Glee Fans ‘Disgusted’ By Ryan Murphy’s Original Series Finale Plan

Gleeks were thrilled when the obnoxiously ambitious Rachel Berry finally fulfilled her dreams of becoming a Broadway sensation.

In the series finale, we see her rightfully snagging a Tony award, while thanking her equally theatery husband, Jesse St. James.

For many dedicated fans of the Fox musical comedy, it was extremely fulfilling to witness the heavily bullied character finally get her fairytale ending. Sure, the kids at Lima’s provincial high school could douse her with slushies and trip her in the hallways, but at the end of the day, Rachel’s overwhelming ambition shot her to the top of the food chain. Meanwhile, the once-popular kids at Mckinley who tormented Rachel got their karmic justice of lackluster endings, by working dead-end jobs in the same small town.

The payoff was extremely rewarding for fans to witness, but there’s a good chance the original ending Ryan Murphy had imagined would’ve left viewers outraged.

How was Glee supposed to end before behind-the-scenes tragedies led to a major change in the script?

Rachel Berry Was Originally Written to Move Back to Lima, Ohio

It’s hard to imagine a world where Rachel Berry would actively choose to move back to the very town that treated her so horribly throughout the years. Her overwhelming aspirations were too much for the small-minded townies of Lima, who constantly mocked, snarled, and reprimanded the theater star for refusing to conform. So the idea of her giving up everything she’s ever worked for since childhood, only to return to the place that never accepted her, is unsatisfying to say the least.

But according to series creator Ryan Murphy, his original plan saw Rachel being unfulfilled with her Broadway career. Sure, the glitz and glam was nice for a while, but ultimately not enough. It left Rachel with a level of emptiness that could only be fulfilled by one person… Finn Hudson.

“The ending of ‘Glee’ is something I have never shared with anyone, but I always knew it,” Murphy revealed to Entertainment Weekly. “I’ve always relied on it as a source of comfort, a North Star.” He continued, saying, “At the end of season 6, Lea’s Rachel was going to have become a big Broadway star, the role she was born to play. Finn was going to have become a teacher, settled down happily in Ohio, at peace with his choice and no longer feeling like a Lima loser. The very last line of dialogue was to be this: Rachel comes back to Ohio, fulfilled and yet not, and walks into Finn’s glee club. ‘What are you doing here?’ he would ask. ‘I’m home,’ she would reply. Fade out. The end.”

Tragically, Cory Monteith passed away in 2013. This heartbreaking news led the series in a totally different direction, away from the carefully planned ending Ryan Murphy envisioned. Yet once fans got wind of Murphy’s intended series finale, in which Rachel moves back to Ohio to live a quiet life with her high school sweetheart, fans responded with disappointment as well as disgust.

“The first time I read this interview with Ryan Murphy and he talked about how he had originally planned for Glee to end, I was a little disgusted,” one fan expressed on a Glee Subreddit. They continued, questioning why Rachel had to make the big sacrifice for Finn, when there was no reciprocation in sacrifices on his part, for her lifelong dream of “making it” in New York City. “It just seemed so unrealistic for Rachel, who dreamed of making it big and living in the city that never sleeps, to give it all up and move back to a place she hates with nothing to look forward to but a man,” the commenter continued. “People do it, but her… I just don’t buy it.”

Another fan agreed, writing, “I was never a fan of this planned ending either. It always felt like Rachel sacrificing her dreams or cutting them short or something.” To clarify, while fans adore Finn Hudson, along with Cory Monteith’s heartfelt portrayal of the role, they aren’t happy with the idea of Rachel Berry sacrificing everything she’s ever worked for with nothing in return.

What do you think of this alternate ending? Do you prefer Ryan Murphy’s planned out version? Or are you much more content with the series finale we are all privy to?

Simone Torn is a pop culture writer with 10 years of experience. She has written for several entertainment magazines such as Nicki Swift, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Dexerto, and more.

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