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“Glee” is getting a second act. Disney+ and Hulu announced Wednesday that they have ordered a reboot of Ryan Murphy’s musical series, but three of its original stars won’t be part of it: Cory Monteith, Mark Salling and Naya Rivera, who died between 2013 and 2020.
The show ran for six seasons on Fox, from 2009 to 2015, and turned a cast of mostly unknown actors into stars. The new version, produced by 20th Television, doesn’t have a premiere date yet.
Murphy said in September that he had finished a script with co-creators Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan and had been in touch with about 10 original cast members. Lea Michele is reportedly returning as Rachel Berry, and Heather Morris and Chord Overstreet hinted on social media that they’re in.
The announcement also revived something that has followed the show for years: talk of a “Glee curse,” a fan theory that links its tragedies and scandals into a single story.
What is the so-called ‘Glee curse’?
It’s a theory, not a fact. Its premise is that the show is cursed because several people tied to it died young or ended up in public scandal, even though each case had its own circumstances.
The idea circulated online for years before “The Price of Glee,” a three-part Investigation Discovery docuseries, gave it a bigger stage in January 2023. A cinematographer interviewed in it floated the idea of a curse. None of the main cast took part, and many fans called the series exploitative.
Believers often point to a date. Rivera’s body was recovered July 13, 2020, seven years to the day after Monteith died. Off-screen controversies get folded in, too, such as the 2020 accusations from several castmates that Michele mistreated them on set, for which she apologized.
The cast has pushed back. Kevin McHale, who played Artie Abrams, wrote on X on July 29 that describing his late castmates’ deaths as a curse or a sacrifice was inhumane and detached from reality.
How did ‘Glee’ stars Cory Monteith, Mark Salling and Naya Rivera die?
Monteith, who played quarterback Finn Hudson, was found dead in his Vancouver hotel room on July 13, 2013, at 31. The British Columbia Coroners Service ruled his death accidental, caused by combined heroin and alcohol toxicity. The show later wrote his character’s death into its fifth season.
Salling, who played Noah “Puck” Puckerman, died by suicide Jan. 30, 2018, at 35. He had pleaded guilty in December 2017 to possession of child pornography and was awaiting sentencing.
Rivera, who played Santana Lopez, disappeared July 8, 2020, while boating with her 4-year-old son, Josey, on Lake Piru in Ventura County, California. Hours later, the boy was found asleep and alone on their rented boat, wearing a life vest.
Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said investigators believed she had helped her son back aboard but couldn’t save herself. The county medical examiner ruled her death an accidental drowning. She was 33.