Is Glee getting a spin-off series? Brad Falchuk answered that very question at the Glee panel at Comic-Con last Sunday. For those hoping Finn, Rachel and Kurt would be heading off to their own series following graduation, the news wasn’t good. Series creator Ryan Murphy elaborated on the subject, including the plans that were being tossed around for the spin-off and where the project is at this point.
Deadline posted an interview with Murphy wherein he states that there were actually plans for a Glee spinoff, which would feature Rachel (Lea Michele), Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Finn (Corey Monteith) as they head to New York to attend the prestigious Julliard after they finished high school. At this point though, it seems like they’re putting the idea off and focusing on Season 3 of the Fox musical comedy.
Murphy spoke of the controversy regarding the actors possibly being unaware of their characters' fate on the show, which apparently wasn't the case.
They were involved in the process for 3 to 4 months to the point where we were even talking about cities and relocations and we called Julliard and what would that mean and how would we do it. So, for any of those actors to say, ‘I found out that I was fired off the show from Twitter,’ is absolutely 100% not true. None of them were fired.
He suggests that the media is to blame, or possibly the actors' representatives for things getting misinterpreted.
When asked if he was putting the spin-off idea on hold “in terms of sending them to a place like Julliard,” Murphy said, “That was what [last season's] whole New York Episode was about, the finale. But to be honest, since then because of the press and because of the perception and because Brad and I have had another show picked up, we have simply stopped with everyone’s understanding.”
It’s evident that the writers have a future in mind for these characters and if they’re already writing episodes that are meant to build the foundation for a spin-off, and that spin-off may not be happening, how will this affect the direction of the third season? I think if I felt Glee had a solid second season, I’d be less concerned about how this “drama” could affect the writing on the show, but Season 2 didn’t offer much in the way of real character direction. The New York episode was probably the biggest exception there as it let us know that some of the characters were beginning to consider life beyond the high school glee club.
We were actively talking to actors, we were actively writing, we were actively getting ready to pitch. OK, here’s the three actors, and they want to do it, so here’s the story for them. Now that that has collapsed. We’re not talking about it, we’re not pitching it. We’re not doing anything for the next several months except for this third season. I would prefer and I know Brad would prefer and I think the actors will prefer to roll up our sleeves and do a really good season and if there is a spin-off, talk about it in April. Could we do a spin-off? To be quite honest with you, maybe. Some of the actors that we discussed doing spin-offs do not want to do a spin-off. It’s hard to do a spin-off on a show where an actor says no. And if there’s no spin-off, then we'll announce that there’s not. But as of now, I can tell you I’m not working on it.
So, he doesn’t say there will never be a spin-off. He says he isn’t working on one. That could very well mean there's no spin-off. Or it could mean that come next year, once they begin to look at options, including whether or not the actors want to be involved in something post-Glee, he might have a different answer for us. It seems like he wants to focus on Season 3, and I think that's a good plan. I like the idea that Murphy and the other writers are focused on the third season. If they leave a few windows open for a spin-off, great, but I'd love to see the third season stand on its own, regardless of whether or not the graduating characters go on to be featured in some other series.
You can read the full interview at Deadline here.
