Grease: Every Movie Character Who Can Appear In The Prequel Show

Several characters from the original Grease could appear in its upcoming prequel TV series, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. Forty-four years after the release of Grease and 40 years after the release of the poorly-received Grease 2, the cast for the first-ever Grease prequel has been announced. Previously known as Summer Lovin’ and Grease: Rydell High, the project has assembled a cast full of promising stars, which includes Shanel Bailey, Marisa Davila, Tricia Fukuhara, Jackie Hoffman, Johnathan Nieves, Ari Notartomaso, Jason Schmidt, Madison Thompson, Cheyenne Isabel Wells, and Maxwell Whittington-Cooper. Since the story takes place in 1954, four years before the events of Grease, the cast is guaranteed to play an older generation of Rydell High students.

Fans of the Pink Ladies and the T-Birds will undoubtedly want to know where Sandy Olsson and Danny Zuko are at this point in time. But even though the bittersweet end of their high school life plays a major role in the plot of Grease, none of the students fans know and love had entered high school by 1954. This is especially true with Sandy, who only got to know her Rydell friends when she arrived the year of their graduation. What’s for certain is that the school’s infamous cliques predate Grease‘s beloved characters, and they stayed well after Sandy and Danny flew away in their Greased Lightnin’.

The return of Maxwell Caulfield’s Michael Carrington and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Stephanie Zinone is unlikely, not just because of the timeline of Grease 2 but also because the sequel was widely regarded as a disappointing retread of the original. So, with the two main couples not expected to return — and the original actors ready for a recast due to their age — which familiar faces could return? Here’s every possibility.

Principal Greta McGee

Principal McGee is the only character from the original Grease whose return has officially been confirmed. In Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Jackie Hoffman, who plays Uma Heller in Only Murders in the Building, is set to play Greta McGee back when she was assistant principal. Considering how tough it is for the staff of Rydell High to deal with the school’s cliques, it makes sense for Principal McGee to be involved much more than any other adult at Rydell High.

Secretary Blanche Hodel

One character whose absence would need to be addressed is Blanche Hodel, Principal McGee’s right-hand woman. The overeager secretary clearly loves her job throughout Grease and Grease 2, and she shows no sign of stepping down by the last time viewers get to see her. Therefore, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies can feature an even more energetic appearance from a younger Blanche, or it can sidestep the need to replace the original actor, Dody Goodman, by revealing that she’s a fresh hire in 1958. The question remains, though: will she appear onscreen? It would be odd to allude to her presence but not show her in person. Unless Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies pulls the same VFX trick as The Mandalorian and Boba Fett‘s CGI Luke Skywalker, the sweet secretary Blanche would need to be recast.

Mrs. Murdock

Mrs. Murdock is one of the most likely Rydell High teachers to return in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. Alice Ghostley’s hard-as-nails shop teacher plays a crucial role in Grease, helping Danny and the T-Birds refurbish the legendary Greased Lightnin’. Her characterization in Grease is special, as it goes against the strict gender norms of the time. With the upcoming Grease prequel focusing on the titular Pink Ladies, Mrs. Murdock could provide a deeper look into the opposite extremes of the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies’ 1950s gender roles.

Coach Calhoun

The teacher who’s likely to accompany Mrs. Murdock in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is Sid Caesar’s Coach Calhoun. Coach Calhoun breaks the stereotype of the rugged, irritable sports coach. In Grease, he goes to great lengths to ensure that John Travolta’s Danny Zuko pursues a sport he likes, and though Danny quits track & field because he only wanted to impress Sandy, Coach Calhoun doesn’t stop being kind to him or any other student. Considering his age at the time, it’s possible that Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies will feature an even more warmhearted Coach Calhoun, but he would absolutely need to be recast as Caesar passed away in 2014.

Leo Balmudo, a.k.a. Crater-Face

Dennis Cleveland Stewart’s Leo Balmudo, a.k.a. Crater-Face, is the leader of the Scorpions in Grease and the Cycle Lords in Grease 2. Although the fact that Grease is set in 1958 and Grease 2 is set in 1962 means that none of the popular students will be around in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, it’s possible that Crater-Face was already looking for trouble with his gang in 1954. After all, studying is clearly not one of his priorities, so who knows how much time he wasted playing dirty on street races before he met Danny, Kenickie, and the T-Birds.

Mr. Spears

The one member of Grease 2‘s Rydell High School staff who has a chance to reappear in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies is Mr. Spears, the burned-out teacher who barely made it out alive after fainting from exhaustion and falling into a pool before he could recover. In Grease‘s ambiguous world of flying cars and school-wide musical numbers, it would be a treat to see what led Mr. Spears to such a crisis, not to mention how admirable it would be if the Grease prequel redeemed certain parts of Grease 2 — or at least acknowledged its existence.

Other Possible Grease Cameos

The popularity of the original Grease cast means that a cameo by John Travolta (Danny), Olivia Newton-John (Sandy), Didi Conn (Frenchie), Stockard Channing (Rizzo), or Michael Tucci (Sonny) is not completely off the table, though they’d almost certainly have to appear as different characters now. Other than Sandy, however, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies could easily incorporate younger versions of Grease‘s beloved main characters, even if they are played by different actors. Having the original actors as the present-day launchpad for the 1954 story or giving them a few lines of narration would certainly go a long way toward fans of the original tuning in.

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