‘Glee’ News: Chris Colfer Nominated for Emmy, and Favorite Stars Graduate

There are some big changes in the works for Fox network’s hit high school musical series, “Glee.”  Since its premiere in 2009, the show has been nominated for 19 Emmys (won four), and has received two consecutive Golden Globes for Best Television Series -Musical or Comedy.  However, after two very successful seasons, things are set to change for some of our favorite Gleeks.

Chris Colfer on His Nod and Leaving ‘Glee’

Chris Colfer, 21, who plays bullied gay teen Kurt Hummel, has earned another nomination for his performance on “Glee.”  Earlier this year, he won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for the same role.  Still, the nomination caught the young actor by surprise.

“There were rumors that I might get nominated again, but I was thinking I wouldn’t,” he said. “It was a surprise. I think there is so much anxiety that comes with awards show and nominations and I was focusing on all the bad. The category is so so tough, so selective, that I didn’t think I would get another nomination.”  Also nominated for the same category are Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ed O’Neill and Eric Stonestreet of  “Modern Family,” and Jon Cryer of  “Two and a Half Men.”

Still, Colfer should get them while he can, as co-creator Ryan Murphy indicated last month that Colfer, along with co-stars Lea Michele and Cory Monteith, will be departing from the show at the end of the next season.

“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Colfer said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Kurt and the other seniors at McKinley High -Finn and Rachel – will be graduating in May.  Still, though he has confirmed that he is not signed as a series regular beyond the 2011-2012 season, Colfer hopes to reprise his claim-to-fame role as Kurt every now and then.

“I would love to pull a Farrah Fawcett from ‘Charlie’s Angels’ and come back every 10th episode,” he said.  “I’d be the obnoxious recurring star!”

‘Glee’ Stars Kurt, Finn, and Rachel Scheduled to Graduate McKinley High

Also leaving at the end of the next season are Canadian actor Cory Monteith (Finn Hudson), 29, and former Broadway starlette Lea Michele (Rachel Berry), 24.  The creators of the show, like the characters in it, have come to grips with the reality that is coming of age.

“You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic, or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year,” co-creator Ryan Murphy told the industry paper this week.

“More characters are leaving than are staying” when graduation time comes at the season’s end, he said.  So far, however, the only characters that have been confirmed to leave are Kurt, Finn, and Rachel.  The premiere of the third season on Sept. 20 will reveal which characters will stay and which will go.

The search for new Gleeks has already begun, as producers have been casting for fresh faces to add to the show, including the winner of the U.S. reality TV competition “The Glee Project.”

Images by david_shankbone and Jose Javato via Flickr.