Glee's original script featured a crystal meth-addicted Mr. Schue

Co-creator Ryan Murphy says Glee was originally pitched as a "NC-17 version of show choir"

By Gabrielle Sanchez  |  October 31, 2022 | 4:09pm
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Glee's original script featured a crystal meth-addicted Mr. Schue
Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch in Glee Image: FOX Image Collection

While Glee is not necessarily a bright spot in the history of television, it turns out it could have been much darker. Series co-creator Ryan Murphy recently appeared as a guest on Glee stars Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz’s podcast That’s What You REALLY Missed, divulging some new details about the origin of the candy-coated pop musical show.

It all started when someone approached Murphy at the gym, instantly pegging him as a show choir fan.

“We were having these conversations and I was trying to figure it out,” Murphy said (per Insider). “Like serendipity, I went to the gym and I was in a towel and a guy went up and handed me a script and he said, ‘I had a feeling you were in show choir, am I right?’ And I was like ‘Yeah.’ And he said, ‘My friend wrote this script and you should read it.’”

“Mr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ian’s script,” Murphy continues. “The NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling.”A more fitting name would have been Gloom.

While Matthew Morrison’s version of Mr. Schue does enter the series in a loveless marriage and unfulfilling career, it did not take a hard drug addiction to pull him to the lows of starting a glee club at William McKinley High School.

According to Murphy, Mr. Schue was also originally written as a teacher who would “inappropriately touch” his students. While the Spanish teacher’s relationship with his students in Glee could hardly be described as professional, it luckily never veered toward predatory.

Another tidbit Murphy reveals right at the end of the conversation is who was originally imagined for the lead role.

“When we were writing the pilot, I’ve never really talked about this, that pilot was written for Justin Timberlake,” Murphy says. “Mr. Schue was written for Justin.”

Now that’s simply too grim to even imagine. The second part of McHale and Ushkowitz’s conversation with Murphy on That’s What You REALLY Missed will premiere next week.

 
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