A Glee Spinoff? Ryan Murphy Clarifies Remarks, Explains Casting Debacle
Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer aren't going anywhere.
So, why did Glee creator Ryan Murphy make a point of saying these three stars would not return to the show on season four? And why did Michele and Colfer release statements that appeared to verify this news?
It was all part of a spinoff plan gone horribly wrong, Murphy says in a new interview, taking some responsibility, but also placing a lot of blame on the actors, their representatives and the media.
"We were asked to investigate doing a spin-off and it was a spin-off specifically for three of them" Murphy explained to Deadline. "All three of them expressed interest... for any of those actors to say, ‘I found out that I was fired off the show from Twitter,’ is absolutely 100% not true. None of them were fired. It was never about that. We were going to do a spin-off where the three of them were going to go on [to Julliard in NYC]."
Where did it all go wrong? Murphy said no one was allowed to actually mention the plan for a new series.
"I think that some of those actors’ representatives spun it in a certain way, to be quite honest, I don't understand... When I say they’re seniors and they’re not coming back to the show, what I did not say is they’re not coming back to the show because there will be another show. What Brad [Falchuk] said this weekend at Comic-Con is now correct: they’re graduating. What we wanted is to get people away from this idea that the actors were fired which is ludicrous. Nobody was fired. They were talked to for months about the show."
Murphy says plans for a spin-off have "collapsed," but Lea, Cory and Chris are under contract for seven years. No one is going anywhere and the writing staff is working on new ways to graduate the characters while still keeping them on Glee.
"I’ve learned a lesson from this experience. I’ve learned to really really monitor what I say. Before I didn’t do that. My bad. Stupid."
Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.
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Will: Brittany's at M.I.T. touring the campus because she's got an early acceptance. Kitty: That can't be true.
August 3rd, 2011 6:51 AM
Sooooooooooooo happy they are not leaving but to be honest i knew something was being said about a spin off, they made far to much money off those characters to just let them go so i would of just scraped glee n watched the spin off anyway :) Glee nearly lost alot a fans by doin that so its a good job Murphy sorted his s**t out!!!!! Cant wait for 3 to start, happy days!!!!!!!!!!!!! N they better bloody keep Finn and Rachel together n lets watch them grow as a couple now, dont waste time showing us them breakin up again n getting back together. No way in real life would he have got back with Quinn last time, load of rubbish guys n hopefully they have learned from the mistakes of last season n bring a bit more of season 1 feeling back to it!!!!!!!!!
Rank: Recurring Character
August 1st, 2011 7:40 PM
Does anyone here cares if the timeline is real?! Because i'm watching just for the songs...
August 1st, 2011 2:22 PM
Chris Colfer said he'd heard about the hooha on Twitter but never said he'd heard he was fired on twitter. Lea reassured the fans that graduating didn't mean it was necessarily bad news and that she loved her fans regardless of if she was leaving or not. And Chord cryptically hinted he was leaving before it was officially announced. Typical RM blaming someone else for his stupidity, in future leak news when you have it not simply for PR purposes to stay in the press (which he probably did to distract from the fact that most people didn't enjoy the finale).
August 1st, 2011 1:24 AM
Ummm... who tweeted they were fired (other than Chord obviously)? Because Lea and Chris have both released rather optimistic statements. Ryan Murphy, you are douche #1.
And if you're planning to keep these people together in a school environment for 7 years then, wow. They the lives of these characters must really suck...
Rank: Guest Star
August 1st, 2011 12:32 AM
Four words. I HATE Ryan Murphy.
Rank: Recurring Character
July 31st, 2011 1:12 PM
7 years? are you kidding me?
July 30th, 2011 11:48 PM
Finn and Rachel forever
July 30th, 2011 11:47 PM
ok guys, let's calm the hell down, death threats are as idiotic as the decisions murphy's been making lately.
Rank: Guest Star
July 30th, 2011 11:30 PM
I fucking hate Ryan Murphy. He's such an asshole. I'm about to stop watching Glee because that douche bag.
Rank: Regular Character
July 30th, 2011 12:53 AM
Ryan Murphy is such an ass. Take a hike. Fall off a cliff. Just get the fuck away from this show.