BREAKING: Final Season of GLEE to Jump Ahead in Time; Will Not Be Set in NYC

According to Eonline, Glee creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy has revealed some dramatic details on the upcoming sixth and final season of the FOX musical dramedy.

Despite earlier rumors, the next season will not be set in New York City and will fast forward a few years into the future. In addition, only a "handful of core characters" will be featured, although Murphy maintains that "anybody who wants to come back can come back."

Speaking with a group of reporters on Monday, the writer explained, "Everything sort of builds to a head [in the current season's finale]. I would say explosion is too harsh of a word, but something big happens and then the final season is The Aftermath of that."

While Murphy says that the fifth season of the long-running series has had its share of challenges, he believes the show has rebounded in recent episodes. "When Glee first started out, there were six kids in Glee club as I recall," Murphy commented. "At one point, I felt like it was a cast of thousands, and the Lima stories were all supposed to be through the prism of Cory [Monteith]'s character, and that didn't work out. So you know, we had to punt for a little bit but I think once we got our bearings back, the idea of let's concentrate on six people that we know and love and really work hard on their evolution I think has really served the show well. And that's where we're going."

Also under speculation is whether or not Lea Michele's Rachel Berry will find love following the tragic passing of her high school beau Finn (Michele's real-life romantic partner Cory Monteith who passed away last summer.) "To be quite honest, we just haven't been able to crack it," adding, "She's always been so sensitive and so wise in how to handle that stuff."

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About GLEE:

Glee is a musical comedy about a group of ambitious and talented kids who escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a Glee club, where they find strength, acceptance and, ultimately, their voice. Last year's graduates and aspiring singers, RACHEL BERRY (Lea Michelle) and KURT HUMMEL (Chris Colfer), packed their bags for New York and enrolled at a prestigious performing arts school, NYADA, where they made new friends and learned the cruel realities of college. These naïve freshmen moved into a Brooklyn loft, signed up for internships, auditioned for Broadway shows and gained a roommate when SANTANA LOPEZ (Naya Rivera) moved to the Big Apple.

Since its debut, Glee has become a bona fide cultural phenomenon, received prestigious honors, including a Golden Globe Award and a Peabody Award, and singlehandedly made Glee clubs cool again. The series boasts critical acclaim, a die-hard fan base, two Grammy Award nominations, two platinum and five gold albums, more than 43 million songs and more than 13 million albums sold worldwide, two sold-out concert tours, a 3-D movie and four Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes, including the award for Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical.

Photo credit: Tyler Golden/FOX