It has been 17 years since the release of the 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock, starring Demi Lovato as a young and aspiring musician attending a summer camp for superstars. The film was widely successful upon its release and even followed with the sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, just two short years later. The movies served not only as a breakout role for Lovato, but also were a major career boost for American pop boy band, The Jonas Brothers.
In the time since the movies, Camp Rock has become recognized as an iconic and nostalgic hit for Disney Channel, continuously watched and loved for the memorable characters and featured original music.
Camp Rock‘s relevancy spiked again across social media in recent months when in early Aug. 2025, The Jonas Brothers brought out their former Camp Rock co-star, Lovato, for a legendary performance of “This is Me” and “Wouldn’t Change A Thing” from the early 2000s era movies while on their 2025 tour.
Among the excitement of the long awaited reunion of the cast, Joe Jonas, who starred as Shane Gray in the films, accidentally leaked rumors regarding another sequel to the movies just days after the concert. In a Youtube ‘Hot Ones’ challenge, Jonas was asked to read his most recent notes entry by brother Nick Jonas, and to which his response contained a single to-do: “Read Camp Rock 3,” following shortly with a “sorry, Disney.”
Fire spread fast across social media apps as former fans began to speculate the truth behind Jonas’ words. Confirmation came only shortly after on Sept. 17, 2025, with a post by Disney+ announcing Camp Rock 3 was officially in production. Additionally, the Jonas Brother’s posted a video recreating their opening scene in the original 2008 movie, captioned “Good morning campers” on TikTok. The posts received over 12 million views in total and created a mass hysteria over the confirmed return to Camp Rock.
Still on tour, the Jonas brothers continued to fuel the fire by performing “Introducing Me,” another Camp Rock 2 classic, in Anaheim, California, in late September.
While there is no official release day set for the reboot film, Disney+ announced the cast via Instagram with the brothers reprising their respective roles of Shay, Nate, and Jason Gray. Maria Canals-Barrera, notably known for her role in Wizards of Waverly Place, will also reprise her role of Connie Torres, the beloved mother of Mitchie (Lovato) and the camp chef.
No other cast members from the original movies are listed to be returning for the film, causing Disney to receive light backlash over failing to include many iconic roles, such as Alyson Stoner who portrayed Caitlyn Geller in both films. It was also impossible for fans to ignore the fact that the star of the original series, Lovato, was not listed among the third movie’s cast.
However, Lovato is still heavily involved within the project and is now set to produce the film alongside the Jonas brothers. In late September, Lovato shared a photo via Instagram, captioned “this is me (in my producer era)”. While some fans share disappointment not getting to see the character of Mitchie back on our screens, Lovato’s return to the industry is widely celebrated in having a new leadership role.
Camp Rock 3 is being filmed on location in Vancouver, Canada, notably differing from where the first two films were shot in Ontario, Canada. Shooting is expected to end sometime in late Oct. 2025, lasting only a short month and a half shoot.
The movie is set to portray the Gray brothers, known as Connect 3, returning to camp in search of the next generations of rockstars to be their opening act in their next major tour. This younger cast includes Liamani Segura as Sage, Hudson Stone as Desi, Lumi Pollack as Rosie, Malachi Barton as Fletch, and Casey Trotter as Cliff.
With the focus being narrowed in on this next generation of campers, it is explains the lack of returning stars from the original movies being listed among the cast. Despite this, many fans still hold out hope that the stars of the first two films will make small cameo appearances throughout the movie, paying homage to their unforgettable roles as campers in the early 2000s.
The new young cast of the film continue to post on social media, showing behind the scenes footage, attending a Jonas Brothers concert together, and sharing their excitement to be apart of something so special to many people across the world.
As time passes, it is expected that Disney will release more information regarding the process of the film, including an official release date. But until then, fans can only speculate what is to come of this reboot and if it will pay the rightful respect to the Camp Rock name. While not much else is known about the film, it is undeniably an exhilarating time for Disney fans, as it offers the opportunity for so many to step back into their childhood and teenage years to revisit the characters, music and stories that hold such special and nostalgic memories.