Highlights
- Lea Michele will reprise Rachel Berry in the Disney+ and Hulu Glee reboot, with a source telling Variety “she’s in.”
- Ryan Murphy says he wrote the script with Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan and has reached around 10 original stars.
- Chris Colfer says he’s heard nothing about the reboot, though Rachel ended the series as Kurt’s surrogate.
Rachel Berry is back, and she’s taking center stage. Lea Michele will reprise her breakout role in the Glee reboot that Disney+ and Hulu officially ordered Wednesday, Variety reports.
“She’s in,” one source told the outlet. Reps for Michele and Ryan Murphy didn’t comment.
Another insider sounded downright giddy. “It’s still early-ish days, but it feels good and we’re happy to get the band back together,” the source said.
Nobody should be shocked. “I love Glee. I will always love Glee,” Michele told E! News in September, adding, “I will follow Ryan wherever he goes.”
She’s following him straight back to McKinley High. 20th Television is producing, but there’s still no premiere date and no other confirmed cast.
Murphy has been teasing this for months. “That show is interesting because it’s come back around,” he told People in July. “So many young people now watch it.”
By September, the tease turned into paperwork. “Well, funny you ask, cause I just finished the script an hour ago,” Murphy told Entertainment Tonight.
He’s reuniting the original writers’ room, too. “Brad, Ian and I, who wrote all the first two seasons, have written something,” he said, which is music to anyone who bailed during the New York years.
Then came the roll call. “I’ve been in touch with around 10 of the original cast members,” Murphy said, adding that “they all were very enthusiastic about the idea.”
Here’s the catch: Kurt Hummel apparently didn’t get the call. “I know nothing and have heard absolutely nothing,” Chris Colfer told Bustle earlier this month. “I wish I did.”
That’s awkward, considering the finale ended with Rachel winning a Tony and acting as surrogate for Kurt and Blaine. Colfer joked fans would “come after me with pitchforks and jazz hands if I said no.”
He also named the elephant in the auditorium. Colfer admitted “it would be really hard to do it now that Naya is gone.”
That grief hangs over any homecoming. Cory Monteith, who played Finn and dated Michele in real life, died in 2013, followed by Mark Salling in 2018 and Naya Rivera in 2020.
Murphy once admitted the original kept going too long after Monteith’s death. On the And That’s What You Really Missed podcast in 2022, he said, “we would’ve stopped for a very long time and probably not come back.”
Michele’s return comes with baggage. Former co-star Samantha Ware publicly accused her of making set life miserable, and Michele later issued a public apology.
Disney’s bet isn’t pure nostalgia. The Fox original racked up 207 Billboard Hot 100 entries, 36 million albums sold, and over 207 million single downloads.
So yes, Gleeks, the diva is back. Whether it’s a Tony-worthy encore or another “Push It” assembly depends on Murphy and on whoever else actually got the call.
