Glee Season 4 – Total Lea Michele, Secrets For the Rest

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Glee’s heavily talked about new format for Season 4 has left a lot of people wondering just how Ryan Murphy and his team of writers hope to include all the graduated students of McKinley – Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, etc – while still introducing new characters. I wish we were at a point where we could answer that, but not even Murphy knows for certain how things are going to work. For all his talk of having things planned it seems to have finally come out that Murphy is talking out of his ass and really has no idea who will be turning up for Season 4 or for how long.

related | GLEE SEASON 4 – MURPHY: DIANNA AGRON AND THE SENIORS WILL BE BACK

Murphy spoke to the likes of TV Guide to admit that while he has stories planned for every single character that left at the end of Season 3, only Michele has spoken to him and committed to returning for a full 22-episode season. In essence, he can plan storylines all day long, but if somebody doesn’t want to return then that will be the end of it. And then it’s entirely up to the actor how many episodes he or she wants to do. So despite earlier comments to contrary, Murphy cannot say with 100 percent certainty Cory Monteith or Chris Colfer will be returning. It could shake out that we won’t see Finn in boot camp, regardless of if that was the original plan or not.

Murphy also revealed a few more guest mentors for the second season of The Glee Project, and in the process he made a wish of mine come true. Last week I made it adamantly clear I wanted Jane Lynch to appear as a mentor and Murphy has confirmed her involvement with the show! Oh happy days! Along with Lynch, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, and Darren Criss will be mentors as well. But Lynch as a mentor is the most important thing we should taking away from this.

5 Comments

1. 

   ShowThemWhat

   June 13, 2012 at 2:28 am

   Wow.  You really don’t know how to read between the lines of Murphy’s comments at all, do you? 

   First off: Back in December, Michele, Monteith, and Colfer (and, according to her, Rivera) were all signed on as Season 4 full-time regulars.  They are the only cast members to have had their contracts locked in six-seven months ago.  They’ll all be full time, maybe missing one episode or two at the most.  In saying things are certain for Lea, Murphy is not “talking out of his ass”: he’s confirming the next direction of the one student out of those four that was SETTLED at the end of the season 3 finale–we saw Rachel Berry get to New York to attend school to become a Broadway star, and that’s what we’ll see her working toward becoming in the 4th Season.  The next steps of the other three characters–Finn Hudson, Kurt Hummel, and Santana Lopez–were deliberately left as cliff-hangers; Murphy is not about the spoil the surprise about what comes next or to give away the resolution of those cliff-hangers–especially that of Finn, which is the biggest–at this point in the game.  (And we’re not going to be following him in bootcamp–the show is going to be in Lima, Ohio and in NYC, not in Fort Benning, GA as well.  Murphy and the network have all said OH and NYC are the two locales many times.)

   Second:  As for the other actors and characters, look at the precise statements Murphy made–all have been invited to “remain a part of the world” of Glee and to be back in some capacity; BUT, he is very clear to say every time he talks about this, that doesn’t mean that they will be back as regulars, or for lots of episodes. We may see some of them only once, or twice, or three times.  He is making sure not to cut off the possibility of any of them returning to be a part of the story when the story calls for their characters and they want to play that part, but he has never guaranteed that any of those who have not already locked in their contracts will be back as regulars.  Murphy is talking about this in this way to make it clear that no one is being fired, while also making it clear that the regular cast of main characters will be much smaller next year. 

   Third:  After three years of watching Glee, it should be clear that new characters can be introduced but that doesn’t mean they are going to have huge roles that occupy a lot of screen time.  They might, like Gwyneth Paltrow or Ashley Fink did, or they might only be on in small doses, like Samuel Larsen or Carole Burnett or John Stamos. 

   Simple put-downs of the show may be easier to write than it is to pay attention to what is being said and to process it thoughtfully, but that doesn’t mean they are accurate or correct.

   Reply
2. 

   logical

   June 13, 2012 at 2:50 am

   You say he is talking out his ass but yet you believe him.  No matter what ALL the actors are still under contract.  He knows he just isn’t saying.  He in only mentioning Lea becausee they have played up the NY part already and we know Rachel ends up in NY. 

   Reply
3. 

   logical

   June 13, 2012 at 2:57 am

   Wanted to clarify with what
   showthemwhat said.  All the cast is still under contract only those 4 have been told their contract will be honors as of yet.  In the end Ryan may take in consideration what  the others want to do but he has the final say if he tells Amber she is doing 22 episode that is what she does cause her contract.  If he want to say bye nice to have worked with you well that is that.   But for the most part I think the graduate not name Rachel, Finn, Kurt and Santana will get some 3-6 episode deal.

   Reply
4. 

   Loisappleton

   June 13, 2012 at 6:13 am

   glee school

   Reply
5. 

   Laure

   June 13, 2012 at 7:55 am

   All the regular actors have multi-year contracts, so those that RM and company want back full time, will be on the show full time. The other graduating seniors are basically not getting their contracts picked up. They are now negotiating to see how many episodes they’ll come back for and at what pay rate. Sure it’s up to the actors but it’s up to them to accept the contracts they are offered.

   Reply