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For the majority of its six-season run, Glee was a massively popular TV show. For many of the leads, the show was their big break in the industry. But they nearly had a very famous celebrity join the cast. On a recent podcast appearance, Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy revealed that Justin Timberlake was in line to be a series regular on the show.
Negotiations between the two parties never really got going. And the show did just fine without Timberlake — something the entertainer may have held against the show given his actions toward Glee years later.
Justin Timberlake was the first choice to play Will Schuester
Murphy appeared on the two-part pilot episode of And That’s What You REALLY Missed, a podcast hosted by Glee alums Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) and Kevin McHale (Artie) looking back on the show.
In the first part of the interview, Murphy admitted that glee club director Will Schuester was conceptualized with a certain hitmaker in mind. “When we were writing the pilot — I’ve never really talked about this — that pilot was written for Justin Timberlake. Mr. Schue was written for Justin,” he said. (All quotes from the podcast come courtesy of People.)
It’s strange to think of Timberlake regularly appearing on a basic cable television show nowadays. But it wouldn’t have been too strange of a choice in the late ’00s. It was around this time that the artist began to make a real effort to become a legitimate movie star. Glee ran from 2009 to 2015, and during that period, Timberlake appeared in eight theatrical releases.
The Social Network and Inside Llewyn Davis are the critical highlights from this half-decade. But other movies like Bad Teacher, Friends with Benefits, and In Time all made considerable profits at the box office.
Murphy makes it clear in the second half of the interview that they never got close to really getting Timberlake to join Glee, despite the star feigning some interest in at least reading a script. His schedule was just too full. “Justin [was] booked for tours through 2013 or something,” Murphy remembered.
As the idea for ‘Glee’ changed, so did Will’s storyline
The role of Mr. Schuester eventually went to Matthew Morrison, who earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in 2010.
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The character changed a lot well before the casting process. Glee was originally the idea of Ian Brennan, who first thought of the project as a movie instead of a series. The tone was also significantly different. Brennan’s original script was a dark comedy that took the characters to more dangerous places thematically, particularly Will.
“Mr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ian’s script,” Murphy confirmed. “It was sort of like [the 1999 film] Election, but like the NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling.” In addition to the drugs, Will also had inappropriate relationships with his students. That version of Glee would never end up on Fox.
Murphy had just completed his work on his series Nip/Tuck. And his follow-up show Pretty/Handsome was rejected due to a lack of support from advertisers. (The show was about a male gynecologist who comes out as a transgender woman.) He was looking for an optimistic project, and as he got more involved in bringing the show to life, he helped Brennan reinvent the show into something more wholesome and mainstream. The version of Will that made it to screen was a nerdy teacher who wanted the best for his students.
Justin Timberlake withheld the use of his music from ‘Glee’
Many artists cleared their music when Glee requested to use it, seeing the benefits in their work being shown to an audience of potential new fans. But other stars refused to let the show use their songs — including Timberlake.
The artist has never said why he didn’t want his tracks sung on the show, so fans can only speculate wildly on why he made this decision.
Timberlake still acts on occasion, but music remains his most successful creative outlet.
