It was just a week and a half ago that Glee creator Ryan Murphy announced that several key castmembers were off the show after next season, when their characters would be graduating. Lead characters Cory Monteith, Lea Michele, and Chris Colfer would be seniors next season, after which Murphy claimed they would be leaving. Murphy made it clear that he hadn’t informed all of the actors ahead of time that their time on the show was up, and Chris Colfer later admitted that he found out the news on Twitter. Later, Glee’s Amber Riley said she had no idea if she would be returning to the show after the next season, but added “Whatever happens this third season is what happens… it’s something that’s not that surprising to us.”

In a panel at Comic Con over the weekend, Glee’s executive producer Brad Falchuck said that it wasn’t true that Monteith, Michele and Colfer would all be leaving after next year, and that there were other ways that their characters could continue on the show without staying in high school. He said there probably won’t be a spinoff though. One familiar face that won’t be back on the show is Chord Overstreet, as has been rumored.

Right off the bat, the current situation involving Cory Monteith, Lea Michele, and Chris Colfer graduating and leaving the show for good came up, and executive producer Brad Falchuck finally set the record straight. Plus, what’s the real deal with Chord Overstreet not returning for season three?

Although it was reported by every outlet around that Ryan Murphy announced Michele, Monteith and Colfer would be graduating at the end of next season and not returning to the show in any capacity, Falchuck claims that’s not the case at all.

“They’re seniors. They’re graduating. But [just] because they’re graduating doesn’t mean they’re leaving the show,” he said to the anxious crowd. “If you have Lea Michele under contract, you don’t say, ‘We’re gonna let you go.’ It was never our plan or our intention to let them go. They are not done with the show after this season.”

There you go, Glee fans. Looks like we won’t be seeing the last of Rachel, Finn and Kurt after season three.

Falchuck also spoke about the Overstreet situation, claiming they did ask him back, but he declined. “We did invite him back for a portion of the season, to see if being a regular was a possibility,” he explained. “But he declined the offer, which we were really disappointed by.”

It’s an unfortunate circumstance, because according to the show runners, they had a lot planned for him in season three. “We wanted him back because we like Chord personally and had some good stories planned for him and with Mercedes (Amber Riley). He decided he would have opportunities elsewhere that he would like to pursue, and we can’t force him to work, so we wished him well.”

[From E! Online]

It sounds like there’s a voice of reason among the management on that show after all. And it sounds like Lea Michele’s lawyers gave her employers a call and let them know they couldn’t just fire her through the press. Good for them.

Do you think that Glee Project reality competition show has Murphy assuming that he can get more compliant talent much cheaper? There’s still the issue of a toxic work environment.

Photo credit: Fame pictures

We heard last week that Australian actor Chord Overstreet, 22, would not be back at Glee next year. It made me wonder if Chord was getting a little too big for his britches now that he’s dating Emma Roberts, who has a reputation for being difficult. The news was in People and everything and Glee creator Ryan Murphy confirmed it to The Hollywood Reporter, so it sounded official.

Only someone at Glee later tried to take it back. A source told TV Line’s Michael Ausiello that Overstreet could possibly work on the series still. They made it sound like a contract negotiation issue: “[Overstreet's] option to be a series regular was just not picked up at this time. If Chord wants to appear on Glee, the choice is his. The Glee writers like his Sam character, and have plans to write for him. He and his reps have been told that he is welcome back to Glee, and everyone hopes he will show up on August 10 when filming begins.” Glee was Chord’s big break, so he should stick around for a while.

Now there’s news that Season three, next year’s season from 2011-2012, will be the last for three of the main stars, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer. Their characters are set to graduate and creator Murphy explained that it wouldn’t be authentic if they stayed in high school forever:

Glee regulars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer will not be back for the fourth season of the Fox musical hit.

In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, series co-creator Ryan Murphy said that the three regulars will be among the characters who graduate at the end of the fall’s upcoming third season.

Colfer, Michele and Monteith are not going to be back at all for Season 4. Murphy tells THR: “You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic, 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.”
Murphy added that planning for the future beyond high school will be a heavy theme during Season 3, noting that “more characters are leaving than are staying” when graduation time comes at the season’s end.

“We’ve never done anything by the book,” he said, adding that who’s graduating and who’s staying will be revealed in the Sept. 20 season premiere. “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 and co-creators Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan’s decision to graduate the trio — among others — has been well-received by the show’s new writers, he said. The group recently returned to work and are writing story lines that include several characters’ parents as the college talk heats up.

“We already made the decision before the new writers came in, but everybody likes where we’re taking it and what we’re writing toward,” Murphy said, noting that while he loved the “relationship roulette” from Season 2, the upcoming run would find everyone’s love lives more stable.

“I’m much more interested in Lea’s character — not so much on her relationship with Finn, but more on what her dreams are beyond high school and how she plans on getting them,” he added. “That’s what my senior year was about.”

Murphy acknowledged that while he hasn’t discussed graduation plans with Monteith yet, he presumes he’s aware that Finn will be among those graduating. “He knows he was a sophomore when the show started.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Doesn’t it seem like there must be a lot of tension on set? Murphy is admitting that he never told one of the main stars, Cory Monteith, that next year will be the last he’s appearing on the show. So he told the press about it before he even bothered to give a heads up to Monteith. His response as to why was kind of shrug and “he should have known.” That’s ridiculous and unbelievable. We’ve heard about the long hours these kids work on set and it just sounds like Murphy is hostile.

Every since Murphy had all that Twitter drama and started calling out artists for not licensing their music to him I’ve soured on this show. Now that I see how unfairly the stars are treated, I have no regrets about not bothering to watch it this season.

Ryan Murphy:

Cory Monteith:

Lea Michele:

Chris Colfer:

Chord Overstreet:

The Fox runaway muscial hit “Glee” is huge right now, and most of the attention is on its big breakout stars, Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison. But Chris Colfer, who plays fabulous out-and-proud student Kurt Hummel, has quite a cult following, too. Not only can this kid sing, dance and act, but according to The Enquirer, Chris has spent most of his life prior to his “Glee” success caring for his younger sister who has severe epilepsy. He once promised his sister that if he became rich and famous, he would raise money and awareness to help find a cure for the disease.

Teenage “Glee” star Chris Colfer spent much of his young life taking care of his severely epileptic younger sister before heading off to seek fame and fortune in Hollywood.

In an exclusive Enquirer interview, Chris’ proud mom said he’s a “hero” for the sacrifices he’s made for his sister. “Chris was always instrumental in Hannah’s life – he still is,” Karyn Colfer says.

Chris, 20, plays Beyonce-loving gay singer Kurt Hummel on the hit musical comedy. In real-life he was a three-time speech and debate champion at Clovis East High School in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

But he spent much of his time caring for his little sister.

“He was the center of her world, taking the time to do whatever she wanted to do,” says Karyn, 47. “Chris was absolutely selfless when it came to his sister – he gave up a great deal of his social life for her.”

Hannah, now 14, was crushed when Chris decided to strike out on his own, says Karyn. But a few days before he left, he bought web cams so the two could teleconference through Skype when they started missing each other.

“Chris is a great brother. He’s a hero to Hannah.”

Karyn told the Enquirer that Hannah can have as many as 50 seizures an hour, and has not responded to several different courses of medication. Hannah recently underwent operations to implant nerve stimulators, and the family is hoping the procedure will improve her condition.

Karyn adds: “You know, when Chris was growing up, people would ask him, ‘Are you going to become a doctor so you can find a cure for your sister?’” And he would say, ‘I’m going to grow up and become a famous actor so I can pay someone ELSE a ton of money to find a cure.’”

True to his word, Chris recently donated a large sum of money to the nonprofit group CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy).

[From the National Enquirer print version, July 5, 2010]

So, while Lea Michele is out there allegedly racking up diva bitch points, Chris, who is every bit as talented, is using his new found fame for good. I think that alone warrants another Kurt-centered episode of Glee soon, don’t you? What a great kid.

Chris Colfer plays gay high school student Kurt Hummel on the popular Fox comedy “Glee”. Colfer is also out and proud and has been open about it to the press, including in a recent interview with gay magazine The Advocate. He talked about being gay in matter-of-fact way, and apparently that freaked out Fox executives. The National Enquirer reports that Fox officials asked The Advocate to remove part of an interview with Colfer on their website in which he made a reference to being gay.

“Glee” star Chris Colfer’s slip of the lip during a recent interview sent show execs into a panic.

The 19-year-old actor… seemed to accidentally reveal his own sexual orientation while talking about the show in an interview.

When Chris was asked if he was “out” during his own high school years, he replied: “Oh, no. People are killed in my hometown for that!”

And while the disclosure – to “The Advocate,” a gay magazine – was no big deal for Chris, who was raised in Clovis, Calif., it was HUGE for studio execs.

“Fox wasn’t pleased,” an insider told The Enquirer. “They’re very protective of their young stars. And while the studio is pro-gay, they didn’t want Chris stamped with a ‘gay actor’ label so early in his career.

“They want him to be known simply as an ‘actor.’”

A rep from the studio asked the magazine to remove that part of the interview from the Advocate.com web site.

“The gay thing is not an issue for Chris at all,” the insider maintained.

“He hopes his character is an inspiration for gay kids everywhere. But both he and the studio want his personal life to stay under wraps.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, November 23, 2009]

This wasn’t the only time that Colfer has spoken to the press about being gay. He also talked about it in an interview with Access Hollywood a few weeks ago in which he answered a similar question about coming out. The interviewer asked him about his experience coming out as compared to his character’s (it’s at 2:30 in this video) and he said his parents were very accepting and that he had a “similar” experience to Kurt’s, but not the same.

The Advocate still has the part of the interview with Colfer on their website that Fox supposedly wanted removed. They also report in a follow-up that Colfer refused to talk about his sexuality in a subsequent interview with USA Today, and said something that seems to confirm that he was told to stop discussing it. “I try to keep up a mystery. As much as I give away of my personal life, the less people will believe me as other characters. I try to be private about it. It is what it is.”

It sounds like Fox executives had a talk with Colfer. It’s his decision whether he wants to talk about being gay or not, but you can’t blame him for doing what his bosses tell him to in order to keep his job. Fox isn’t doing him any favors by trying to keep him from being typecast or whatever they claim their motivation is. It’s nice to see a talented young actor who is comfortable talking about being gay and doesn’t consider it a big deal. If this is what happened, shame on Fox for telling Colfer to change his tune.

Spoilers for past Glee episodes below
As much as Fox seems short-sighted in this decision, I like how Glee is handling the plotline with Kurt. It was touching to see his manly dad stick up for him this week. The “coming out” episode, where the football team did “Single Ladies” dance, was just brilliant. It’s a great show with some compelling characters and they handle some sensitive issue with grace and humor.

Photos from Fox via IGN and The Advocate