Glee, the musical comedy-drama about a high school singing club, is being rebooted for Hulu and Disney+, the BBC reports. The show returns roughly a decade after it ended. Most details, including cast and release date, have not yet been made public.
What was Glee?
Glee was an American television series that originally aired on the Fox network from 2009 to 2015, running for six seasons. It was set at a fictional public high school in Lima, Ohio, and followed the members of the school’s glee club, a show choir called New Directions, along with the teachers who ran it and the rivals who tried to shut it down. Each episode mixed comedy, teenage drama and full musical numbers. Most of the songs were cover versions of existing pop, rock and show tunes rather than original material. The club was made up of students who did not fit in elsewhere at school, and much of the show’s appeal came from the gap between their ambitions and their low standing in the school’s social order.
Why was it such a big deal when it first aired?
At the time, musical television series were rare on mainstream networks, and earlier attempts had often struggled to find an audience. Glee arrived when singing competitions were among the most popular formats on television, and it borrowed some of that energy while presenting it as scripted drama. The show’s cover versions were released as recordings and sold widely, turning episodes into a source of chart music as well as viewing. It also drew a large and very active fan base, whose online discussion helped shape how the series was talked about. The programme was widely noted for putting storylines about LGBTQ+ teenagers, disability and body image at the centre of a prime-time network show, which was less common then than it is now.
Why is “Don’t Stop Believin'” linked to the show?
The song, originally recorded by the rock band Journey in the early 1980s, was performed by the glee club in Glee’s pilot episode. That performance became one of the series’ defining moments and was used heavily to promote the show. The Glee version was released as a single and helped introduce the song to a younger generation, contributing to a wider revival of interest in it. The track came back several times over the series’ run, and it became closely tied to the show’s message about outsiders refusing to give up. That is why headlines about the reboot, including the BBC’s, use the title as shorthand. The song’s lyrics also suit a comeback story, which makes it an obvious choice for coverage of a revival.
What has actually been announced about the reboot?
According to the BBC, the series is set to return on the streaming services Hulu and Disney+, about a decade after the original run ended. The BBC’s report links the project to the creator of the original show. Beyond that, very little is confirmed in the material available for this article. It is not known when the new series will be released, how many episodes it will have, who will appear in it, or whether it will continue the original story. It is also unclear whether the reboot has been ordered as a full series or is still in development. Readers should treat any detailed claims circulating online with caution until the studio or the streaming services publish official information.
Why is it going to Hulu and Disney+ rather than Fox?
Glee was made by the television studio then part of 21st Century Fox. In 2019 the Walt Disney Company bought most of 21st Century Fox’s film and television business, including that studio, which now operates under the 20th Television name. The Fox broadcast network itself was not part of that sale and remains a separate company. As a result, the rights to Glee now sit with Disney, which owns both Hulu and Disney+. Disney has regularly used shows from the former Fox library to build up its streaming catalogue, and launching a reboot on its own platforms follows that pattern. How the new series will be split between the two services in different countries has not been set out.
Is it a sequel, a remake or something new?
That is not yet known. In television, “reboot” is used loosely. It can mean a sequel that picks up with original characters years later, a remake that retells the same premise with new ones, or a new story set in the same world. Recent revivals of other series have taken each of these routes. A glee club format lends itself to fresh casts, because school clubs naturally replace their members as students graduate, and the original show itself brought in new characters as earlier ones left school. Even so, no information is available on which approach the new Glee will take. The setting, the time period and whether the original school will feature have not been confirmed.
Will any of the original cast return?
There is no confirmed information on casting in the material available for this article. Many of the original performers have gone on to other film, television and stage work over the past decade, and any return would depend on agreements that have not been announced. Fans of revivals often expect original characters to appear, but studios do not always bring them back, especially when a reboot is aimed partly at a younger audience that did not watch the first series. Until official announcements are made, any reports about who is or is not involved should be read as speculation. This article does not list individual cast members or suggest who might come back.
How did the musical format work, and could it still?
In the original series, songs were woven into the plot in two ways. Some were performances the characters were rehearsing or staging for competitions. Others worked more like traditional musical theatre, expressing a character’s feelings directly. Each episode usually built around a theme, and some were dedicated to a single artist’s catalogue. Choosing well-known hits meant viewers often knew the songs already, which made the recordings easy to share and sell. A new version would face a different music landscape, in which short clips on social video platforms often drive what becomes popular. How the reboot will choose its songs, and whether it will use original material, has not been made public.
Why are so many older series being revived?
Reboots and revivals have become a common strategy for streaming services. A familiar title can attract attention in a crowded market more easily than an unknown one, and it can appeal to two audiences at once: people who watched the original and want to return to it, and younger viewers who may have discovered it through streaming catalogues or online clips. Owning the rights already, as Disney does with Glee, also makes such projects simpler to set up. Nostalgia for late-2000s and early-2010s culture has grown in recent years, and Glee is closely linked with that period. Revivals carry risks, though. Expectations are high, and some return to a mixed or disappointing reception.
When can viewers expect to watch it?
No release date is given in the BBC’s report as summarised for this article, and it is not known how far along production is. Television projects usually pass through several stages, including writing, casting, filming and post-production, and a series with musical numbers needs extra time for recording and choreography. For those reasons a gap between an announcement and broadcast is normal, but how long that gap will be in this case is not known. Viewers who want to see the original series in the meantime will generally find it on Disney-owned streaming platforms, though availability differs by country. Firm dates and details are likely to come from the streaming services when the studio is ready to announce them.
Sources and further reading
- BBC News arts coverage, which reported the planned return of the series on Hulu and Disney+
- Network and studio archives on the original 2009–2015 broadcast run of Glee on Fox
- Business reporting on the Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets
- Music industry chart records documenting the commercial release of the show’s cover recordings
Surfaced from the rss:bbc_arts signal “musical TV series reboot”. AI-assisted draft, editorially reviewed.
