Lynch changing her stripes for Glee’s new season
‘There’s actually a lot of maturing of Sue Sylvester’ — and maybe even some new clothes
In terms of character evolution, a change in wardrobe may not seem like that big a deal after five seasons.
But most characters aren’t Sue Sylvester. As played by Emmy-nominated actor Jane Lynch in Glee, Sylvester has been the villainous bane to William McKinley High School’s glee club, The New Directions, since the hit show began in 2009. Nevertheless, she has softened over the years, showing flashes of vulnerability and caring in between her attempts to sabotage the cheery, musical misfits and their leader Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison). What has stayed a constant, however, are those spiffy track suits the former coach of McKinley’s Cheerios cheerleading squad has stubbornly sported.
But Lynch suggests a new look could be in the works for Sue in the fifth season, which kicks off Sept. 26 on Global and Fox.
“I’m still wearing tracksuits in the first three (episodes),” says Lynch, at a roundtable discussion with journalists recently in Los Angeles. “But we might graduate to a little Hillary Clinton look. I will always have the stripes. But we’re thinking about it. We’re thinking about pantsuits. I don’t know if it’s going to happen. But I’ve been fitted for it and it’s been threatened.”
The new look will befit Sylvester’s upgraded status at the school. Fans will remember that she was fired in Season 4 after confessing to bringing a loaded gun into the school even though it was clear she was covering for one of her students. It was one of her character’s more sympathetic moments. But as Season 5 begins, we discover that some ruthless finagling by Sue has led to the firing of McKinley’s Principal Figgins. She is appointed interim principal and, true to form, is steadfastly determined to hold on to her power. But not all of her methods will be ruthless and self-serving.
“There’s actually a maturing of Sue Sylvester,” Lynch says. “She can still be petty and stupid — I have some really funny lines this season. But her mission is a little bigger. It’s a little more compassionate right now. She really does want to be principal. She really does want to be taken seriously. She really does want to make this school a special place and make it thrive and be a winner. So I think we’re going to see her working with people a little more. She’s not so against people. But she does want winners. She wants the Glee club to win, she wants the Cheerios to win, she wants the AV department to win. She wants everybody to be winners at this school and I think, although will be reigning with an iron fist, she’ll be a little more compassionate.”
Energetic, friendly and incredibly tall in person, Lynch is on promotional duties at Century City, L.A., which includes addressing a group of journalists about Glee’s new season.
But even if she wanted to spill more details about the future happenings at McKinley, Lynch admits the storylines are largely undetermined after the third episode, which will serve as a tribute to Calgaryborn, B.C.-raised actor Cory Monteith and his character, Finn Hudson.
Monteith was found dead of a heroin and alcohol overdose in a Vancouver hotel room in July. Before the interview, a Fox publicist urged journalists to show sensitivity when broaching the subject, which is still obviously a deeply felt tragedy for all involved in the show.
Lynch makes it clear the death has understandably cast a pall over the production.
“We had a memorial before we went back to work,” she says. “It was just for the cast and the crew. The crew is also grieving, they loved him very much. We had a memorial that was really hard and moving but wonderful. Everybody supported each other so it was good that we did that before we started work. The third episode has been difficult but beautiful and it’s beautifully written. I think it’s a great tribute not just to Cory but to his character, Finn, who was a lot like Cory — kind of the quarterback of our group and the leader. It’s kind of dealing with each kid losing this guy they looked up to.”
So the third episode, titled Quarterback, will find the kids from Glee singing songs that Finn Hudson sang. Lynch thinks it will help with the healing, and not just for cast and crew.
“Everybody says ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ ” says Lynch about meeting fans after Monteith’s death. “But, what’s interesting is it’s their loss too and I know that they just want to share with somebody who understands. It’s almost like you want to get a hold of the people who knew him and loved him the way they did. He had a lot of fans and a lot of people who loved him.”
At the time of this interview, the cast and crew of Glee were in the midst of a two-week break as writers determined where the series should go after the loss of a major character who was going to be key to the story arc.
What we know from previews is that the first two episodes will finally have the Glee kids tackling the holy grail of pop music, the Beatles catalogue.
“Every song, and there’s a lot of them, are Beatles songs,” Lynch says. “So hopefully introducing a whole new generation to arguably, or perhaps factually, the greatest rock ’n’ roll band of history.”
Lynch will not be among those singing the Lennon/McCartney gems in Episodes 1 and 2. But she has enjoyed other triumphs this year, musical and otherwise. Just a few days before this interview, she received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. This summer, she played Miss Hannigan in a Broadway revival of Annie.
Not surprisingly, she didn’t discuss filing for divorce from psychologist Lara Embry in June. But she did talk about the winds of change in her country that seem to be making same-sex marriage acceptable for most people.
“What has happened is people see that marriage has not changed because gay people get married now, it hasn’t affected it,” Lynch says. “God has not destroyed the planet because gay people are getting married. I think there are a lot of people who just stopped fighting it. I think you just get tired of fighting something that is really just so stupid. It’s not as on-fire as it was anymore and people aren’t as anti as it was. It’s like the passion has gone out of the anti argument.
“There are many factors, but (Glee creator) Ryan Murphy has always been — especially with this show as his vehicle — a couple of steps ahead of what needs to happen,” Lynch says. “He showed not just tolerance but acceptance and not just gay people. In the glee club, everybody is accepted for who they are. The things that they may be mocked for out in the hallways on McKinley High where they might (get) a slushie in their face, they’re embraced for that in the glee club. And I think that just resonated with so many people.
“I think we’re all still in high school,” Lynch says. “We all want to be loved and accepted for who we are and the glee club is a place where that happens.”