Exclusive! Ryan Murphy Discusses Darren Criss, Whether Kurt and Blaine Will Be Boyfriends and More!

While Glee’s storylines and overall plot may be all over the map in terms of consistency, there’s one thing that you can’t deny: What the show represents when it comes to GLBT visibility. Chris Colfer’s Kurt Hummel is coming into millions of homes every week and, thanks to out creator/writer/director Ryan Murphy, Red State America is getting an education in what it means to be an out gay teen.
AfterElton.com caught up with Murphy at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s 39th Annual Gala on Saturday to discuss the storyline, how Darren Criss’ (pictured below right) Blaine will play into that and the status of Kurt’s boyfriend.

AfterElton: How many episodes is the anti-bullying story line going to be?
Ryan Murphy: I think it’s a whole year, actually. It’s not a couple episodes; it will probably be the whole season, actually, and the ramifications on everybody, which I think is important.

AE: How is Blaine going to play into that?
Murphy: I don’t know. We’re just writing him now. Darren has become such a sensation in one week, which I love. I think there’s a hunger for him and a positive relationship role model. He’ll definitely continue through the year and longer. We just signed a deal with him, so I don’t know.

AE: He’s confirmed to be a regular for the remainder of Season 2 and next season as well?
Murphy: Yes.

AE: Is Blaine going to be Kurt’s boyfriend?
Murphy: I don’t know. That I have not decided. We’re writing it. I want to see what people’s reaction to that is. Part of me thinks he should be the boyfriend, part of me thinks he should just be the mentor. I didn’t want to decide that until we got into sort of the middle of the season. We’re figuring it out now.

AE: If he doesn’t wind up becoming Kurt’s boyfriend, are we going to see Kurt have a boyfriend?
Murphy: Kurt will definitely get a boyfriend. The question is who will it be and how will it be.

AE: What was it about Darren Criss that initially appealed to you?
Murphy: He had auditioned and auditioned many, many times and I personally never saw his auditions. Then when we were casting, the casting director said, “You gave us many choices.” As soon as Darren came on and [I saw] his audition, I was like, “That’s the guy.”

AE: Had you seen Criss’ A Very Potter Musical before?
Murphy: No, I didn’t know anything about Darren. I just knew he was right.

AE: What do you think of his success of “Teenage Dream?” It's become Glee’s biggest hit yet.
Murphy: I’m proud of that. That’s our biggest-selling single ever in the history of the show and the fact that it’s one boy singing to another boy on a network television show and it’s a No. 1 song and it sold probably 200,000 copies in one week is a very profound thing that I’m personally very proud of.

I never expected that to happen. I’m catching up with the week that was and figuring out, OK, now we have this great commodity in something that people have really embraced. It just shows to me that people are hungry for that.

AE: Will there be a PSA at the end of the season for the Trevor Project? Have you considered that yet?
Murphy: I have not considered that; I do a lot of support work with the Trevor Project, but maybe I should. I think if we do it, we should just write it into the story instead of doing a PSA.

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