Jojo Siwa fans were surprised and delighted when the star unexpectedly showed up in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, wherein she plays her first gay character.
In an interview with EW, Siwa explained why she decided to join the Disney+ show and said she was such a big fan of the original movies that she immediately said yes.
"I immediately was like, 'Yes, I don't care the capacity, I don't care the day, I don't care the time, sign me up.' It's such a cool, iconic show and it feels like such a big, big honor, and so I just felt really grateful," Siwa said.
Related: High School Musical boss addresses possible queer romance for Joshua Bassett's character in season 3
Siwa plays Madison, who is an alum of Camp Shallow Lake who appears late on in season three to visit her ex-girlfriend Maddox (Saylor Bell Curda). Siwa says that this role will give fans an opportunity to see a different side to her that they've perhaps never seen.
"You'll get to see a fun side to me, a little flirty side of me. You haven't seen JoJo like this before. Madison, you could say she's still in love with Maddox. They're definitely broken up, but there's still some tension between the two of them. I don't know what their future is but the storyline between the two of them really has so much room to grow."
While Siwa has previously confirmed that she is queer herself, she explained that up until this role as Madison, she's never played a gay character before.
Related: Why High School Musical season 3 really is the start of something new
"Besides myself, and I'm not a character, I'm just myself, but that's how it looks to the world. But this is so straightforward: Madison is a queer human. I think it's really special getting to know that kids are going to watch this and not be like, 'She's queer? What's that?' They're going to be like, 'She's queer. Cool.' I love that the next generation just kind of [moves past] it vs. it being a weird thing," Siwa said.
Siwa is no stranger to being part of groundbreaking LGBTQ+ representation — she was part of the first-ever same-sex couple to appear on Dancing With the Stars. However, Siwa does wish that she had this representation when she was younger and trying to accept herself.
Related: Dancing with the Stars loses two pros ahead of Disney+ season
"I think it would have made me realise that it's okay a lot younger. It's normal. It took me a while to really be comfortable with that. I didn't really realise that it's okay until I was like 17. I didn't really realise that it was okay — I always thought with other people it was okay," Siwa said.
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series is premiering weekly on Disney+.
