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Ryan Murphy wanted Justin Timberlake to star in โGleeโ.
The 56-year-old producer revealed Matthew Morrisonโs Spanish teacher character, Will Schuester โ who was commonly known as Mr. Schue โ was originally written with the โSexyBackโ 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 โGleeโ stars Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale on their โAnd Thatโs What You REALLY Missedโ podcast, Ryan revealed: โWhen we were writing the pilot, Iโve never really talked about this, that pilot was written for Justin Timberlake. Mr. Schue was written for Justin.
โMr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ianโs 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 โoptimisticโ.
He added: โWhat I loved was the idea of kids in high school โฆ it seems like shows that work or TV experiences work feature people going through first times.โ
The โAmerican Horror Storyโ showrunner also explained the unusual way that Ianโs script came to him โlike serendipityโ at a time when he was struggling to come up with an idea after securing a deal with the broadcaster.
He said: โI went to the gym and I was in a towel and a guy went up and handed me a script and he said, โI had a feeling you were in show choir, am I right?โ And I was like โYeah.โ And he said, โMy friend wrote this script and you should read it.โ โ
The second half of Ryanโs interview with the two stars will air in the next episode of their podcast.