GLEE Reboot Gets Series Order at Disney+ and Hulu With Lea Michele Returning as Rachel Berry
The Glee club is getting back together! Disney+ and Hulu have officially ordered a reboot of the hit musical comedy series Glee, and Lea Michele is returning as Rachel Berry. It looks like McKinley High is getting ready to sing again, and a few more familiar faces could be joining the reunion.
According to Variety, multiple sources have confirmed Michele's involvement in the new series. “She’s in,” one source said. Another added, “It’s still early-ish days, but it feels good and we’re happy to get the band back together.”
Two other original cast members have also hinted at returning. Heather Morris, who played Brittany Pierce, and Chord Overstreet, who played Sam Evans, have shared social media posts suggesting they could be involved. Their casting hasn't been officially confirmed.
The Glee reboot has been taking shape for months, with co-creator Ryan Murphy openly discussing bringing the series back while promoting his FX show The Shards.
“That show is interesting because it’s come back around. So many young people now watch it. And I’m like, ‘Maybe we should revisit that show,’” Murphy previously said.
By September, Murphy revealed that he had already finished writing a script for the reboot. He also recently shared that he'd been in contact with “around 10 of the original cast members,” suggesting that more familiar faces could be returning.
Michele played Rachel Berry throughout the original series, which ran for six seasons on Fox from 2009 to 2015. Rachel was an incredibly talented, ambitious, and frequently irritating member of the New Directions who dreamed of becoming a Broadway star. Her determination often put her at odds with her friends, but she remained one of the show's central characters.
Her relationship with Finn Hudson, played by the late Cory Monteith, was also a major part of the series. Michele and Monteith dated in real life before the actor's death in 2013.
When the original series ended on March 20, 2015, Rachel had achieved her Broadway dreams, winning a Tony Award and marrying Jesse St. James, played by Jonathan Groff. She also became a surrogate mother for Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) and Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss).
It'll be interesting to see where the reboot picks up Rachel's story and how she'll fit into a new generation of performers.
Murphy originally created Glee alongside Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk. The series followed the students of William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio, as they competed in show choir competitions, navigated complicated relationships, and tackled social issues through musical performances.
The show became a massive success and marked Murphy's first major broadcast television breakthrough following Popular and Nip/Tuck. He also earned his first Emmy Award for directing the Glee pilot.
The original ensemble included Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Kevin McHale, Dianna Agron, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, and Mark Salling, among others. Sadly, several cast members have since passed away, including Monteith and Rivera, who died in 2020.
Colfer recently addressed the possibility of returning during an interview acknowledging how difficult revisiting the series could be without Rivera.
“It was a really tough show to do, and it would be really hard to do it now that Naya [Rivera] is gone. But I do know that Glee fans would probably come after me with pitchforks and jazz hands if I said no.”
There are still plenty of questions about the reboot, including whether it will focus on a new group of McKinley High students or follow the original characters into the next chapter of their lives.