We already know that many of the Glee characters will be graduating at the end of the upcoming third season, but now there’s a new wrinkle. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, co-creator Ryan Murphy reveals that stars Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer are “not going to be back at all in season 4.”

Dropping three of the biggest characters from the show is going to be a big deal for season 4, but Glee will hopefully survive and come out better for it. It’s much better than finding lame ways to keep them around (Finn becomes assistant football coach at McKinley and co-director of New Directions!).

It also will help clear the way for new talent. In the first two seasons, Finn, Rachel and Kurt have dominated the storylines and screentime, often to the detriment of others. I find Finnchel to be a painfully boring couple, and in the second season Kurt became more of a soapbox than a character.

Getting rid of them completely is better than fracturing the show and spending half of every episode in New York City watching them follow their dreams. I’m more interested in finding out what other characters are graduating and who else will be leaving Glee.

It’s safe to assume that Brittany will be in school until the end of the series, but what about Puck or Santana or Quinn? Since they were all nominated for the Junior Prom court, it’s safe to assume they’re going to be seniors and might be leaving too.

Glee‘s fourth season will be a big challenge, but it seems silly to think about that now. Season 3 is in front of us, and we have to hope it’s good enough, and that the writers give enough storylines to the other characters who are staying, or else season 4 will be like a whole new show.

Glee returns for season 3 Tuesday, September 20 at 8pm on FOX.

Source: THR

(Image courtesy of FOX)

John Kubicek

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire DiariesSupernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.