Take this with a Sue Sylvester's ego-sized grain of salt, but, amidst all the head fakes and take-backs and graduation-induced confusion it seems that there's at least one definitely departure from "Glee," and it's the one that started the whole drama in the first place.
At Sunday's Comic-Con panel, co-creator/executive producer Brad Falchuk assured the crowd that, despite Ryan Murphy's statements that seniors-to-be Lea Michele, Chris Colfer and Cory Monteith would graduate and leave the show, they wouldn't be going anywhere. Not so much for Chord Overstreet, who has decided to exit stage right.
Of course, it's not that simple; Overstreet's fate has been its own saga.
Back in the beginning of July, it was announced that series newbie Darren Criss would be promoted to series regular, but Overstreet would not get the bump. After much fan consternation, a source from the show said that Overstreet was still set to play an important role in the show, and could get the promotion by the middle of the upcoming season.
Apparently, he didn't like that option, and Falchuk said on Sunday that he was out.
"We wanted him back because we like Chord personally and had some good stories planned for him and with Mercedes (Amber Riley)," he said (via Deadline). "He decided he would have opportunities elsewhere that he would like to pursue, and we can't force him to work. We told him to go with God."
Nice knowing you, Sam Evans.
UPDATE: HitFix.com sought out Falchuk to gain clarity on the issue of graduation, and largely got backpedaling on Murphy's claims and some blame put on a reporter from The Hollywood Reporter.
"What I said was, I think that's wrong, because Ryan told me he didn't say that. That's what I said," Falchuk told the site. "I'm sure that if you look back, maybe in more words, but that's what I said, was that that's not what Ryan said. And the reason why I was confused as to why it would be reported that way is because it's just not true. Since March, we have been discussing with Cory, Lea and Chris, specifically, what the plans for the future are. That they're all graduating. We told them very clearly, 'You're all graduating, but we have plans for the future.' So for Ryan to say 'At the end of the season they're done' made no sense to me."
So, there's that; click over to HitFix for more clarity/confusion.