Mr. Schue was originally a crystal meth addict and written with J*stin Timberlake in mind

The original #Glee script sounds… insane?

Ryan Murphy: “Mr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ian’s script. The NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling… I just needed something [more] optimistic.”https://t.co/bZ5Z3MTn2T

— Zack Sharf (@ZSharf) October 31, 2022

In the first episode of the “And That’s What You REALLY Missed” podcast, hosted by Glee cast members Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz, Ryan Murphy shared what the original Glee script was like:

“We were having these conversations and I was trying to figure it out. 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 said. “The NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling…I just need something optimistic.”

After overhauling the script and writing a much more optimistic pilot, one of Ryan Murphy’s darkest thoughts entered his 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.”

I couldn’t help but wonder, was that seed planted by the original script?

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