For Gleeks, the last month has been head-spinning, gut-wrenching and confusing. From talks of firings, spinoffs and graduations, the assertions, retractions and contradicting statements have left many with little idea of who is going to be on the show, long term.
First, co-creator Ryan Murphy said that seniors-to-be characters, including those played by Chris Colfer, Lea Michele, and Corey Monteith, would be graduating at the end of the upcoming season and not coming back to the show for the subsequent go-round.
Then, last weekend, his series partner Brad Falchuk said the exact opposite, saying that, even though they're graduating, they'll still be on the show. He also cleared up rumors that there was going to be a spin-off starring those characters, based in New York. It created quite the juxtaposition of statements with Murphy's public pronouncements, and to clear the air, Murphy spoke with Deadline to give the straight dish on what's happening.
Here's the deal: they were, at one time, considering a spin-off, based in New York's Juilliard School. That, for now, has fallen through, due to cast caveats and other issues leading some of them to, thus far, decline to change locations.
"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," he said. "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 also takes issue with some of his stars saying that they found out that they were "fired" over Twitter.
"I think that some of those actors' representatives spun it in a certain way, to be quite honest, I don't understand. We weren't allowed to talk about a spin-off," he said. "It was too premature. We didn't want to do it then. The idea was to do it this fall when 'Glee' gets back on the air. Then, to pick up and read the actors saying, 'We found out we were fired from Twitter.' All of us, the studio, the network, were like, 'OK, that isn't exactly cool,' because we involved all three of them in that decision.
One thing Murphy doesn't mention is the exit of star Chord Overstreet; that was its own headache, with word that he was being fired leaking out, before he was publicly offered, thanks to outrage, a big part in season three and a chance to be quickly promoted to series regular. It was an offer that he ultimately declined.
For so much more from Murphy, including talk about his plans for the future of the show and how this whole brouhaha spun out of control, click over to Deadline.