What Will Happen to the 'Glee' Cast When They Graduate from McKinley? Ryan Murphy Fills In Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Murphy popped in on Ryan Seacrest’s syndicated radio show recently and discussed how he’s approaching the fact that original “Glee” characters Rachel, Finn, Quinn and Puck were all juniors at McKinley High this season and should be set to graduate next year.

Have we, perhaps, another “Saved by the Bell” on our hands? Mercifully, no. Nor, from the sounds of it, are we headed for “Glee: The College Years.”

“This next [season] will be their senior year, and then they will graduate,” he told Seacrest. “We didn’t to have a show where they were in high school for eight years. We really wanted to be true to that experience.”

Hey, no fair beating me to the pot-shots at Mr. Belding’s kids.

Murphy further explained that this upcoming season will start phasing in younger cast members, one of which will be produced by Oxygen’s (thus-far) tanking reality show “The Glee Project.” It can only help the transition process that “Glee” has also brought into the fold as a consulting producer “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” veteran Marti Noxon.

If anybody should know how to handle transitional casts, it’s Noxon. “Buffy” was often a revolving door of impactful characters who stuck around a season, then departed, which means she knows how to write out characters without jarring fans too harshly with new arrivals. “Buffy” lost fan-favorite David Boreanaz (Angel) to his own successful spin-off after the show’s third season. Seth Green (Oz) spent about two full seasons as Alyson Hannigan’s steady love interest before being written out midway into Season Four. And every season, Buffy and Co. confronted a new main villain that was generally – though not always – never a major character again after.