Jonathan Groff Humblebrags that Ryan Murphy Created 'Glee' for Him

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | June 6, 2024 |

By Emma Chance | Celebrity | June 6, 2024 |

Fresh off their two-year run on Broadway’s Spring Awakening, besties Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele, both in their early 20s at the time, were offered roles on Ryan Murphy’s new show.

“Ryan Murphy had told Lea Michele and I that he had written this show Glee for the two of us, and would be we interested in doing that?” He explained. Based on the “created for” statement, we can only assume that the role intended for Groff was that of Finn Hudson, who ended up being played by Corey Monteith. It could have been Kurt Hummel, the other main protagonist, but Chris Colfer maintains that role was written for him, so I doubt it.

“I really felt like I didn’t want to sign on to be a singing teenager again for another seven years,” Groff said. “I really wanted to act. I love singing but doing that felt like more of the same as opposed to something that would be an opportunity for artistic growth. And that next year, I did three off-Broadway plays.”

He loved Spring Awakening because it “changed” him “from the inside out as a person.”

“When I came out the other end of that experience, I understood the truly life-changing power of doing great material,” he said, and that encouraged him to “keep stretching and growing and challenging” himself.

But he did eventually return to singing and dancing for a recurring guest role on Glee as Jesse St. James, “the antagonist-turned-boyfriend-turned-friend of Michele’s Rachel Berry.” (The Hollywood Reporter) This role also suggests that Finn, Rachel’s ultimate love interest (and Michele’s in real life), was originally written for him. Seeing as Groff is one of the last people who calls Michele a friend, we might think differently of her and the show now if he’d said yes.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lea Michele (@leamichele)