Glee Season 3 Last for Chris Colfer, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith

Glee Season 3 will be one long goodbye for many characters and actors. In particular, fans knew that Chris Colfer, Lea Michele and Cory Monteith were living on borrowed time, since Season 3 is supposed to be their graduation year. As such, it was no surprise to hear that Colfer, Michele and Monteith will be leaving at the end of the year, yet it makes it official that difficult times are ahead for the musical dramedy.

While Glee is an ensemble show -- despite having a share of neglected supporting characters -- Rachel, Finn and Kurt have been the unquestioned leaders of the New Directions. Now they are all ready to head out beyond McKinley High, leaving their team and show with big shoes to fill.

Can the series go on without Colfer, Michele and Monteith all at once? It can obviously find new actors and characters to take their place, and is doing so right now with The Glee Project on Oxygen. It still has Will Schuster to lead a new crop of New Directions, and Sue Sylvester will presumably still be around to be a thorn in their sides. As long as they remain on board, the show can justify going on with new singing kids.

But since much of the current show is powered by Rachel and Finn's singing and romantic drama and Kurt's journey of acceptance, Glee has a lot of adjustments to make. Not only must it lay the groundwork for their departure in Season 3 and depict their last run at Nationals, creator Ryan Murphy has to work out exactly how things will proceed afterward.

A lot probably depends on how next season is received. The first one made the show into a phenomenon, but the series took a fair share of lumps this past year. The third installment is the rubber match, as the program will either return to glory or officially jump the shark for good. If the latter happens, then there will really be an uphill battle ahead should a fourth season take place.

Even if Glee can't be bailed out by the core actors forever, Fox may not be willing to see them step out yet. Since last year ended with Rachel and Kurt determined to live in New York after graduation, there should be spinoff speculation throughout next year. Although the franchise has taken some hits lately, Fox can still wring some spinoffs and additional cash cows out of it for now.

Everyone knew Glee wouldn't be the same after Season 3, and now the next year will be one long struggle to accept that for Gleeks. But they still have over 20 new episodes left to go with Rachel, Finn and Kurt starting in September. In the meantime, they can celebrate the show's 12 Emmy nominations Thursday morning, including one for Colfer himself.

Sources

TV Line- "Glee Shocker: Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer Not Returning For Season 4"