It’s my solemn duty to report that the day is finally here: Ryan Murphy is threatening to reboot Glee.
That’s right, your days of thanking the universe for taking Fox’s hit musical TV show off the air before Mr. Schue could perform “WAP” might be numbered. During a recent appearance on Glee alumni Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz’s new podcast And That’s What You REALLY Missed, the Dahmer creator hinted at a potential return to McKinley High.
“I’m at the phase now with that show, you know, where it’s like, well, there’s been enough time. Like, maybe we should re-examine it as a brand,” he said. “You know, should we do a reboot of it in some way? Should we do a Broadway musical of it in some way?”
Murphy continued: “It’s sort of like an interesting legacy that I’m interested in doing in a positive way after sort of pausing for a while. But I don’t know. I just love what it says and what it did. And there will never in my life be another Glee, anything close to it, in terms of me feeling so close to it.”
I can’t pretend that a Glee Broadway musical doesn’t sound a little bit enticing. As my colleague James Factora noted, the show has already managed to bend the laws of time and space to merge Glee’s universe with our own — controversial star Lea Michele is currently playing Fanny Brice in Funny Girl on Broadway, a gig that her Glee character Rachel Berry also scored. Given the Gleek resurgence of the past few years, I can already imagine ticket sales going through the roof.
A reboot is another matter entirely, especially if Murphy envisions original cast members returning. Core cast members Cory Monteith, Mark Salling, and Naya Rivera have all passed away since Glee first hit the air in 2009, and Michele’s history of racist behavior could make the entire process even thornier. It’s more than possible to look back fondly on some genuinely great moments from the show and appreciate its contributions to gay representation on TV, without tempting the Glee curse. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to tune into the latest press conference from Vice President Sue Sylvester.
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