Ryan Murphy has finished writing a script for a “Glee” reboot.
Murphy, 60, told Entertainment Tonight at the “American Horror Story” Season 13 premiere in New York City on Wednesday that he completed the draft just hours before stepping onto the red carpet. “I just finished the script an hour ago,” he said. The producer revealed he collaborated with co-creators Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, the same trio who wrote the musical comedy’s first two seasons.
Murphy shared that he has already reached out to roughly ten original cast members about the project. “It’s very sweet, and they all had a lot of questions,” he continued. “But they all were very enthusiastic about the idea.” He noted that none of the actors have actually read the script yet, though he wants their input once he has written a few more drafts. “I vowed to myself that I wanted to write a couple of them to see what people think, particularly the cast, cause we were very close when we were making it,” he explained.
Sources indicated to Deadline that the reboot from 20th Television has not yet been placed with a streaming platform or network.
Lea Michele, 40, who starred as Rachel Berry, had already confirmed her willingness to return. “I love ‘Glee.’ I will always love ‘Glee.’ I love Ryan Murphy,” she said last week. The Emmy nominee added that the show “just holds such a special place in my heart for me.”
“I will follow Ryan wherever he goes,” Michele said.
Jane Lynch, who played scheming cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, also endorsed the idea during Thursday’s episode of Kylie Kelce’s podcast, “Not Gonna Lie.” “I haven’t heard anything about that,” she admitted. “But I would love to do it. I’d be the first one in line to do it.”
Murphy first floated the possibility of revisiting the series in a July interview, citing its renewed popularity among younger viewers discovering it through streaming. “That show is interesting because it’s come back around. So many young people now watch it,” he told the magazine. “And I’m like, ‘Maybe we should revisit that show.'”
“My nostalgia and love for that show is enough that I’m like, ‘Well, maybe people would like to see a new incarnation of that in some capacity,” he added.
“Glee” followed the misfit members of a high school show choir at William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, blending musical performances with melodramatic teen storylines. The series ran for six seasons on Fox from 2009 to 2015 and became a cultural phenomenon, launching cast recordings onto the Billboard charts and turning its young actors into household names. The ensemble included Cory Monteith, Naya Rivera, Mark Salling, Matthew Morrison, Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, Darren Criss, Heather Morris, Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz and Harry Shum Jr. Monteith, Rivera and Salling have all died since the show premiered.
Kevin McHale, who played wheelchair-bound glee club member Artie Abrams, recently pushed back against what he called the “Glee curse” narrative that has shadowed the show since the deaths of several cast members. In a social media post, he called the discourse “untethered from any sort of humanity.”
Murphy’s completed script marks the most concrete step toward a revival since he began teasing the idea this summer, though significant business hurdles remain before cameras could roll.