Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, Sofia Wylie and Matt Cornett.

Though the upcoming season doesn't take place at the iconic East High as the students head off to summer camp, Bleu admits that appearing on the show still felt like coming home "in many ways."

"I really went on an emotional roller coaster," he says. "When this season was coming to an end, I had a moment where I was just watching all of them perform, and it just hit me. It hit me like a ton of bricks where I'm seeing the impact that the original movies had. The fact that it even paved the way for this to take place, and the fact that they're carrying the torch in such a beautiful way — and then the fact that I got to be a part of it again, that I got to actually live in the joy and the magic that is High School Musical again, I wasn't expecting it."

This season, Bleu plays a heightened version of himself as he appears as a celebrity guest at Camp Shallow Lake, where the East High students have been selected to put on one of the first performances of Frozen.

Bleu reveals that he had many discussions with creator Tim Federle about what a possible cameo on the show might look like, and he really loves the heightened 'Corbin' they came up with as it gives his character "a beautiful arc that does have some sense of realism."

"Onscreen Corbin is definitely not me," he affirms. "He's so much more jaded and full of himself and kind of an ass. But what's really wonderful about him is his realization of what theater and performance and these kids mean to him, and what it all did mean to him back then."

That aspect, in particular, does mirror real life as he notes how after the original franchise came to an end, he and his HSM costars tried to "appreciate where you came from, but at the same time, try to distance where you're going."

He adds, "I want people to see me in a different light. I don't want to be pigeonholed in this certain character. You grow. And in order to do that, sometimes, you have to pull away. But enough time has passed that I can now visualize it not as something that's dragging me or holding onto me, but as its own separate entity that I know that I came from. And I appreciate it so much."

Season 3 is especially nostalgic as former Hannah Montana star Jason Earles, with whom Bleu worked on the pilot for the Disney Channel series, also makes a guest appearance.

"I did the pilot episode of Hannah Montana prior to doing High School Musical, so I knew Jason before I knew any of my High School Musical cast," says Bleu. "It was just like seeing a long-lost brother. We had so much fun together being able to poke at what the old Disney days were for us too. Especially the fact that I'm playing myself and he's not playing himself. That actually added another funny kind of tongue-in-cheek layer of me being able to talk about Jason Earles, the actor, when he's standing right there but he's not actually playing Jason Earles."

Of course, HSMTMTS couldn't have Bleu on the series without letting him perform. As previously teased in the trailer, Bleu confirms he shares a special musical number with Wylie, 18, in the third season — a scene he "pushed" particularly hard for.

After going back and watching seasons 1 and 2 of the show, he says he was amazed by the young actress's talent and was especially moved to "see another young person of color" at the center of the franchise. "I had said to Tim, 'If I don't get to do a dance number with Sofia I think we're completely missing out.' And he made it happen. It's going to be awesome."

Since starring in the HSM franchise, Bleu has gone on to have quite a musical theater career, starring in the Broadway productions of In the Heights, Godspell, Holiday Inn, the New Irving Berlin Musical and, most recently, Kiss Me, Kate.

While he always had a passion for theater growing up, he notes that his role in HSM only "solidified" it. "I just knew that this is my path, this is what I want to do, this is what I love doing," he says. In fact, his role in the HSM franchise actually helped him get his first Broadway role.

"My Broadway debut, In the Heights, happened because of a crazy series of circumstances," he notes. Following the cancelation of his CW series The Beautiful Life, Bleu noted that he went to a jazz club in New York City with his uncle where he ended up meeting Broadway by the Year creator Scott Siegel, who knew him from HSM and asked him to do a show at Town Hall.

In a twist of fate, producers for In the Heights were in attendance at the performance, which eventually led to him playing Usnavi, who was originally played by Lin-Manuel Miranda. "Had it not been for High School Musical and [Siegel] knowing my work, that whole series of events probably never would've happened," Bleu explains.

While Bleu admits he doesn't regularly revisit the HSM franchise, he did go back and watch a handful of the musical numbers after working on HSMTMTS. "My love for it all was reinvigorated," he says, adding that the films felt very "retro" and "nostalgic" looking back now. "It's a different era but it was upheld so well."

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High School Musical: The Musical: The Series premieres Wednesday on Disney+.