Darren Criss: “I Thought I Was A Year Older Than Kurt”

In an interview with TV Guide on the eve of today’s Glee panel at Comic Con in San Diego,  Darren talks about the possibility of his character graduating with Kurt, Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith).

I wasn’t completely crazy to assume that Darren Criss’s character, Blaine, the openly gay Warbler, is supposed to be a year older than his main squeeze, Kurt Hummel (played by the fabulous Chris Colfer).  Darren thought so too!  Read more at TV Guide.

So Ryan Murphy said everyone’s a senior this season except Sam (Chord Overstreet). But he also said Blaine is “ambiguous.” How old is Blaine to your knowledge?
Criss: I have no idea how old I am! I truly don’t know, and you can call me irresponsible or ignorant or what have you — maybe I don’t do my homework — but I remember hearing I was a year older than Kurt. I remember reading that when Ryan was talking about Blaine. So that would mean he’s graduated by now but maybe….

Maybe he failed a year!
Criss: Maybe he did! Or maybe he transferred a year! But there’s always people in your class who are older, like, “How come you’re not a senior?” And then they say so-and-so happened. Or maybe he took some time off. [Or] he had a little bit of trauma at his old school? He is a year older than Kurt, but maybe he’s still a junior or senior. I don’t know, we’ll find out.  I’m very excited for Season 3. I think there are so many exciting things that can happen. I think having the extra writers will be a really wonderful thing and add more dimensions to the show. I’m just so excited, I can’t contain myself.

Yeah. There’s also that little matter of Kurt telling Rachel in the Season 3 finale that he and Blaine were ready to move to the Big Apple after graduation next year. Get out of that one, Ryan Murphy.

One possibility: Blaine will be forced to start the year as a junior when he transfers to McKinley High School from Dalton Academy.  I am speculating on this plot point, but you just KNOW that’s going to happen, now that Darren is a series regular.   It’ll be interesting to see what convoluted plot twist Murphy comes up for that one.

Here’s what Darren has to say about members of the cast graduating and leaving the show at the end of Season 3:

What do you make of all this graduation talk? On one hand, Ryan wants to keep Glee grounded in some reality. n the other hand, he wants to graduate the stars off the show.
Criss: I don’t think it’s an end so much as a departure point, literally and figuratively, for the characters and the actors themselves. Ryan has talked a lot about high school as this journey you go on. You go in as one person and you leave as another. So to put a flag at the end, like this is the finishing point, tells me there’s going to be some really interesting arcs. That tells me there’s going to be really cool developments — that at the end of it, they’re coming out as different people, for better or for worse. … It’ll be bittersweet to me personally because I’ll miss working with those actors. But for them, I think it’ll be good stuff for their stories. And also, for them as actors, it’s only the beginning. I mean, they’re all superstars. They have massive wings, and I think they’re going to take off.

Probably because he’s still in negotiations, Darren has little to add to the reports he’ll be heading to Broadway in January.

Word is you’re going to fill in for Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business. Excited?
Darren Criss: I don’t know! People keep asking me about it, and it’s kind of cool that that’s out there in the world, but I cannot confirm anything at all. I mean, yeah, that would be really cool. That’s certainly a wonderful role and a great show, and it would certainly be exciting to be a part of it. … But it’s definitely not confirmed by any means. I’m actually more just focusing on trying to get my head screwed back on right now.