Disney and Hulu revive Glee with a 20th Television reboot

By Daniel Okafor

Disney and Hulu have greenlit a Glee reboot produced by 20th Television for Hulu and Disney+.

Disney’s announcement names the studio and the platforms. It gives no premiere date, episode count, cast or story premise. Casting is the first missing detail.

Variety framed the news with a quip from Finn Hudson: the show must go all over the place, or something. Disney’s answer is a yes.

What has Ryan Murphy confirmed?

Murphy recently told 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.”

In the same interview, Murphy confirmed that he had just written a reboot script with Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, while Disney remained silent on casting.

Disney shared nothing beyond 20th Television’s production credit and Hulu and Disney+ as its outlets. The project is, for now, an empty audition room: Murphy has made calls, the script exists, and Disney has announced no performers.

What does the original series leave behind?

Variety reports that the original Fox musical dramedy followed a show choir in Lima, Ohio, through high school and beyond, premiering in 2009 and ending in 2015 after six seasons.

The series became especially remembered for its blunt, sometimes controversial treatment of sexuality, race, disability and mental health, according to Variety. Its musical identity rests partly on these covers:

• “Don’t Stop Believin’”
• “Teenage Dream”
• “River Deep, Mountain High”
• “Smooth Criminal”

Variety says the series remains popular and its music averages 4.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify. That figure documents an existing audience. It says nothing about whether a new ensemble can work.

Among the original cast named by Variety were:

• Lea Michelle, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer and Darren Criss.
• Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, Heather Morris, Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz, Harry Shum Jr., Chord Overstreet and Mark Salling.

The list establishes familiarity, not availability. Murphy has described contacts with around 10 original cast members; Disney has announced no returning or new performers.

Who is willing to return?

Lea Michele told E! News that she would be happy to join a reboot. She said she loves Glee, holds it in a special place in her heart, and would follow Murphy wherever he goes. Her enthusiasm is not an announcement.

Chris Colfer told Bustle that a reboot would be complicated after Naya Rivera’s death, though he would consider it once he had more information and could think it through.

Colfer also supplied the likely fan response if he declined:

“I do know that Glee fans would probably come after me with pitchforks and jazz hands if I said no.”

Michele’s comments came weeks before Murphy’s Entertainment Tonight interview. Their timing supports Murphy’s account of renewed contact, but it does not establish that any performer has agreed to return.

What does Rivera’s death change?

Variety’s account records Rivera’s death in 2020 at age 33, when she drowned in a lake while trying to save her young son after he fell into the water.

Variety also reports that Monteith died from an overdose in 2013 while the show was still on air. Salling died by suicide in 2018 after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.

Any reboot must account for Rivera’s absence and the earlier deaths of Monteith and Salling. Those facts belong to the program’s history and will shape how a reunion is received.

Until Disney confirms a cast and a premiere date, the reboot remains a 20th Television script with two platforms and no announced ensemble. Murphy’s next disclosure should answer the only practical question: who takes the stage.