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Willa Rowe is a contributing writer at Polygon, covering games and entertainment. She is a New York-based journalist and critic whose work has been featured in Kotaku, Digital Trends, the A.V. Club, GamesRadar+, and more. She also co-hosts the Girl Mode podcast.
The monkey's paw curls as Ryan Murphy gets his wish
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Somehow, Glee has returned. After Ryan Murphy spent most of the press circuit for his recent FX series The Shards talking about how he wanted to reboot his iconic musical comedy-drama series, it has become a reality. On Wednesday, Disney and Hulu announced that the Glee reboot is officially happening, reviving the fan-favorite TV franchise after more than a decade.
The show's X account broke the news with a post saying, "Currently gleeking out," accompanied by an image confirming that Glee is returning. Rumblings of this being a possibility began back in July when Murphy told People, "So many young people now watch it. And I'm like, 'Maybe we should revisit that show.'" It wasn't long before Murphy revealed to Entertainment Tonight that he had just finished a script for a Glee reboot.
Not much detail was included in the official announcement, but we do know that Murphy will be involved. The reboot comes from 20th Television, which produced the original series. Beyond that, it isn't clear what the scope of the project will be. The original Glee ran for six seasons between 2009 and 2015 and became a massive hit, even if it was often considered pretty cringe. The show starred Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer, Naya Rivera, Dianna Agron, Jane Lynch, Darren Criss, Matthew Morrison, and Heather Morris, among others. A number of the show's original cast have tragically died since its conclusion.
Is the new Glee series a hard reboot?
While the reboot is in the early stages and Murphy has largely kept pretty silent on what exactly the show's return will look like, he did let some information slip when talking to Entertainment Tonight. "I’ve been in touch with around 10 of the original cast members. It’s very sweet, and they all had a lot of questions, but they all were very enthusiastic about the idea.” That suggests the new series won't be a fresh start, but rather pick up from where the original left off and could see the appearance of some familiar faces.
Behind the camera, Murphy will be joined by other series veterans. Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, who co-created the series with Murphy, also worked on the reboot's script, meaning they are likely on board for the project now that it has been ordered to series. Ever since Schmigadoon! was canceled, theater kids have been in desperate need of a new TV show that caters to them, so the Glee reboot is sure to be good news in some circles.