As has been rumored ever since Fox’s Kevin Reilly suggested as much at the TCAs, grimly assumed since the death of Cory Monteith, and—among some former fans—openly wished for since around the second season, Glee is about to end. However, it wouldn’t be Glee if the climax weren’t delayed by a bunch more musical numbers: Ryan Murphy has said that the show will end after next season, its sixth, which will give him time to figure out a new finale in the wake of Monteith’s passing.
“The final year of the show, which will be next year, was designed around Rachel and Cory/Finn’s story,” Murphy said at the Paley Center last night. “I always knew that, I always knew how it would end. I knew what the last shot was, he was in it. I knew what the last line was—she said it to him. So when a tragedy like that happens, you sort of have to pause and figure out what you want to do, so we’re figuring that out now.” Suggestion: After winning its seventieth straight Regionals, the Glee gang is invited to compete in the Universals, against all the best glee clubs from their respective galaxies. They win, and are crowned the rulers of a faraway planet where singing all the time is routine. Meanwhile, Earth gets to go back to muttering and cursing at each other, like normal people.