Ashley Tisdale, Aly Michalka, and Tom Welling Team Up for New CW Pilot Hellcats

Ashley Tisdale and Alyson Michalka are living proof that Disney Channel starlets grow up and move on. Tisdale, who first gained fame on Suite Life of Zack & Cody (TV) and later exploded along with Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens in the High School Musical (2006) franchise, is teaming up with Michalka, who co-starred on Phil of the Future (TV) and is a mainstay of Radio Disney, for an upcoming television series called Hellcats.

Actually, Hellcats isn't quite a series yet. According to the Hollywood trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, right now it's a pilot for the CW, and if the network likes what it sees, then it'd go to series, probably this fall. Oh, and guess who's producing the show? There's no way you'll figure it out, to be honest, unless you've already heard the news: Superman himself, Tom Welling of the long-running CW series Smallville (TV), which was just renewed for a 10th season.

Hellcats centers on a competitive college cheerleading squad. Tisdale will play Sierra, the energetic but super-serioius Hellcats cheer captain, while Michalka will portray Marti, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who grabs some pompoms when a perfect storm of money issues and the non-stop antics of her mom (Gail O'Grady) result in the loss of her scholarship. It should be added that Sierra and Marti are also roommates, and they'll initially clash, but that will no doubt give way to a friendship...or at least a grudging respect.

"I'm so excited for this project," Tisdale wrote on her blog about the big news. "I love the cast I'm working with and am so thrilled with the character I get to play."