They Still Go Together: ‘Grease: Rydell High’ Series Is Coming to HBO Max Streaming Service

HBO Max, the Warner Bros. streaming service coming in the spring of 2020, has given the green light for a new TV series inspired by the movie musical Grease. The show — which we’re reasonably confident will not star John Travolta or Olivia Newton-John, is a musical series titled Grease: Rydell High.

The series is described as “a joyous musical series set in and around the world of Rydell High, that reimagines the global smash hit movie with some characters you already know, and a whole lot more you will soon meet. It’s still the 1950s, a world that rocks with big musical numbers from the period combined with new original songs as well. It’s the peer pressures of high school, the horrors of puberty and the rollercoaster of life in middle America with a modern sensibility that will bring it to life for today’s musical lovers.”

Sarah Aubrey, head of original content for the service, comments, “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. 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.”

Adds Nicole Clements, President of Paramount Television, “Grease is one of the most beloved Paramount titles and it’s a thrill to be re-imagining it for today’s audience with our good friends at Temple Hill and Picturestart. When Bob [Robert] Greenblatt called about bringing it to television, we knew we would be in the perfect hands because of our great working relationship with HBO Max and Bob’s genuine passion for musicals and Grease in particular.”

HBO Max joins an ever-growing list of streaming services that are on the way, among them Disney+, Apple TV+ and Peacock — the latter of which will feature programming from NBCUniversal. These, of course, join the likes of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, CBS All Access and more. Let’s face it: there’s a whole lotta streamin’ goin’ on!