Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies: Trailer, Release Date, Cast, and Everything to Know

You don't have to wait for summer nights to check out Paramount+'s new Grease prequel. The musical series Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies will explore the girl gang's origin story as a group of outcasts — and, obviously, explain how they got their signature jackets — this spring.

At the TV Critics Association winter press tour, showrunner Annabel Oakes (Atypical, Minx) said she wasn't initially interested in trying to bring Grease to TV, but she changed her mind after researching the high school experience in the '50s and '60s and learning about the real-life Pink Ladies. Star Ari Notartomaso described the show as "a love letter to the women of Grease and a love letter to the people who were not given screen time in the original Grease, or in the media in general." 

The prequel musical is coming to Paramount+ this spring. Here is everything we know so far about Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies trailer

On Feb. 7, Paramount+ released the official trailer for Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, giving us a closer look at the group's origin story — and a taste of the musical numbers, including a new song and a classic fans will know from the movie.

You can also catch part of the show's rendition of "Grease" in the teaser trailer, released in January.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies release date

School is in session this spring. Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies premieres Thursday, April 6 on Paramount+, with new episodes rolling out each Thursday after that. Season 1 will be 10 episodes long.  

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies storyline 

Speaking at the TCA winter press tour, Oakes said that while Grease the musical and film were "the 1970s commenting on the '50s," the series will comment on both the '70s and the '50s from a 2023 perspective. The show is set four years before the events of the movie and follows four misfit students who become the founding members of the Pink Ladies. 

Star Marisa Davila said that the Pink Ladies of the new series will be dealing with all of the same problems as the Pink Ladies in the movie, but Notartomaso added that the series has new opportunities to tell stories about non-white and non-straight characters. Tricia Fukuhara said that her character, Nancy, for example, will be dealing with the lingering trauma of having been in an internment camp, as well as the more present trauma of being a young woman in high school. 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies cast

Meet the new Pink Ladies: 

Marisa Davila as Jane
Cheyenne Isabel Wells as Olivia
Ari Notartomaso as Cynthia
Tricia Fukuhara as Nancy 

The cast also includes 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 Assistant Principal McGee. 

As for whether any characters or actors from the movie will make an appearance, Oakes said she could only tell us to wait and see. 

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies music

While the cast is made up of mostly relative newcomers, there's some real star power behind the scenes when it comes to the music and choreography. Prolific songwriter Justin Tranter is handling the songs, and celebrity choreographer Jamal Sims is handling the dancing. Both have acknowledged the pressures of adding 30 new songs and dance moves to the Grease canon, but not all the songs are new. Some are covers of tunes that will be very familiar to Grease fans, and you can hear snippets in the trailer and teaser above. 

Where to watch Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies

The new series will stream exclusively on Paramount+ starting Thursday, April 6. The original Grease is also on Paramount+, as well as Netflix.