Since “Glee” will be on hiatus for a few more weeks there are many speculations about its new characters, namely those of the winners and runners-up of “The Glee Project,” which aired on Oxygen last summer.
The creators of the show, who were on the hunt for new blood for the award-winning series, awarded the four remaining contestants Samuel Larsen, Damian McGinty, Lindsay Pierce and Alex Nuell with several episodes on “Glee.”
The two winners have seven episodes while the runners-up have two-episode arcs. It has been three weeks since the premiere of “Glee’s” new season.
True, runner-up Pierce has already made her appearance on the season 3 premiere, but winners Larson, McGinty and Nuell have yet to be seen.
As runner-ups on “The Glee Project,” both Pierce and Nuell were awarded with two episodes on the “Glee.” On the reality show, 20 year-old Pierce marketed herself as the next Rachel (Lea Michele), a Broadway baby.
She received flack from the judges and mentors for being a perfectionist and for having trouble showing vulnerability, traits that are also reminiscent of Rachel’s character. Sure enough, Harmony, Pierce’s character on “Glee,” ends up intimidating Rachel, who has been determined to prove that she’s ready for the big-time.
When she sees how good of a performer Harmony is, Rachel starts to doubt her own talent.
Little has been revealed about the rest of the new characters, but there is a rumor floating around that the dreadlocked, God-loving rocker Samuel will play Sue Sylvester’s (Jane Lynch) arch-nemesis.
During “The Glee Project,” the 20-year-old expressed an interest in playing the guy whose band breaks up and finds his new musical outlet in the school’s glee club.
Ryan Murphy also expressed several times during the show that he has wanted to put a Christian character into the glee club for a while, so maybe that is another layer that Samuel’s character can have.
Why Murphy seemed to find it important that the contenders share the same exact traits as their intended characters is unsure. Seeing as how Samuel unsuccessfully auditioned for “Glee” before and lost the role of Sam to Chord Overstreet, winning this time around seems like fate.
Samuel’s 18-year-old co-winner McGinty, a former member of Irish singing group Celtic Thunder and lover of big band music, has envisioned himself playing the goofy foreign exchange student.
It was mentioned by the show’s creators that this could be a character that Brittany (Heather Morris) finds both incredibly fascinating and confusing because she’d have such a hard time understanding his accent.
According to TV.com, McGinty will appear in the next episode on Nov. 1 as an Irish exchange student that is taken in by Brittany’s family. The road to success was a hard one for McGinty, as he placed in the bottom three several times during the reality show competition.
When McGinty’s best friend and fellow contestant Cameron quit the competition, it was revealed that he saved McGinty from being sent home.
While Murphy mentioned that McGinty wasn’t the best dancer and singer out of the 12 contenders, he cited McGinty’s warm and humble spirit as a big reason for keeping him on board.
The other “winning” contestant that was in the bottom three many times was Nuell, an 18-year-old boy with a wide vocal range and an extensive scarf collection who, according to McGinty, is a “born diva.”
During the filming of “The Glee Project,” Nuell discovered an affinity for cross-dressing. It will be interesting to see if the show utilizes that aspect of his character, especially since he has just two episodes.
Will Pierce’s character scare Rachel out of reaching for the stars? Will Brittany be able to adjust to the cultural quirks of the Irish exchange student living in her home?
With the new season of “Glee” underway, it will be interesting to see what shenanigans and crazy new characters the writers have written for the new episodes.
If you are anxiously waiting for the show to end its hiatus and having “Glee” withdrawals, check out episodes from “The Glee Project” on Oxygen’s website.