“Glee” actor Kevin McHale said he won’t play Archie Abrams if the show comes back on the air with a reboot.
McHale, a disabled actor whose character used a wheelchair on the Fox series that ran from 2009 to 2015, told Insider this week that he wouldn’t be willing to reprise the role today. “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy told McHale and former Glee co-star Jenna Ushkowitz this month that he’s open to looking at the show’s future.
“I don’t know if Artie could be in it,” McHale said. “Knowing what we know now, I don’t think I should play a character who is in a wheelchair. So if they let me grow a beard and play a different character, I will.”
The decision to cast McHale as Artie sparked discussion among disabled actors, including Robert David Hall, who said the failure to cast a disabled actor was likely due to fear of litigation and the belief that “it would could slow down a production”. ,” the Associated Press reported in 2009.
McHale’s comments came after Murphy hinted that the series could have a future on Murphy and Ushkowitz’s podcast.
McHale also expressed regret about playing Ushkowitz’s character in 2019. Ushkowitz noted that the show, which premiered in 2009, was set in a different era.
McHale said he “didn’t know any better” at the time.
“What were we thinking? I couldn’t play that role,” McHale said.
