Chris Colfer Discusses Possible Kurt Hummel Return for Glee Reboot

Chris Colfer has opened the door to a possible return as Kurt Hummel in the Glee reboot in development for Disney+ and Hulu. The actor has not confirmed that he has signed on, but said he has already had one positive conversation about the project and expects further discussions.

That distinction matters. A conversation is not a casting announcement, and there is no confirmed role, episode count, story outline, or return date for Colfer at this stage. Still, his comments offer the clearest indication yet that Kurt could be part of the revival’s plans, rather than existing only as a character from the original series’ past.

Colfer played Kurt throughout all six seasons of Glee, which aired from 2009 to 2015. Kurt’s central relationship with Rachel Berry, played by Lea Michele, has fueled interest in whether the two characters might reunite if the reboot incorporates original cast members. Michele is set to return as Rachel, while Colfer’s involvement remains under discussion.

What Colfer has actually said about returning

Colfer described the initial discussion in upbeat but carefully noncommittal terms. He said what he heard sounded funny and like a good idea, while making clear that there are more conversations to come. That is a useful reality check for fans: the reboot is in development, but development is the stage where creative teams, platforms, producers, and performers work through possibilities before they become finished screen plans.

In television, an in-development reboot can take several shapes. It may continue a prior show’s story with returning characters, use a familiar setting for a mostly new ensemble, or use legacy appearances sparingly while placing new leads at the center. Nothing in Colfer’s remarks settles which model Glee will use. His comments instead establish that an avenue for Kurt’s return is being explored.

Colfer also said he is curious about how a new version could sustain the sense of being groundbreaking that he associates with the original series. That is a bigger creative question than whether one beloved character appears. Glee was built around an ensemble, music performance, comedy, friendships, romances, and high-school pressures. A revival would need to decide what aspects are essential to its identity and what needs to be rethought for a new period.

Kurt’s original ending leaves room for an adult storyline

Kurt’s story did not end on an unresolved cliffhanger. By the end of the original series, he was married to Blaine Anderson, played by Darren Criss. Rachel served as the surrogate for their child. That resolution gives a reboot something potentially more interesting than simply repeating the high-school version of Kurt: it could show what the character has become after the original ensemble’s school years.

Colfer’s preferred direction is clear. He would like Kurt to be “in a place of power,” imagining him as a Miranda Priestly-like figure running a fashion blog or magazine. He also suggested a fashion-styling role on tour with Chappell Roan. Those ideas are not confirmed plot details, but they are illuminating character pitches from the actor who played Kurt for the full run.

The Miranda Priestly comparison refers to the commanding magazine editor in The Devil Wears Prada. In practical storytelling terms, it suggests an older Kurt with authority, sharp standards, and a career setting that fits his long-established interest in fashion. A magazine or fashion-media role could also create a different kind of comedy from the original school environment: workplace pressure, creative rivalries, editorial demands, and Kurt’s famously precise delivery rather than choir-room competition.

The Chappell Roan idea is similarly best read as a playful possibility, not evidence that the musician is attached to the reboot. It points to the contemporary pop-culture space Colfer can envision for Kurt. Fashion styling involves creating a performer’s visual presentation through clothing and related aesthetic choices; it would be a credible professional extension of a character defined in part by style and self-expression.

Could Kurt and Blaine return as parents?

Colfer also considered a family-centered route for Kurt and Blaine. He imagines the pair having sharply different parenting styles: Blaine as a gentle parent and Kurt as the parent who disciplines with a scathing look. The joke is character-based, but it also identifies a potential source of adult ensemble comedy if the reboot revisits them.

“Gentle parenting” generally describes an approach that emphasizes empathy, communication, and emotional regulation rather than harsh punishment. Colfer’s contrast is not a confirmed description of any future episode. It is his comic framing of how Kurt and Blaine’s established personalities might play against one another after becoming parents.

That potential matters because it avoids assuming that an older Kurt would need to recreate his former story beats. A revival can honor a character’s history without treating them as frozen in the exact circumstances audiences remember. Kurt as a fashion professional, a parent, or both would place him in a changed life stage while preserving recognizable traits: wit, style, ambition, and a highly specific tolerance for nonsense.

A return would carry emotional weight

Colfer’s openness is tempered by the losses connected to the original cast. Cory Monteith, who played Finn Hudson, died after the show’s fourth season from an accidental overdose of heroin and alcohol. Naya Rivera, who played Santana Lopez, died in 2020 at age 33 after drowning while saving her four-year-old son.

Colfer said it was difficult to return to the show after Monteith’s death and that doing so now, after Rivera’s death as well, would be hard. He also framed the decision as involving the many other people from the production whom he loves. That is not a simple endorsement or rejection of the reboot. It is an acknowledgement that revisiting a formative show and a long-running workplace would be emotionally complicated.

For any revival involving original cast members, this is not incidental background. The show’s shared history includes both professional achievement and profound grief. Colfer’s remarks suggest that the question of returning is personal as well as creative: it concerns a role he played for six seasons, collaborators with whom he shared a major period of his career, and absent friends whose contributions remain part of the show’s identity.

A careful reboot would therefore face a balancing act. It could celebrate characters and relationships that viewers still value, while avoiding the impression that painful history is being treated as a publicity mechanism or a plot device. There are no details yet about how the new project will approach that responsibility, if it does so onscreen at all.

What is confirmed, and what remains speculation

Several points are firm. A Glee reboot is in development for Disney+ and Hulu. Colfer has had a conversation about potentially returning as Kurt and anticipates more. Michele is set to return as Rachel. The original series ran for six seasons on Fox, and Colfer’s performance as Kurt earned him a Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a television series as well as two supporting actor Emmy nominations.

Much else remains unannounced. There is no confirmed release window, no disclosed premise, no official indication of how many original characters will return, and no confirmation that Darren Criss will reprise Blaine. Colfer’s fashion-executive, stylist, and parenting ideas are possibilities he would enjoy, not revealed plans from the production.

For viewers, the sensible takeaway is cautious optimism rather than a completed-cast assumption. Colfer sounds intrigued by the pitch and willing to keep talking. That alone gives Kurt’s supporters a meaningful reason to watch the reboot’s development, particularly given the character’s enduring connection to Rachel and the open-ended possibilities of his adult life.

Disney+ is also part of a broader entertainment-streaming conversation, as reflected in Disney+ joining the Game Awards’ expanding streaming lineup. In the immediate case of Glee, however, the important point is narrower: the platform and Hulu are developing the reboot, and one of the original show’s defining performers is actively considering how Kurt Hummel might fit into it.

Whether that ultimately becomes a full-time role, a guest appearance, or no on-screen return is still unknown. But Colfer has offered a persuasive case for why an adult Kurt could be worth revisiting—not as a nostalgic replay, but as a character with a career, family, authority, and plenty of room left for a cutting one-liner.