At least three of Glee's strongest voices will be leaving after the upcoming third season of the hit high school musical series, co-creator Ryan Murphy has revealed.
Canadian actor Cory Monteith (Finn), former Broadway star Lea Michele (Rachel) and Golden Globe-winning actor Chris Colfer (Kurt) will graduate in the TV show's 2011-2012 season, Murphy said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.
"You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic, or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year," he told the industry paper this week.
The confirmation of the trio's departure was somewhat expected, as Murphy had spoken recently of his plans for the student characters to graduate as they would in real life, since he didn't want actors "in high school for eight years."
Michele, whose Broadway resume includes Ragtime, Les Misérables, Fiddler on the Roof and Spring Awakening, responded to the news via Twitter.
"We always knew we'd graduate in real time. It's all part of the plan and it's all good! It's going to make season [three] amazing!" she told fans.
Colfer said the departure "was bound to happen sooner or later," in an interview with pop culture magazine Entertainment Weekly.
"I would love to pull a Farrah Fawcett from Charlie's Angels and come back every 10th episode...I'd be the obnoxious recurring star," added the young star, who earned a best supporting actor Emmy nomination Thursday morning for his turn as a bullied gay teen.
Overall, the dramedy was nominated in 12 Emmy categories, including best comedy series. Another series favourite and Emmy-winner, Jane Lynch, will host the Sept. 18 gala.
Producers have already begun casting for new faces to add to the show, while the winner of the U.S. reality TV competition The Glee Project is also slated to join the ensemble series for several episodes.
Glee could lose additional characters as well, with Murphy saying that the third season's Sept. 20 premiere will reveal which characters will stay and which will go.
"More characters are leaving than are staying" when graduation time comes at the season's end, he said.
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