Brace yourselves, Gleeks.

 

Glee exec producer Ryan Murphy just told to The Hollywood Reporter that not only will Rachel, Finn and Kurt graduate from McKinley High at the end of the upcoming third season, but all three of their portrayers — Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer — are “not going to be back at all for Season 4.”

That’s right, kids. He said At. All.

 

“You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic,” he added, “or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year.

“We’ve never done anything by the book,” Murphy continued. “We made that decision and I involved Chris and Lea and they thought that was a good idea. They both trust the writing and trust me and felt that it would be great to have an open and closed experience for them to go out while they were on top.”

 

Murphy goes on to acknowledge that unlike Colfer and Michele, he has yet to discuss any of this with Monteith. But it shouldn’t come as much of a shock since the actor knew Finn “was a sophomore when the show started.”

The Glee boss first floated the graduation plot in an interview last month with Ryan Seacrest, although he stopped short of saying any of the actors would be written off the show permanently. Murphy later told TVLine that he would be open to the idea of possibly spinning some of the characters off into their own show — perhaps an hour-long series about a group of young artists (namely Rachel and Kurt) who head to New York City to pursue their musical theater dreams.

 

“It’s an interesting idea,” he said at the time. “The questions are ‘How would we do it? And when would we do it?’ It would have to be something I would talk about to [Fox bigwigs]Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly and [20th Century Fox brass] Dana Walden and Gary Newman. What we’re trying to do now — maybe those discussions will happen around December — we’re just now trying to do the first 10 episodes.”

Source...

 

As sad as it is to see Lea, Cory and Chris (mainly the former though) go, I completely agree with why he is doing it. He's correct. I'm shocked at Chris not coming back though... I thought they'd bring out the Kurt and Blaine storyline a bit more and surely end of Kurt = end of Blaine too? Unless he has an off screen relationship with him. It would be nice to see him now and again though (maybe not going back to the school) but it'd be nice to see him meet up with Blaine for a coffee or whatever.

 

Also the Rachel and Kurt spin off MUST happen.

EURGH. I was expecting Lea and Chris to leave, both have loads of projects in the pipeline but to have it confirmed sucks.

 

And more are leaving?

 

I predict we're be saying goodbye to Lea, Chris, Cory, Mark, Naya and Dianna. They seem to be the six 'break out' stars of the series, and plus Mark is like 28 so I cant see him playing a high school kid for much longer.

 

I'm not sure if I'll stick with Glee after most of the original cast leave. It just wont be the same show. And you can just bet that they will bring in another 'self obsessed diva' and 'gay kid' who won't be a patch on the original 'self obsessed diva' and 'gay kid'.

Also, I'm pretty sure Jenna and Harry (Mike) will be leaving too, if all the original kids go there will be no real incentive for me to keep following the show like I did. The thing is, Glee is not a realistic show, if they wanted to, they could have kept the characters on and made a running joke out of it; they could have followed them to college; or at the very least have them come back as non-regulars. Murphy's assurance it will work with new characters citing the 'success' of Sam is also pretty bleak; seeing as how I wasn't a fan of Season Two anyway, I will use this as the perfect point to jump ship aswell.

 

In hindsight I kinda wish the show didn't last beyond it's first 13, the early episodes still remain Glee's peak.

Edited July 14, 201114 yr by Daniel II

Sam's success lasted for like three episodes. Then they just kindah forgot he was in the show.

 

I'm not sure how Blaine/Kurt will continue as Blaine is definitely staying.

Devastated that Lea is leaving. :cry:

Lea :(

I'm not sad at all. I prepared for this after Season 1. Shame though.

 

I actually thought the 9 episodes they came back with for season 1 were the shows peak.

i really think they should have had a rolling cast with members joining and leaving every season.

Lea was my nu-fave :( And Cory is the fittest guy on there by miles! We best not lose Naya!

Glad Chris is leaving. Cannot stand his singing voice.

I'm not particularly bothered about Chris and Cory leaving but Lea leaving is about as enjoyable as puking up a lung. It'll more than likely kill the show for me. :(

Haven't we basically know this for ages? I thought it was confirmed a while ago that the current cast will graduate at the end of the season :unsure:

 

I don't know how the show will survive after, carbon copies of the current cast are just a no-no. But I'm not sad about one particular cast member leaving, I'm sad about them all (mostly), as I feel they all bring something to the show.

They were rumours. This is the first time Ryan has actually said he's axing Lea, Cory and Chris.

A show like this won't have a long shelf-life (at least, not a successful one anyway) so it's probably best these people burn out instead of fade away. So to speak.

To be honest, I'd accepted this was happening anyway. As much as the idea of a new set of character horrifies me, the prospect of them staying on forever isn't going to work at all either and is frankly worse. If they do keep Blaine on, I would like occasional appearances by Chris though.

Murphy goes on to acknowledge that unlike Colfer and Michele, he has yet to discuss any of this with Monteith. But it shouldn’t come as much of a shock since the actor knew Finn “was a sophomore when the show started.”

 

Now I don't question the actual decision to get rid of the three, it makes perfect sense. But it seems to me that it's a little underhand and more than a little disrespectful for Murphy to go announcing this before actually having the decency to confirm with the actor.

I can't believe Lea has been axed :/ Delighted Chris is leaving don't like him!

I think Axed is a strong word. They haven't really been axed. Axed is more like "your fired, we don't need you anymore". That isn't really the case. Plus they all signed three year contracts anyway.