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How Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies Pays Homage To The Original Film
The Paramount+ show tells a new story — but you may spot a few familiar faces along the way.
By the time Sandy meets the Pink Ladies in Grease, they’re an established squad with matching, custom-stitched jackets — but how did they start out? That’s the question Paramount+ aims to answer with its new prequel series, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. The idea, creator and showrunner Annabel Oakes told Entertainment Weekly, was to explore the high school archetypes that were on display in the original 1978 film.
“How can we take a character, like Frenchy, who’s focused on her future in that way and expand that? What is the Tough Girl and why is she so tough? Stockard Channing in the original movie did such a great job of showing Rizzo’s toughness, but also showing the vulnerability underneath,” Oakes explained. “We get to go even deeper with our characters because we have more time with them.”
While the Pink Ladies in Paramount+’s new series shares many similarities with the film’s gang, they’re different characters: Rizzo, Frenchy, and their fellow Pink Ladies weren’t even in high school by the time the prequel takes place, which is 1954. (Grease begins at the start of the 1958 school year.)
But, like the best cinematic franchises, there are plenty of nostalgic connections to look out for. As it turns out, founding Pink Lady Jane Facciano is the older sister of Fran, aka Frenchy, from the 1978 film.
During the premiere episode, it’s revealed that Fran and Betty Rizzo are already good friends by their final year of junior high. However, Fran’s mom is worried that Betty is a bad influence — foreshadowing Rizzo’s reputation in high school.
“One day, a boy was teasing me about my voice, and Betty walked right up and kicked him right in the family jewels,” Fran says. “Said only she can talk to me like that.”
She also tells her sister why Rizzo’s friendship is so important. “A friend like her is the only way I’m gonna survive junior high,” she explains, seemingly inspiring Jane to cultivate her own friendships and, voilà, start the Pink Ladies.
It’s a glimpse at the future of the Pink Ladies while still focusing on an earlier version of the group. You’ll spot other references to the original film throughout the series, too. Even the episode names pull from Grease lines: Episode 1 is called “We’re Gonna Rule the School,” which is what Rizzo says on the first day of school in the 1978 film.
