Sofia Wylie stars as Gina Porter in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. The fourth and final season is officially streaming on Disney+ and this interview will contain spoilers.

After an epic summer at Camp Shallow Lake, the Wildcats return to East High where they prepare a stage production of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year.” But plans are disrupted when Principal Gutierrez announces that Disney has decided to make the long-awaited “High School Musical 4: The Reunion” movie on location at their beloved high school.

To start, the actress opened up about the comfort that Gina has given her throughout her time on the series, explaining, “Gina has been with me for my entire high school experience as a teenage girl. I started on High School Musical when I was 15 and you know, [when] we finished last season, I was 19. And so, it’s been four years of freshmen to senior being her, interacting with her, getting to know her, and I think she’s brought me a lot of confidence because going into the first season, I was… I’ve always been very shy, and kind of meek, which is a surprise to a lot of people because a lot of people will think that I’m very extroverted and outgoing, and actually, I’m much more of an introvert naturally and very much in my head a lot of the time. So having to be a character that is so overconfident, it was like the type of fake it till you make it moment of, I was learning how to be more like Gina as I was pretending to be her.”

She also revealed that she had the opportunity to collaborate with showrunner Tim Federle when it came to her character’s story. “I think my favorite part of playing Gina is the collaboration that it’s taken to get from point A to point B, where we are now,” she told me. “From season two to season four, he always made sure that I was involved in Gina’s storyline and what was going on with her arc or her character development and the characters around her, and that, as a 16-year-old girl, was like… that made me feel so empowered and respected, and that is very rare to feel in this industry, no matter what your gender is or race, like, it’s so hard to just feel respected. And so, the fact that I was able to get that from my boss and at such an early point in my career, it really instilled a lot of confidence in me. So, I think that’s been my favorite part of playing Gina and seeing the fact that I can incorporate my desires as a teenage girl into a character that I’m playing.”

As for how the beloved series ends, Wylie says she feels “fully satisfied with Gina’s journey” and that she “would be super open to revisiting it in the future, whenever that would be.”

I was lucky enough to speak with the actress about her own personal journey while working on the show, how much her character has grown over the years, her thoughts on Gina’s ending, all things Rina, the incredible support from fans, and much more!

Please note: this interview was done prior to the SAG-AFTRA Strike. In support of the strike, please donate to the Entertainment Community Fund.