Disney+ and Hulu are bringing back Glee. The two streamers gave a series order to a reboot of the Fox musical comedy, which ran six seasons from 2009 to 2015, TheWrap reported on Wednesday, Oct. 21. 20th Television, which made the original, is producing it. The show’s account on X marked the news with “Currently gleeking out!”
The announcement did not include a plot or premiere date. Casting reports have since begun to fill in part of the picture, with Lea Michele expected to return as Rachel Berry.
Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan Wrote the Glee Reboot Script
Murphy raised the possibility in July at the premiere of his FX drama The Shards. In an interview with People, he said the show’s popularity with younger viewers had prompted him to consider a return.
By September he had a draft. On the red carpet for American Horror Story Season 13, he told Entertainment Tonight, “I just finished the script an hour ago.” Falchuk and Brennan, who created Glee with him, wrote it too. “Brad, Ian and I, who wrote all the first two seasons, have written something,” Murphy said.
He told ET he’d been “in touch with around 10 of the original cast members” and that “they all had a lot of questions, but they all were very enthusiastic about the idea.” He didn’t name them.
Which Original Glee Cast Members Could Return?
Variety reported that Michele will reprise Rachel, citing multiple sources. Her representatives and Murphy’s did not comment for that report. Disney has not released a full cast list.
Heather Morris and Chord Overstreet have also posted about the revival. Variety described their posts as hints that Brittany Pierce and Sam Evans could return. Those signals leave plenty of unanswered questions about the rest of New Directions.
Chris Colfer sounded less sure. He played Kurt Hummel, the out gay student at the center of a lot of the show’s biggest storylines. In an interview with Bustle, he said he’d think about coming back, but “it would be really hard to do it now that Naya [Rivera] is gone.” In that same interview, published before the reboot was announced, he said he hadn’t heard anything about it.
Rivera played Santana Lopez, whose relationship with Heather Morris’s Brittany gave the show its best-known lesbian couple. Rivera died in 2020 at 33 in an accidental drowning at Lake Piru in Southern California. Cory Monteith, who played Finn Hudson, died in 2013 at 31.
Colfer did reunite with Darren Criss recently. Criss, who played Kurt’s boyfriend and eventual husband Blaine, brought him out at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and the two sang “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
Where to Watch Glee Before the Reboot
All six seasons of the original are on Hulu. The show won six Emmys, four Golden Globes and two GLAAD Media Awards, and its music still gets about 4.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Variety reported.
Murphy’s next Hulu premiere is the second season of All’s Fair, his legal drama with Kim Kardashian, which starts Nov. 4.
