TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher talks new season of ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’

When “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” returns for its third season Wednesday on Disney+, the show moves from its regular Utah high school setting to a summer camp where the campers perform the Disney musical “Frozen.”

Executive producer/showrunner Tim Federle, a 1998 graduate of Upper St. Clair High School, said the setting change was his idea as a way to refresh the show after a darker second season.

The camp detour also provides a natural exit ramp for star Olivia Rodrigo, who has become a pop music star and is off on a concert tour, while also necessitating “some hard decisions about how many people were coming back.”

Federle said it was “mostly story-driven” choices about which characters return. Bethel Park native Joe Serafini, who recurred in season one and was a series regular in season two, is not back as a series regular in season three but will guest star in at least one episode “in the second half of the season,” Federle said. (Serafini performs a cabaret show at New York’s The Green Room 42 next month.)

Already renewed for season four, Federle said, “HSM” likely will return to high school, and the writers are figuring out the plot and which characters to include.

“We’re the first Disney+ show to get a fourth season, and we’re so grateful in this era of cancellations and the ‘ungreen lights,’ ” he said. “It’s crazy out there. We’re just all so grateful to still have a job when a lot of those big decisions are still being made.”

Earlier this year, Federle said, he hoped partially Pittsburgh-set “Better Nate Than Ever,” a Disney+ adaptation of his young adult novel of the same name, could have a follow-up based on his sequel book “Five Six Seven Nate!,” but it sounds like that may not come to pass.

“The kids are growing up really fast, and there is a reality to making movies in 2022, which is, these giant franchises are what are driving audiences and ultimately driving bosses as well,” he said. “It still remains to be seen if there is a place for what might be considered smaller, character-driven projects. It’s a complex ecosystem out there.”

Renewed

Apple TV+ ordered a fourth season of the excellent “For All Mankind,” an alternate history of the U.S. space program.

Ahead of its second season, Amazon’s Prime Video renewed “Wheel of Time” for a third season.

Before its second season streams in early 2023, Disney+ renewed the animated Marvel series “What If …?” for a third season.

Channel surfing

Instead of a Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) “Walking Dead” movie, his story now will continue in a six-episode limited series on AMC+ that also will feature Michonne (Danai Gurira). … FX’s “Archer” returns for its 13th season at 10 p.m. Aug. 24 on FXX. … Kids and family animated comedy “Bluey” returns for its third season Aug. 10 on Disney+ (episodes will air on Disney Channel and Disney Junior later this year). … Pixar’s “Lightyear” comes to Disney+ on Aug. 3. … Comedy Central will air “South Park: The 25th Anniversary Concert,” featuring series co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Primus and Ween, at 10 p.m. Aug. 13, and it will stream the next day on Paramount+. … The 2022 “Kennedy Center Honors,” airing sometime during the 2022-23 TV season on CBS, will recognize George Clooney, Amy Grant, Gladys Knight, Tania Leon and U2.