There was a lot of confusion over the summer about what would happen when several of the older Glee students were set to graduate from McKinley High.  Characters like Kurt, Rachel and Finn are currently in their senior season as Glee progresses through its third season and Kurt and Rachel have been discussing college plans, including attending schools in New York City.  Originally, there was discussion that a Glee spin-off might take place with the graduating students, but then the idea essentially died over the summer.

During his TCA presentation today, Fox boss Kevin Reilly firmly shot-down any and all remaining rumors about a Glee spin-off, but stated that the characters will still be graduating: "We are graduating the characters that are [due] to graduate, and what’s come out of it is [that] Ryan [Murphy] and the guys have come up with a really cool idea."

“There will not be a Glee spinoff.  But those characters will graduate and it’s led to a very interesting idea that I think is gonna really give us something cool to dig into next season.”

Apparently Ryan Murphy's plans for these characters will be revealed towards the end of the current season and the graduating cast members will be in season 4 of the show.

Glee returns with all new episodes on Tuesday, January 17 on Fox.  Watch a trailer and listen to a song from the upcoming episode here.