It’s been nearly two weeks since Julie and the Phantoms premiered on Netflix and we still can’t get enough of it. From following Julie’s return to music to swooning over the guys from Sunset Curve while singing along to the show’s catchy songs, JATP has easily become one of our favorite series to watch this year.
It seems as if viewers from all over feel the same way, as social media exploded after its initial release on September 10. I mean… can you blame everyone? The show follows high schooler Julie (played by newcomer Madison Reyes), who loses her passion for music after her mom died last year. While in her garage, Julie discovers that her mom’s old hangout was actually the home studio of a band called Sunset Curve, who ate some bad hot dogs and died just before they got to play a major gig at the Orpheum Theater, and now they’re ghosts.
Band members Luke (played by Charlie Gillespie), Reggie (played by Jeremy Shada) and Alex (Owen Patrick Joyner) suddenly appear after Julie plays one of the band’s CDs, and slowly her passion for music comes back, inspiring her to start singing and writing songs again. As her friendship with Luke, Reggie and Alex grows, the group forms their own band, appropriately titled Julie and the Phantoms.
Throughout the nine-episode season, Julie and the Phantoms play gigs all over Los Angeles, including Julie’s school dance, her backyard and more, and Sunset Curve runs into Willie, (played by Booboo Stewart), a cool California ghost who’s ben skateboarding the streets of Hollywood for decades. He teaches the boys about the spirit world while growing really close to Alex (which by the way, we totally ship) telling them that the reason why they are ghosts is because they haven’t completed their “unfinished business” on Earth. Willie also introduces them to Caleb (played by Cheyenne Jackson), a charming by villanious ghost from 1940’s Hollywood who was a famous showman before his untimely death who wants to sign Sunset Curve to an eternal contract to perform at his ghost club. While Caleb is the most powerful ghost in Tinseltown, he’s not to be trusted. But wait… there’s more!
Towards the end of the season, Sunset Curve learns that Caleb has been slowly weakening their powers to ultimately have them at his ghost club for eternity. Thinking that their unfinished business was playing the Orpheum, the guys wound up not crossing over and still having to battle Caleb so they can continue to be in Julie and the Phantoms. Aside from all this drama, a romance between Julie and Luke happens throughout the series, all while Alex and Willie are getting cozy. As for Reggie… he’s still out there using his charm and good looks to hopefully find his perfect girl.
Aside from the cast’s extraordinary talent, a major reason why the show is so good is because it’s the latest project for director and choreographer Kenny Ortega. The mastermind between all of the iconic dance numbers from the High School Musical and Descendants movies, Ortega also teamed up with executive producers Dan Cross and Dave Hoge (The Thundermans, Pair of Kings) and choreographer Paul Becker (Descendants, Mirror Mirror) to deliver a fresh and exciting new musical series about embracing life’s ups and downs, following your dreams, and discovering the power of your own voice.
Celeb Secrets host Juliet Schroder sat down with cast members Madison Reyes (Julie); Charlie Gillespie (Luke); Owen Patrick Joyner (Alex); Jeremy Shada (Reggie); Booboo Stewart (Willie) and Cheyenne Jackson (Caleb), along with director and executive producer Kenny Ortega to discuss what initially attracted them to play their characters, their favorite memories and numbers to perform, and their hopes in terms of what would happen should they get picked up for a second season.
Learn more by watching each interview below and don’t forget to let us know what you think of the show by either leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.
You can watch season one of Julie and the Phantoms on Netflix here.
