The Glee Reboot Better Not Kill Off Santana

For some people, Glee was just a silly show about singing high schoolers, campy performances, and the most ridiculous storylines you could imagine. But beneath its zany exterior, it was also an important pillar of representation for queer kids growing up in the early 2000s. Kurt and Blaine were one of the first openly gay teen couples on mainstream TV, and Santana’s friends-to-lovers arc with Brittany broke barriers for lesbian visibility.

Now, the show is officially coming back, at a time when queer love stories in media are a lot less rare (although there are some new issues facing LGBTQ+ portrayals). There’s a glaring issue the reboot must contend with: how to handle Brittany and Santana’s relationship a decade later, since actor Naya Rivera died in 2020. For fans, there’s really only one right answer. Santana should get to live on in the world of Glee — not only to commemorate the impact of Rivera’s beloved Cheerio, but also for the viewers who invested so much into Santana’s love story. And, for Brittany.

This concern over Brittana’s future was sparked shortly after Hulu and Disney+ ordered the Glee revival on Oct. 21, when Heather Morris confirmed she’s be reprising her role as Brittany. The 2009 series ended with Brittany and Santana overcoming a breakup due to distance, with the couple getting married in the final season. Brittany’s return obviously means the reboot will need to address Santana’s absence, and this character deserves a happy ending.

Santana and Brittany’s love story is perhaps the brightest spot in all of Glee’s spotted history. The show portrayed messy, young queer women in a way that felt incredibly rare, and with a surprisingly tender care that upended the caustic and hyperbolic artifice. It felt like a very meaningful choice for Brittana to come back together and get married, signaling to fans that this was a relationship that would last the test of time.

Of course, the reboot can’t portray Brittany and Santana the same way without Rivera, but at least it could preserve the fictional couple’s happy ending, and keep Rivera’s memory alive by imagining what Santana’s life with Brittany could be like today. Maybe Santana is living her dreams on a performance tour, or she’s away rehearsing for a big Broadway musical. There are lots of way the revival can explain her absence for a while without turning Brittany and Santana’s story into yet another queer romance in media that ends in tragedy.

Long live Santana! ...Please?