Ryan Murphy Reveals the Role of Mr. Schuester on Glee Was Initially Written for Justin Timberlake

Matthias Clamer/FOX; Jamie McCarthy/FilmMagic

Mr. Schuester could have brought "Sexy Back".

Glee creator Ryan Murphy revealed that he originally had Justin Timberlake — yes, the "Can't Stop the Feeling" musician — in mind when he created Will Schuester, the high school Spanish teacher and glee club director on the beloved series.

During the first episode of the Glee rewatch podcast, And That's What You REALLY Missed hosted by Jenna Ushkowitz and Kevin McHale, Murphy explained how Timberlake was his initial inspiration for the character while creating the series.

"I've never really talked about this," Murphy, 56, began. "That pilot was written for Justin Timberlake."

As fans know, Timberlake didn't end up in the shoes of Mr. Schuester. Matthew Morrison landed the role and has since become synonymous with the musical series, which aired on Fox from 2009 to 2015.

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Gareth Cattermole/Getty Matthew Morrison

What ultimately happened that led to Morrison's casting has yet to be revealed — as are details about whether or not Timberlake had any interest in the role. The podcast hosts ended the first episode on a cliffhanger, with the conversation to be continued next week.

Murphy gave one more, giant reveal that could have changed the course of Glee entirely. According to the showrunner, Mr. Schuester wasn't always planned to be the best influence.

"Mr. Schue, I believe, was a crystal meth addict in Ian's script," Murphy shared earlier in the episode. "The NC-17 version of show choir with a weird protagonist who was unraveling."

That plotline ultimately didn't make it to the screen, as Morrison's Schuester was a music-loving, nerdy professor who did not have a drug habit.

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While Glee is certainly one of Murphy's most well-known projects, his latest, Dahmer, just broke a Netflix streaming record. Just 20 days after the dark drama — which stars Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer — aired, it became the platform's second-most-watched English series of all time.

It won the spot with 701 million total hours watched. (Stranger Things still holds the record, totaling 1.35 billion hours watched.)

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Murphy is also known for his other successful series including American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Pose, and most recently, Netflix's The Watcher.