Lucas Grabeel 'cried' when 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' called to tell him that Ryan Evans would come out as gay on the show, showrunner says

• Lucas Grabeel "cried" when he found out Ryan Evans would come out as gay, the "HSMTMTS" showrunner said.
• Evans kisses his partner during an episode of "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series."

Actor Lucas Grabeel, who played Ryan Evans in the "High School Musical" movies "cried" when he found out the long beloved character would finally come out as gay on "High School Musical: The Musical: The Series," the series' showrunner told TV Line.

"Lucas, like, cried on the phone and said, 'This would mean so much to people who grew up with this movie,'" Tim Federle, the showrunner of "HSMTMTS," told TV Line.

Federle added that he recalled Grabeel saying, "'It's what they were always kind of missing from this character,'" during their phone call.

The fourth and final season of "HSMTMTS," which takes place at the famed East High, unites the current-day Wildcats with high school legends from generations past.

The season starts with a scene showing some of the original "High School Musical" characters filming "High School Musical 4" — a reunion film — at East High.

It's in that clip that viewers see Evans kisses his partner, who is played by Scott Hoying from Pentatonix.

In 2020, "High School Musical" director Kenny Ortega said that Evans would have come out as gay in college, but as the movies stopped with high school graduation, fans did not see that happen.

"It was less about coming out and just more about letting his true colors come forward," Insider reported Ortega said at the time. He added that he "didn't think at the time" that it would be possible to have an openly gay character in a Disney movie.

The first "High School Musical" movie was released in 2006.