For a stretch of time, Glee was basically a cultural institution. The show’s weekly covers of popular songs, and storylines that often sound absolutely deranged when described out of context, had a lot of us in a chokehold.
In the process, Glee made its ensemble cast of characters into stars, to the point of them embarking on a worldwide concert tour together between Seasons 3 and 4. As a recent interview reveals, there was nearly a world where that cast included… Glen Powell.
During a recent appearance on the Therapuss podcast, the Twisters and Chad Powers star confirmed that he did audition for Glee, and specifically for the role of Season 2 new addition Sam Evans. As Gleeks know, the role ultimately went to Chord Overstreet, who Powell says is still “one of [his] best friends.”
“One of my best buddies in the world is Chord Overstreet,” Powell explained. “We both auditioned for Glee. We both auditioned for the same role. We were in the waiting room at the same time because we were buddies… And then we were down to the wire on Sam Evans, and he got it.”
“We moved in together as he went on this crazy Glee ride, which was, like, kind of wild,” Powell continued. “It was, like, pretty crazy to be around, because it was the biggest show in the world.”
Powell went on to confirm that he has no hard feelings about losing the role, and that he even attended the Glee tour in person.
Sliding Doors… or Slushies?
Now that Powell has become a household name thanks to his film career, the news that he got so far in the audition process for Glee has definitely shocked some fans. Doubly so now that we know that he almost played Sam, a character who went on a wild journey over the course of his five-season run on the show.
Ever since he was introduced in Glee‘s Season 2 premiere, Sam was (among other things) a homeless teenaged stripper, a young man struggling with an eating disorder, an aspiring model, and the eventual director of New Directions in the show’s series finale. He also was entangled in romantic plotlines with a number of different characters, including a sort of will-they-won’t-they situation with Amber Riley’s Mercedes Jones.
It is, admittedly, easy to imagine Powell in those aspects of Sam’s role… but some things probably would have changed along the way if he had been cast instead of Overstreet. Mainly… would we have gotten “Trouty Mouth”, the ridiculous song (and eventual nickname) that Santana christens Sam with in the Season 2 episode “Original Song”? Sam (and Overstreet himself) embraced the nickname as the show went along, but it’s unclear if larger facial features would’ve become the defining aspect of Powell’s take on the character, or if something else would’ve been written in along the way.
Powell joined the sort of “cinematic universe” surrounding Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan, and Brad Flachuk a few years later anyway, playing Chad Radwell on both seasons of Scream Queens. And he isn’t the only person in that world to make us wonder “what could’ve been” if they’d been cast on Glee… after all, Murphy revealed a few years ago that he’s tempted to remake the show’s pilot with Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein.
(featured image: Fox)
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
