#Grease Prequel Rise of the Pink Ladies Gets Series Order at Paramount+

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, a sequel series set before the events of the iconic 1978 movie Grease, has just picked up an official series order at Paramount+. Hailing from Paramount Television Studios, the 10-episode series was initially set for development at HBO Max before the project fell through. It was picked up for development last fall by Paramount+ but it was just now given its official green light.

Per Deadline, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies will explore how Rizzo, Frenchy, Marty, and Jan came together before they became known as the Pink Ladies in their senior year at Rydell High. The series is set four years before the original Grease, before “rock ‘n’ roll ruled, before the T-Birds were the coolest in the school, four fed-up, outcast girls dare to have fun on their own terms, sparking a moral panic that will change Rydell High forever.”
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Annabel Oakes (Atypical) created the series and serves as writer and showrunner. Oakes also executive produces alongside Mary Bowen for Temple Hill and Erik Feig for Picturestart. The series will feature new and returning characters along with a mix of old and new songs.

Grease, one of the most popular musical movies of all time, was released in 1978. Set in 1958, the movie delves into the romance between Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson. Despite the pressures both Danny and Sandy face from their own respective friends, their romance ultimately perseveres with the two riding off into the sunset in the end. Few musicals have managed to achieve similar success since.

In 1982, the sequel Grease 2 was released with new actors in the lead. Set two years after the first movie, it starred Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer with Patricia Birch directing. It was a box office dud and was not as well-received as the original movie, though it did help launch Pfeiffer’s career.

There are also plans to develop a prequel movie separately from the TV series. In 2019, Paramount Pictures announced that the movie Summer Lovin’ was in the works with John August writing the script. Rather than focusing on the Pink Ladies, the movie takes its inspiration from the Grease song and will center around the summer in which Danny and Sandy first met and fell in love. Last year, Brett Haley boarded the project as director and it was reported that Leah McKendrick had rewritten most of the script.

Paramount+ has no qualms in revisiting established intellectual properties from years past for all-new exclusive content. One of the streamer’s most popular offerings is an iCarly reboot that brings back Miranda Cosgrove as the titular web series star. After recently premiering on Paramount+, the show has already been given a series renewal. The platform has also rebooted Rugrats and offers new spinoffs of Star Trek and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies doesn’t yet have an official premiere date set. If you want to revisit the original Grease, the movie is streaming for free on demand on Pluto TV. The platform also has Grease 2 available, if you’re interested. This news comes to us from Deadline.

Topics: Grease, Paramount Plus, Streaming