The actor asked to depart the show in season 5 but was told he needed to stay for a tragic reason.
Mr. Schue almost wasn't on the final season of Glee. On the latest episode of the And That's What You REALLY Missed podcast, hosts Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz welcomed Matthew Morrison, who revealed that he asked to exit the show early, a request that was initially granted, before being revoked for a tragic reason.
"I actually was trying to get off the show," Morrison told his former co-stars, after discussing his disappointment at the reception his character, Will Schuester, received and the storylines he was given. "In season 5, I asked to be off the show because I was just, like, I'm no longer being used in the way I wanted to. No disrespect to the show. Also, we are at a high. I was like, 'Maybe if I get off the show I can go do something else.'"
While producers at first "agreed to let me off the show," that all changed when Cory Monteith died in 2013 after an accidental drug overdose. He was 31.
"Cory passed and then they said they couldn't do it because you can't have the two main guys on the show [leave]," Morrison explained. "It was interesting, an interesting time."
Morrison said he "obviously" understood the reasoning, but noted that he "was trying to reconcile my own wants and selfish needs with the grief of losing an amazing friend," something that left him with "a lot of mixed emotions and stuff."
"But I'm a professional. I showed up. I did my job," he said. "It was a good pay increase, so that worked out."
When Morrison looks back on Glee now, he said that his view on the show, which ran for six seasons from 2009 to 2015, "is so mixed."
"It was the highest of highs and the lowest of lows," he said of his time on the series. "But when I look back at it, I'm so proud. I'm proud of the impact that we had in society. I'm proud of all of the things that we did for so many communities that were underserved or underrepresented. The show opened people's eyes to diversity, to people who weren't the status quo, who looked different, who acted different, and I feel like it was the beginning of such a revolution. For me, that is so beautiful to have been at the nucleolus of that whole thing."
"I can complain about being overworked and blah, blah, blah, but the impact, that's the thing that will stand the test of time," Morrison added. "For me, I think that is a beautiful thing, because most TV shows do not have an impact... I love being a part of that legacy."
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