HBO Max Sets ‘Grease’ Spinoff Musical Series

Upstart streaming service HBO Max will develop a new musical series inspired by the 1976 movie Grease, the network said Tuesday.

Grease: Rydell High will be set in the 1950s and will feature some characters from the film, according to HBO Max. The series will also feature musical numbers from the period as well as new songs, said the streaming service.

Grease is an iconic pop-culture phenomenon that works for every generation, and I’m thrilled that our friends at Paramount were excited about the idea of opening up the show and putting it on a larger canvas for a weekly series,” said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content, HBO Max in a statement. “This is high school and life in small-town USA told on the scale of a big rock’n’roll musical. It’s Grease 2.0 but with the same spirit, energy, and excitement you immediately think of when you hear any of these iconic songs.”

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Picturestart and Temple Hill will serve as executive producers for Grease: Rydell High, with Paramount Television and Picturestart producing the series. 

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.