Ryan Murphy Explains Original "NC-17" Script For Glee Written for Justin Timberlake

Glee is now an iconic TV series of the 2010s era that rekindled youth culture's love of acapella singing groups and/or musical theatre. However, Glee creator Ryan Murphy has done a new interview that reveals just how crazy different the original concept for Glee really was – not to mention who it was intended for! 

While sitting down with the new Glee-focused podcast "And That's What You REALLY Missed," Ryan Murphy dug deep to dish some good content. He revealed that the original script for Glee was done with pop-megastar Justin Timberlake in mind for the role of glee club director Mr. Schue. However, Timberlake's Mr. Schue was going to be a crystal meth addict who was slowly "unraveling" even as the glee club built itself up. 

"I've never really talked about this, that pilot was written for Justin Timberlake," Murphy said. "Mr. Schue was written for Justin. Mr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ian [Brennan]'s script." 

Murphy summed up the overall tone of the original Glee script as "the NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling."

That pitch for Glee was too dark for 20th Century Fox and for Ryan Murphy himself, so he worked with Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk to get to the concept of Glee that ultimately became a pop-culture phenomenon. 

Glee ran from Spring 2009 – Spring 2015; it won six Emmys and nine Golden Globes  in that time, with a lot of additional awards and a ton of nominations on top of that. Actor Matthew Morrison ultimately got the role of Mr. Schue and became a star because of it: along with him for that meteoric rise were actors Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz (who now host the Glee podcast), as well as Corey Monteith, Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera, Darren Criss, Melissa Benoist, Alex Newell, Dot-Marie Jones among others.

Ironically enough, while Murphy and co. turned Glee into a lighter and uplifting show, the darker aspects of the original script still managed to manifest in the show. Glee star Corey Monteith died of a toxic combination of heroin and alcohol after battling addiction for some time; star Mark Salling took his own life after being found with, and pleading guilty to, possession of child pornography. Most recently Glee star Naya Rivera drowned while swimming in a lake with her young son (who she managed to save), while star Lea Michele has since been accused of bullying her former co-stars. It's all been enough to create the myth of the "Glee Curse," a subject that will actually be explored in an upcoming docuseries. 

via Too Fab