Olivia Rodrigo could not have returned to East Significant for the farewell season of Superior College Musical: The Musical: The Collection, but she appeared to get a subtle shoutout. At least, that is how lovers of the exhibit are decoding one particular suspicious line in the finale episode. Just before it closed its curtains for excellent, HSMTMTS could have dropped a winking Olivia Rodrigo Easter egg in its ultimate moments to commemorate the breakout pop star’s beginnings as Nini.

Spoiler inform: This post discusses facts from the Significant Faculty Musical: The Musical: The Series sequence finale. Soon after 4 seasons of iconic cameos, romantic tunes, and wild additions to the HSM canon, HSMTMTS came to an conclude like any high faculty musical must — with a major clearly show and an ever bigger proclamation of enjoy. On the brink of Gina’s go to New Zealand, Ricky last but not least labored up the nerve to confess his really like for her. In tune, of study course. Just after bursting into her press convention and executing the unique track “Love You Forever,” Gina disclosed she experienced liked him all alongside as perfectly, and labored out a way to stay in Salt Lake Town so they could be jointly.

Incredibly, even Gina’s disapproving mother respected Ricky for the bold go. She shared some uplifting phrases for her daughter’s boyfriend: “That took guts, what you did back there. Guts are very good. It’s possible you were being truly worth the wait around.”

It was a sweet instant, but also a single that hardcore admirers instantly latched onto because of to Mrs. Porter’s precise selection of terms. Some took the second as a refined nod to Olivia Rodrigo, whose sophomore album because of out in September is titled Guts.

Rodrigo starred as Ricky’s enjoy interest Nini for the first two year of the clearly show, an onscreen romance that quickly exploded into a full mess of guiding-the-scenes rumors after the launch of “Drivers License.” Rodrigo remaining the exhibit in Season 3, with her character’s exit mirroring her have increase to fame as a pop celebrity.

However the closing time of HSMTMTS observed the return of a ton of beloved characters, Nini was not one particular of them. Showrunner Tim Federle explained to Assortment that Rodrigo was welcome to return if she experienced time, but he hardly ever critically considered about composing just about anything for Nini. “The provide was prolonged to her insomuch as Olivia being aware of from me that she can normally appear back again,” Federle said. “But it was by no means genuinely seriously reviewed for the reason that there ended up new relationships we had to write for.”