Jenna Ushkowitz And Kevin McHale Broke Their Silence On Discovery+'s Upcoming "Glee" Docuseries
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This article mentions topics of domestic abuse and drug addiction.
About a month ago, it was announced that Discovery+ had ordered a docuseries exploring the controversies and tragedies experienced by the cast and crew on the set of Glee.
The series is said to explore controversies like Lea Michele's on-set bullying accusations, as well as tragedies like Cory Monteith's death and drug addiction, Mark Salling's death and arrest for possession of child pornography, Naya Rivera's death post-Glee, and Blake Jenner's domestic violence allegations.
In the announcement, Discovery+ also claimed that they will have access to cast and crew members who will share firsthand stories about their time working for the show between 2009–2015.
While the cast and crew has largely been quiet publicly about the docuseries, Glee stars Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale were the first to break their silence during a recent interview with BuzzFeed.
While promoting their new Glee rewatch podcast And That's What You Really Missed, Jenna and Kevin — who played Tina and Artie on the show — explained why it was so important for them to set the record straight about the infamous series.
Jenna said, "We're just choosing to look at the good moments that we've had and all the joy that it did bring to us, and to the people who watched around the world."
"In terms of the Discovery+ documentary, it feels even more important, to me at least, to do the podcast because we were the ones who were there. And we were the ones experiencing this. And we know what really happened."
She continued, "So, you know, for me, it feels even more pertinent to actually be the ones to share our experience when people are sharing experiences that they didn't have."
Kevin added that he wants a new generation, one "not attached to all of the drama" to be able to enjoy the series again. He said, "A whole new generation of people has been finding [Glee]. Like children who were not alive when the show started. They're not necessarily attached to all of the, let's say, drama, or the bad things people will talk about in the press, because they're just seeing this with new eyes."
"I think it's so fun to go back now and watch it with that perspective of somebody new finding it in 2022, a very different time than when the show was first airing. After Naya [Rivera] passed, it was definitely hard to even consider watching the show. But being able to look at it through this positive, more useful, and current lens is really exciting to us."
In their podcast, which releases new episodes on Mondays, they've also mentioned how they feel ready to delve into their mental health journeys during the series and share their stories as candidly as possible with fellow cast and crew members.
Series creator Ryan Muphy guest-starred on the first two episodes of the pod and even remarked that Glee was "the best of times and the worst of times."
