Fans were shook to the core when Lucas Grabeel made a very special appearance in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Friday, December 27 episode titled, “The Tech Rehearsal.” Recently, the 35-year-old — best known to HSM fans as Ryan Evans — became the second original cast member from the first High School Musical film to make a cameo.

For those who missed it, this installment followed the high school students and Miss Jenn as they uproot the entire musical production into a new theater. In a dream sequence, Lucas appears to the drama teacher as a fictionalized version of himself and the two belt out the new tune “Role of a Lifetime.”

When he was first asked to come back for the High School Musical series, the actor admitted that he was a little apprehensive.

“Over the years, I had heard whispers of possible sequels, television series, or different ideas that Disney was rolling around to continue the franchise, and to be honest, a lot of those ideas I didn’t really care for,” he told POPSUGAR in a recent interview, but changed his mind when he heard the premise of the show. “I thought it was a really interesting idea for something going down a different path. I was really happy to find that it wasn’t going to be ‘OK, we’re going to do basically the same story, with a new cast and we’re going to add smartphones and social media.’ It’s really clever and refreshing. Also, the fact that they are putting on High School Musical allows them to put a new take on these old songs that everyone grew with and loved the first time around.”

What did he have to say about working with the new cast? Nothing but amazing things, of course!

“It was such a great feeling to go back. It was comfortable and it was family…It was really nice to come home in a sense,” Lucas said. “They were just so full of passion and drive and excitement. They were already a family and working well together and so talented and welcoming to me. It was really special.”

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