Glee originally written for Justin Timberlake

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Recording artist Justin Timberlake performs onstage during the Pepsi Super Bowl LII Halftime Show at U.S. Bank Stadium on February 4, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)
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Ryan Murphy wanted Justin Timberlake to star in โ€˜Gleeโ€˜.

The 56-year-old producer revealed Matthew Morrisonโ€™s Spanish teacher character, Will Schuester โ€“ who was commonly known as Mr. Schue โ€“ was originally written with the โ€˜SexyBackโ€™ hitmaker in mind and he and co-creator Ian Brennan had a much darker depiction in mind for the popular staff member.

Speaking to former โ€˜Gleeโ€™ stars Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale on their โ€˜And Thatโ€™s What You REALLY Missedโ€™ podcast, Ryan revealed: โ€œWhen we were writing the pilot, Iโ€™ve never really talked about this, that pilot was written for Justin Timberlake. Mr. Schue was written for Justin.

โ€œMr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ianโ€™s script. The NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling.โ€

But ultimately, Ryan felt the original take was too dark for TV network Fox and he wanted to make a show that was โ€œoptimisticโ€.

He added: โ€œWhat I loved was the idea of kids in high school โ€ฆ it seems like shows that work or TV experiences work feature people going through first times.โ€

The โ€˜American Horror Storyโ€™ showrunner also explained the unusual way that Ianโ€™s script came to him โ€œlike serendipityโ€ at a time when he was struggling to come up with an idea after securing a deal with the broadcaster.

He said: โ€œI went to the gym and I was in a towel and a guy went up and handed me a script and he said, โ€˜I had a feeling you were in show choir, am I right?โ€™ And I was like โ€˜Yeah.โ€™ And he said, โ€˜My friend wrote this script and you should read it.โ€™ โ€œ

The second half of Ryanโ€™s interview with the two stars will air in the next episode of their podcast.


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