Today Hypable participated in roundtables with the cast of Fox’s Glee! The cast and crew happily spilled new information about the upcoming fourth season.
Lea Michele, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, and show writer Ian Brennan spoke with Hypable about what’s to come in season 4. Darren Criss and Cory Montieth were also present for press, but the latter suffered a “tooth ache” halfway through his rounds and Criss simply ran out of time before the fan panel.
To get this information to you as quickly as possible, we’re providing our notes in list format.
Ian Brennan
- All our cast back. We’re going to be in New York for a lot of the time.
- New York/Ohio time split that you see on the show will be similar to how the McKinley/Dalton time split was.
- Santana “might be” in New York. Michele later told us she really hoped Santana will (see below).
- Through writing of third episode of season four right now.
- Rachel will be in every episode. “It’ll be so good to see Rachel in college.”
- Finn is trying to deal with Rachel gone.
- Decision on breaking them up in finale: We talked about it a lot, but that wasn’t originally how that story was going to end. It was a much much longer, complex story. In the end, it just felt right to do at this point. Rachel will really be struggling in the new season with a new life. “I’ve moved there once myself, it’s a very scary experience. It’s a whole different kind of storytelling.”
- Rachel will be in contact with McKinley almost to a funny point.
- We’ll see footage of Mercedes in Los Angeles or making her way there. “How it sort of happens for her is interesting.”
- New characters: Jake is a bad boy who sorta just appears in the school. Kate Hudson will play a character who is Rachel’s dance teacher. It’s a really funny, eccentric character that’ll allow Kate to sing and dance. She’s got an amazing voice you haven’t heard in a while.
- We asked Ian what other artists we can expect. “There’s an artist big enough who will take two episodes because the music catalogue is so big. That’s how large the person is. It’s a man.”
Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale
- What stories can we expect to hear in Jenna’s Glee book: Book follows her from childhood to where she is now. Big theme in the story will be positivity and making that choice every day. Quotes from Glee cast and what their secret to happiness is. Also follows Glee tour, being on set, how we’re great friends.
- How they each see their characters evolving: Kevin – it’s an opportunity for them to step up. This season will be us stepping up like the seniors did last season.
- Jenna: Last year we saw Tina be one of the female voices.
- Kevin: Wants to perform “Let It Be,” Jenna: Sara Bareilles or Demi Lovato.
- Jenna found out recently, when the press found out, that everyone was returning for season 4. Kevin had a feeling everyone would be back in some capacity.
- Kevin sees Artie going into more of the behind the scenes aspect of the performing arts in the future.
- Kevin hopes there’s going to be romance for Artie coming up. Really thought he’d get Sugar, then he did not. Jenna thinks Tina will stay with Mike.
- On not seeing the same cast every day: It’s definitely going to be different. It’s fun going in not knowing. Three seasons of having the same routine, so it’s nice to have a new take on the show.
- Kevin would love to be in Game of Thrones, Jenna would love to be in Breaking Bad, Dexter, Homeland. Kevin will gladly put on an accent, get killed, whatever it takes to be in Thrones.
- Favorite song from series they performed: “Scream” and “Shake It Out.”
Lea Michele
- “I think Rachel works best when she’s against all odds. She has to fight her way through something is when she rises to the top. Starting at the beginning of season four she’s very alone, but it’ll get her to a very great place.”
- “We have a good idea of where Finn and Rachel are going. We want to see what it’s like for them to be apart for a while now. I think that’s the dynamic we’ve seen over the series where we pull them apart, put them back together, etc. They will always be involved with one another whether or not they’re dating. They’ll be in contact.”
- Lea thinks it’ll be different being all apart for this upcoming season for the first time. “There were so many of us by the end. About 20 in the choir room. Now Rachel will be in one location, the other characters will be elsewhere. We won’t be shooting together as much but we can’t stay away from one another for long.”
- “It’s really exciting. It’s a challenge I’m excited to take on. The fans will be excited to see Rachel in college. I think she won’t be alone for long – she’ll be surrounded by familiar faces soon.”
- Rachel has a challenging dynamic with Kate Hudson, who stars in the first few episodes.
- Lea and Naya have been campaigning for Rachel and Santana to go to school together, and “I really hope and think that will happen.”
- On the wide range of music she sings for the show: “I know the first episode I’ll do classy and the next one I’ll be doing super pop. I love how in one episode I can sing a Broadway standard and then the next do “Push It” by Salt-n-Pepa.”
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